I am going to share about ePortfolios and their role in reflective learning and in assessment for learning. In higher education, an ePortfolio might be described as a student-generated electronic collection of their course-related work, like assignments, essays, posters, photographs, videos, and artwork. The student documents and makes visible their learning and through the process, they generate new or deeper learning by reflecting on their learning.

ePortfolios “are a way to generate learning as well as document learning" (Basken, 2008). Interesting!! How can ePortfolios generate learning? It’s as simple as this …as the student works through the ePortfolio design and populating processes, they are afforded an opportunity and a space for putting to use their creative minds (choose their own way, style, new tools to present the work), critically assessing their academic work, reflecting on that work, and making connections among different courses, assignments, topics, and other activities, such as soft skills, real-life experiences, hobbies, etc.

Barrett (2008) says, “There’s a major tension right now between student-centered and institution-centered ePortfolios.” This shows that there are two types of ePortfolios that we should never confuse: institution-centered ePortfolios, which are driven by “assessment of learning” and student-centered ePortfolios, driven by “assessment for learning.” I have used the student-centred ePortfolios in my educational technology courses and found them really effective in fulfilling the traditional role of assessing students learning, while at the same time providing an opportunity for students to learn as they complete the assessment.

ePortfolios help students develop new or deeper learning, which results in higher motivation and course completion. They help them develop a better sense of themselves as learners and as individuals.

With clear instructions, proper guidance and a clear assessment rubric, ePortfolios can be effective learning tools that support students’ own knowledge construction, make invisible aspects of the learning process visible, and place ownership in the hands of students as they decide how the ePortfolio is designed, who can view the ePortfolio, what artefacts get added, and so on. Typically, a student ePortfolio remains the student’s property even after finishing university.

References

Basken, P. (2008, April). Electronic portfolios may answer calls for more accountability. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Bass, R. & Eynon, B. (2009). Capturing the visible evidence of invisible learning. The Academic Commons.

Interesting Resources

Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio Resources and Research
Eynon, B. (2009, January). “It helped me see a new me:” ePortfolio, learning, and change at LaGuardia Community College. Academic Commons.