Electronic portfolios: An overview

In a rapidly changing world, we strive to prepare our students to become engaged, ethical citizens. The 2007 report College Learning for the New Global Century recognized that graduates will need to rely on strong intellectual skills, a breadth of knowledge and a well-developed social and moral responsibility in order to successfully participate in and respond to a shifting political, social, environmental and economic landscape. The report also indicates that today’s students will need to be able to integrate knowledge and skills across the curriculum, to make connections and to rapidly assimilate new information. Dawson’s own nine Graduate Profile Outcomes, such as learning to learn, social responsibility and community engagement, teamwork and leadership skills and critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity, aim at the same results.

Electronic portfolios, or e-portfolios, have been in use in educational contexts for several decades. Their greatest potential is in helping learners make connections between their learning experiences.[1] They enable students to reflect on their learning process as well as on the content they are learning, and to integrate seemingly disparate threads in their educational experience. E-portfolios have been employed to help students reflect on their learning and career path, develop metacognitive skills, demonstrate collaborative efforts and explore narratives about their identities.

A successful e-portfolio tracks evidence of desired learning outcomes through active learner engagement, a sense of agency and responsibility for learning, and the student’s reflection on the results as well as the process of learning.

In 2016, responding to a growing body of research evidence, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) updated their report on High-Impact Educational Practices to include e-portfolios in their list. Among the compelling findings cited for this significant change was the conclusion that: “…when linked to one or more of the ten [high-impact educational practices] on the AAC&U list, e-portfolio practice has accentuating effects, invoking the notion that e-portfolio might be considered a meta-high impact practice – when done well.”[2]

While e-portfolios cover a very broad range of practices, they fall into two broad categories:

A showcase or presentation portfolio is what often comes to mind at the mention of a “portfolio”. It is a carefully curated collection of artefacts that demonstrate a student’s achievements. Students are able to select and exhibit their best work in a multi-media container and easily demonstrate their capabilities and skills to teachers, peers and potential employers.

A learning or process portfolio, on the other hand, tends to accentuate a student’s development and growth over time. “[It] is a purposeful collection of student work that tells the story of a student’s efforts, progress and/or achievement in one or more subject areas.”[3]

The electronic component of e-portfolios can add value by leveraging any online platform and the inherent opportunities for accessibility, inclusion, collaboration, transparency, as well as version control, portability and data-driven decision-making. However, the technology should never determine pedagogical practice.

Learning portfolios provide a way to organize, reinforce, reflect on and transfer learning. There is no single prescribed product since each portfolio must be student-led and developed, with guidance from faculty and other educational professionals.

While the e-portfolio process may be full of potential, its success hinges on proper implementation and integration. “Central to e-portfolio practice is active learner engagement and responsibility in their learning, along with learner reflection, upon not only the artifacts or instances of learning assembled in the e-portfolio, but also upon their process of learning that exhibits the desired outcomes at required levels of competence.”[4] The combined efforts of students, teachers and professional staff make this process more easily adopted and ultimately more effective.

In May, several faculty attended a session on e-portfolios at Concordia’s Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance. Selma Hamdani (Psychology) made the following observations after that session:

The most striking use for the e-portfolio is when it is used as a learning tool to support under-performing students through self-regulation. It appears to serve as a safe space where students can develop strategies for success without feelings of failure. The reflection process promoted by this tool supports students in self-regulation and self-awareness, thus fostering intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset view, all while providing students an amnesty in mistakes and mistake-reporting.

E-portfolios can be a valuable pedagogical tool to track learning, promote reflections and metacognition, or just be a safe, sharable platform to house student work. The ease with which documents can be consolidated and shared in e-portfolios facilitates vertical and horizontal integration between courses. The growth and development of the e-portfolio creator can be observed by the creator themselves or by an evaluator, such as a teacher, multiple teachers or an internship director.

E-portfolios are already used in the social science disciplines. However, there is much disparity between the methods and platforms used. E-portfolios seem like particularly potent tools that could benefit technical programs, certificates and even discipline-specific profiles.

A successful e-portfolio tracks evidence of desired learning outcomes through active learner engagement, a sense of agency and responsibility for learning, and the student’s reflection on the results as well as the process of learning. Teachers are privy to otherwise invisible internal processes and conversations that display evolving understanding, self-regulation and active meaning-making by their students.

Einat Idan is a pedagogical counsellor at Dawson’s Office of Academic Development. Before moving to the CEGEP network, she worked on the development of an e-portfolio tool based on Self-Regulated Learning theory at Concordia University. For further questions about e-portfolio possibilities, contact Einat Idan.

Further reading

Bass, Randy: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/electronic-portfolios-a-path-to-the-future-of-learning/4582.

Beckers, J., Dolmans, D.H.J.M., & van Merriënboer, J.J.G. e-Portfolios enhancing students’ self-directed learning: A systematic review of influencing factors. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32;2 (2016): 32-46.

Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 9;3 (2018). Special issue devoted to eportfolios (https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/cjsotl_rcacea/issue/view/838).

International Journal of ePortfolio: http://www.theijep.com/about.html.

Zimmerman, B.J. Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41;2 (2002): 64-70.

Endnotes

[1] A. Schmidt Hanbidge, C. McMillan and K.W. Scholz, “Engaging with ePortfolios: Teaching Social Work Competencies through a Program-wide Curriculum” The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 9:3 (2018): https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.3.3.

[2] C.E. Watson, G.D. Kuh, T. Rhodes, T. P. Light and H. L. Chen, “ePortfolios – The eleventh high impact practice” International Journal of ePortfolio 6:2 (2016): 66; http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP254.pdf.

[3] P.C. Abrami, E. Bures, E. Idan, E. Meyer, V. Venkatesh and A. Wade, “Electronic portfolio encouraging active and reflective learning (ePEARL)” in R. Azevedo & V. Aleven (eds.) International handbook of metacognition and learning technologies (New York: Springer Science + Business Media, 2013): 503-515.

[4] C.E. Watson, G.D. Kuh, T. Rhodes, T.P. Light and H.L. Chen, “ePortfolios – The eleventh high impact practice” International Journal of ePortfolio 6:2 (2016): 65.