PURPOSE

To document learning competencies, enable meta-analysis and personal reflection, and improve communication skills through the practice of crafting an online portfolio.

DESCRIPTION

ePortfolios are an online collection of student findings, organized by design in an efficient and accessible manner.

UNDERLYING EDUCATIONAL THEORIES

problem solving, peer learning, constructivism

PEDAGOGICAL BENEFITS

·        ePortfolios are flexible so that students may pursue their own interests through self-guided exploration. Students can customize how they deliver their work and supplement their ePortfolios with other media such as graphics, videos, or novels.

·        Through the practice of creating and exploring ePortfolios, students can learn to recognize the value of incorporating other perspectives into their work in order to better identify, strengthen, and consolidate their learning experiences.

·        ePortfolios can assist in connecting a variety of different experiences, allowing students with diverse perspectives to develop competencies that will be relevant to both their current studies and their future professional careers.

·        Students have a sense of ownership and control over the content they want to convey.

·        ePortfolios can support students in transfer of knowledge from one setting to another.

STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. Students are presented with analytical, open-ended design problems that require guided self-directed learning. Students have flexibility to answer the problems based on their own interests.

2. Students then collectively consolidate the answers and present them in the ePortfolios. Instructors should promote students’ motivation to consider different approaches to problem solving based on their learning experiences.

3. In selecting an online platform, instructors should consider technological limitations, lack of educational support, individual capabilities, and design implementations.

4. In some cases, ePortfolios can be interconnected and built up from multiple problems throughout the courses. Students must build a narrative that connects their selected work in order to create cohesive ePortfolios.

5. Instructors should occasionally enable students to study and assess the work of other students in order to broaden their perspectives.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

i.Tucker, T., Vernooij, E., LaBore, C., Wolf, A., Bo-Linn, C., Baird, R., Dancholvichit, N., Liebenberg, L. (2020). “Transforming an Engineering Design Course into an Engaging Learning Experience using ePortfolios,” in The 127^th ASEE Annual Conference [Technical Session]. The American Society for Engineering Education: Montreal, Canada (Virtual Conference). 

ii.Gikandi, J.W. (2019). “Promoting Competence-Based Learning and Assessment Through Innovative Use of Electronic Portfolios,” in Handbook of Research on Promoting Higher-Order Skills and Global Competencies in Life and Work (pp. 181-208). IGI Global. 

iii.Scholz, K., Tse, C., Lithgow, K. (2017) Unifying Experiences: Learner and Instructor Approaches and Reactions to ePortfolio Usage in Higher Education, International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(2),139-150.