E-Portfolio Handout
Focus On Learning June 2013
Overview
An e-portfolio is a digital representation of a portfolio. The author generates items (called artifacts) in a digital format and places them in the e-portfolio. It can be used by faculty or students. It can have the same components as a paper portfolio. The difference is that it lives on a computer instead of on paper. Like a paper portfolio, an e-portfolio can be used:
to apply for career positions.
to apply for post-secondary.
by students to represent themselves as learners.
as an assessment piece. The time period can span a course or a program.
for performance assessment.
The digital format allows your portfolio to be dynamic. In other words, it can be easily changed at any time. It can contain rich content: multimedia, hyperlinks, videos, audio, blogs. The portfolio can be easily viewed by a variety of people. There is a real opportunity to show your creativity to the world.
Presenting An E-Portfolio
Once you have completed your e-portfolio, you have a variety of ways to deliver it:
DVD or USB stick.
Hosted web site.
Learning management system.
Tools
First and foremost remember the pedagogy comes first, not the tool. There are a wide variety of tools available. A few are listed here.
Adobe Acrobat
WordPress
Google docs
PowerPoint
Prezi
Eportfolio.org
A Few Quotes
"The most important thing I learned from using an e-portfolio was how to look at the “big picture”. In school so far, we’ve studied many accounting concepts. However, this is the first time that I have actually slowed down and taken all these small concepts and tried to understand how they are related in the grand scheme of things".
Student in accounting at Waterloo University
“The themes and the actual e-portfolio program might not be completely evident during the course and content work/volunteer experiences, but in retrospect, they definitely haveimpacted the way I think and interact in the workplace and the e-portfolio program gave me some “website-creating” experience that gave me some ‘pull’ in the workforce."
Student in speech communications at Waterloo University
When interviewing a college student for a possible apprenticeship, being able to look at the student’s work ahead of the interview certainly gives me a deeper insight into the student’s body of work.
Employer in the construction industry
I have watched students who had very little confidence grow in self-belief through their pride in their e-portfolio.
John Pallister, e-portfolio practioner