E Portfolios

This paper discusses the importance of holistic assessment in the teaching and learning process at all levels of education, both in schools and in higher education institutions. Redesigning classroom assessment for holistic learning to improve student learning is not a new idea. Educators conduct assessment for a variety of purposes such as determining the level of student academic achievement or identifying weaknesses and strengths of students. Educators need to be equipped with ways to maintain these processes to determine the quality of student achievement. Assessment should reflect the understanding that learning is a complex process by engaging a varied selection of techniques, comprising those that require real and authentic performance, utilising them over a period so as to disclose evolution, progress, and emergent steps of integration. The assessment should be continuous and balanced. Implementing holistic assessment benefits the students, teachers and stakeholders. Educato...

E-portfolio is a promising approach to develop teachers into reflective practitioners who show that they can adapt to new technologies, new criteria, and new environments. The current research explored the quality of EFL student teachers’ e-portfolios and their attitudes towards using them. The research was conducted on 30 EFL female student teachers at Princess Noura bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia. The participants were engaging in practical training at schools and reflecting their skills and experiences in their e-portfolios. This research posed further questions about the relationships between the quality of EFL student teachers’ e-portfolios, their attitudes towards using them and their teaching performance. In order to explore the possible answers, the participants’ teaching performance were observed, their e-portfolios were evaluated by a rubric, and a 24-item questionnaire was administered to them. The results proved high proficiency level of the EFL student teache...

Most tertiary students dream about their futures at some time during their studies, and the creation of a portfolio can play an important role in the formation of future identity. In today’s culture, technology is rapidly expanding and changing and our society is becoming progressively more networked, digitilised and globalised. Teaching and learning processes are affected by technological developments. and the portfolio has been modified to utilise this technology (Penny & Kinslow, 2006). The process of developing electronic portfolios promoted a technology-enriched environment for creative arts students to cultivate their learning and knowledge. This paper reports from an OLT (formerly ALTC) funded project at its mid-way point. The project is introducing ePortfolios to students through existing curriculum in the creative and performing arts at four universities in Australia. The project forms part of continuing work to research practices in technology supported teaching and learning.

La ideal original del portafolio digital parte de la experiencia llevada a cabo en el «Proyecto de Exhibiciones» cuyo «objetivo era analizar sistemas escolares de evaluacion del desempeno o exhibiciones» (Niguidula, 265). En este contexto, el porfolio digital pretendia ser algo mas que la simple automatizacion del proceso de almacenar los trabajos escolares de manera que las escuelas pudieran utilizarlos para sus procesos de reforma. En general, el objetivo primordial de un portafolio va mas alla de la simple calificacion de los productos que lo componen, es decir, de la evaluacion de los trabajos de los estudiantes. Se trata de examinar estos trabajos (King y Campbell-Alian, 211) y ver que nos dicen sobre el proceso de aprendizaje, de manera que podamos reflexionar sobre nuestros metodos didacticos, nuestra forma de ensenar y poder implementar los cambios necesarios que conduzcan «a una ensenanza y una evaluacion mas centrada en el alumno» (221). Del mismo modo, como veremos, tambi...

Abstract: In these days the learning experience is no longer confined within the four walls of a classroom. Computers and primarily the Internet have broadened this horizon by creating a way of delivering education that is known as eLearning. In the meantime, the Internet or, more precisely, the Web is heading towards a new paradigm where the user is no longer just a consumer of information and becomes an active part in the communication. This two-way channel where the user takes the role of the producer of content triggered the ...

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is a combination of projects or a set of business practices that integrates projects under the sponsorship organizations. These require different approaches, strategies, models, and practices when managing projects and programs within the portfolio. In Nigeria, many organizations have projects, subsidiaries, and branches in many cities across the country. However, they fold, abandoned, temporarily suspended or close within a decade or two, which is worrisome. These are linked to their PPM practices. As such, the aim of this paper is to identify, assess and discuss the PPM practices in Nigeria’s construction organizations with a view to examining the effects of such practices on the project portfolios. The research reviewed data from journals, conference/seminar/workshop papers, the internet etc. on the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) related fields and areas that help to identify, and narrow fourteen-PPM practices within the Nigerian and Globa...

Since 2009, the training for pre-service secondary school teachers of English consists of a 60 ECTS Master's course that includes a 250-hour stay in a secondary or language school. The Master's course differs from other academic programmes in its emphasis on developing students' professional knowledge and competences as teachers rather than on preparing them to conduct research as in other PhD and research-focused postgraduate programmes. The materials we hereby present were designed for the English specialisation, part of the programme jointly delivered by Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, a programme conceived within the framework of realistic teacher education (Esteve 2013, Korthagen 2011, 2001) that provides student teachers with opportunities to reflect on and internalise what they learn in the academic and the school contexts, connecting them in a meaningful and transformative way, and also placing a strong emphasis on the development of core practices (Grossman, Hammerness & McDonald, 2009; Grossman & McDonald, 2008) and discipline-specific knowledge. To bridge the gap between the academic and professional contexts, we present e-portfolios as a mediation tool (Wertsch, 2004) that prompts student teachers to engage in reflection and analysis using visual and textual media. The e-portfolio facilitates the development of a professional identity in the context of pre-service teacher education due to the role discourse plays in mediating student teachers' epistemological, metacognitive and professional development. Through the e-portfolio, student teachers articulate the ongoing development of their identity as ESOL teachers, which revolves around these components: Their beliefs about language, language teaching and learning; their acquisition of core teaching competences and the knowledge of the language and culture of the specialisation; and, finally, their experiences participating in professional and academic communities of practice. By connecting the key components of teacher identity to examples of students' texts, we justify the pertinence of using e-portfolios to successfully mediate STs' socialisation into the professional community, to resolve the conflicts between their student and teacher identities and to activate long-term professional growth.

Abstract: This article reports on the development and implementation of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Electronic Portfolio (ePortfolio) Project. The goal of the NSF ePortfolio Project was to develop an objective, evidence-based approach to measuring student learning as the result participating in a mentored research experience. The project developed an undergraduate research assessment instrument, the NSF Electronic Rubric, to examine student research products before and after a research experience. That tool is ...

Initial teacher education has gone through some radical changes in the past two decades: the two-cycled, Bologna-type system was introduced in 2006, but a few years later, in 2013 it was restored to the so-called undivided system. In resonance with international trends and national processes and developments, these reforms resulted in the appearance of some new elements in teacher education such as the mentoring system or the use of portfolios, while some other existing components with longer traditions (e.g. the pillar of practice schools) have gained even more importance. This paper aims to summarize and reflect on these changes and elements of initial teacher education through a critical pair of lenses, focusing on teacher preparation for lower and upper secondary education (ISCED levels 2 and 3) by contextualizing teacher education and revealing the challenges and progressive elements.

Executive summary Executive summary This report presents the findings of a 30-month project at four Australian universities, where we documented the impact of student electronic portfolio use on teaching and learning in music and other creative and performing arts. From November 2011 to April 2014, the CAPA (creative and performing arts ePortfolio project) has refined and validated ePortfolio practices to support and enhance quality learning and teaching by university staff. Various terms are used for electronic portfolios, among them, ‘e‐folio’, e-portfolio’, i-folio’, ‘i-portfolio’, web-folio’. This report uses the term ‘ePortfolio’ to cover all these terms. Researchers from Curtin University, Griffith University, the University of Sydney, the University of Western Sydney used and evaluated ePortfolios in their teaching of music and other creative and performing arts during the 30-month period. In addition to investigating the effects of ePortfolios on students, their identity, and the enhancement of learning in a technology environment, we report the impact on teachers and their responses to teaching through the use of ePortfolios. The ways in which students’ learning and academics’ teaching respond to the use of ePortfolios differ between the universities: each has different degrees in these disciplines and different policies and uses for ePortfolio-based work. The ePortfolio project was driven by the learning process rather than the technological tool and it is expected that the findings of this study can inform future curriculum, policy and practice for creative and performing arts students in Australian tertiary institutions. The creative application and development of an ePortfolio as a pedagogic innovation in learning and teaching in higher education lies in strategies that students acquire for selecting authentic evidence to document achievements and skills as graduates. ePortfolio development involves problem solving, decision-making, reflection, organisation, and critical thinking by students developing a learning ‘story’ that accurately represents skills learnt and competencies developed. This report documents the pedagogic and technological undertaking of ePortfolio development for creative and performing arts students and explores how student-­‐artists perceive themselves, and their choice of evidence selected to showcase development; this highlights aspects of artistic identity versus professional career identity, and the ways in which these different identities are engaged during ePortfolio construction and, subsequently, when an ePortfolio is used to represent a student’s profile. The most significant outcomes are: a community website for exchanging information about ePortfolios among the wider public (http:/www.capaeportfolios.ning.; an open-­‐source website to provide practical assistance for university students and staff in designing and using ePortfolio (http:/www.eportfolioassist.com.au); national and international refereed conference presentations, refereed journal papers, and book chapters (see Appendix A); two student encounter days focusing on student-­‐led presentations of their own ePortfolios and including staff professional learning sessions. This report summarises data from the experiences of academics and students where an ePortfolio has been implemented into curriculum for creative and performing arts degree programs from November 2011 to March 2014 (Table 1). The results show that ePortfolios allow students to demonstrate their artistic capabilities, and increased their ability to plan, implement and assess their learning reflectively and to understand documentation relevant to performing arts careers. Students developed greater competencies in their educational beliefs, pedagogical skills, university generic attributes, technological expertise, and ability to address the parameters commonly used by employer groups and professional bodies. Through exploring each institution’s experience, we found that ePortfolio creation allows students to achieve a demonstration of artistic capabilities in performance, music technology, musicology, composition and writing. We showed that students increase their ability to plan, implement and assess their learning reflectively and to understand documentation relevant to a career. An ePortfolio is a valuable tool to document students’ learning and to use this for future employment as a graduate. The literature published from the project and the case studies demonstrate an overall agreed intention to implement ePortfolio with students of music and the creative arts. ePortfolios are beneficial to students in many ways, although the approach differs at each institution. In individual subjects, ePortfolios are a tool for assessment, for encouraging student interactions, and for the collation of small, discrete tasks through which achieving the objectives of a subject can be seen from a student perspective. The role of an ePortfolio and its use…

To understand the needs of our students we based on a survey (Babo et al. 2010) conducted by a group of teachers of several schools of the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto within a study to gauge the Internet usage habits of our students. Based on the survey and in several case studies (Misko et al. 2004; Gras 2005) of others educational institutions we obtained the basis for the PEACE system architecture. This system supports several tools and services, integrated in an transparent and personalized environment, that includes repositories, social networks, intelligent tutors, recommendation systems, automatic evaluators, virtual classrooms and 3D avatars.

Initial teacher education has gone through some radical changes in the past two decades: the two-cycled, Bologna-type system was introduced in 2006, but a few years later, in 2013 it was restored to the so-called undivided system. In resonance with international trends and national processes and developments, these reforms resulted in the appearance of some new elements in teacher education such as the mentoring system or the use of portfolios, while some other existing components with longer traditions (e.g. the pillar of practice schools) have gained even more importance. This paper aims to summarize and reflect on these changes and elements of initial teacher education through a critical pair of lenses, focusing on teacher preparation for lower and upper secondary education (ISCED levels 2 and 3) by contextualizing teacher education and revealing the challenges and progressive elements.

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is a combination of projects or a set of business practices that integrates projects under the sponsorship organizations. These require different approaches, strategies, models, and practices when managing projects and programs within the portfolio. In Nigeria, many organizations have projects, subsidiaries, and branches in many cities across the country. However, they fold, abandoned, temporarily suspended or close within a decade or two, which is worrisome. These are linked to their PPM practices. As such, the aim of this paper is to identify, assess and discuss the PPM practices in Nigeria’s construction organizations with a view to examining the effects of such practices on the project portfolios. The research reviewed data from journals, conference/seminar/workshop papers, the internet etc. on the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) related fields and areas that help to identify, and narrow fourteen-PPM practices within the Nigerian and Globa...

This paper discusses the importance of holistic assessment in the teaching and learning process at all levels of education, both in schools and in higher education institutions. Redesigning classroom assessment for holistic learning to improve student learning is not a new idea. Educators conduct assessment for a variety of purposes such as determining the level of student academic achievement or identifying weaknesses and strengths of students. Educators need to be equipped with ways to maintain these processes to determine the quality of student achievement. Assessment should reflect the understanding that learning is a complex process by engaging a varied selection of techniques, comprising those that require real and authentic performance, utilising them over a period so as to disclose evolution, progress, and emergent steps of integration. The assessment should be continuous and balanced. Implementing holistic assessment benefits the students, teachers and stakeholders. Educato...

This study examines the use of e-portfolios for ESL (English as a second language) learners. The data were collected by reviewing 11 empirical studies from 2010–2012 in order to synthesize meaningful information about e-portfolios for ESL/EFL (English as a foreign language) acquisition. The studies were coded into two main categories: learning gains, including language proficiency and assessment, and technical skills. The findings showed that using e-portfolios motivated and enhanced students’ writing, language learning, assessment, and technical skills. The findings also revealed that there was a questionable attitude among educators about the differences between using paper-based portfolios and e-portfolios for writing development. Finally, the review suggested e-portfolios for ecological issues and educational purposes.

This study aims to examine reflective capacity among students when learning about computers in education. The study involved 35 e-portfolios written by first-year students who enrolled on the Computers in Education course in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All the students taking this course were required to publish “reflections” based on their weekly learning activities via individual e-portfolios. Thematic analysis was done using Nvivo 10 software to categorize the content of the students’ reflections. The analysis reveals that a large percentage of the “reflections” were non-reflective rather than reflective actions. This finding has implications for the way the course is designed, requiring a supportive environment, mentoring and group discussions, as reflective thinking is not spontaneous, but should be deliberately stimulated by the educational context.

Initial teacher education has gone through some radical changes in the past two decades: the two -cycled, Bologna -type system was introduced in 2006, but a few years later, in 2013 it was restored to the so -called undivided system. In resonance with international trends and national processes and developments, these reforms resulted in the appearance of some new elements in teacher education such as the mentoring system or the use of portfolios, while some other existing components with longer traditions (e.g. the pillar of practice schools) have gained even more importance. This paper aims to summarize and reflect on these changes and elements of initial teacher education through a critical pair of lenses, focusing on teacher preparation for lower and upper secondary education (ISCED levels 2 and 3) by contextualizing teacher education and revealing the challenges and progressive elements.

Abstract: This article reports on the development and implementation of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Electronic Portfolio (ePortfolio) Project. The goal of the NSF ePortfolio Project was to develop an objective, evidence-based approach to measuring student learning as the result participating in a mentored research experience. The project developed an undergraduate research assessment instrument, the NSF Electronic Rubric, to examine student research products before and after a research experience. That tool is ...

Este trabalho e o produto final de uma pesquisa realizada no Mestrado Profissional em Ensino Tecnologico – MPET, no Instituto Federal de Educacao, Ciencia e Tecnologia do Amazonas – IFAM/CMC, onde se discute os usos de um portfolio online (www.caldogrosso.wordpress.com) como instrumento de visibilizacao e divulgacao de processos educativos e trajetorias docentes, realizando uma fusao entre o conceito dos portfolios profissionais em seus aspectos de apelo visual e estetico e dos aspectos critico-reflexivos dos portfolios academicos, definindo um terceiro modelo.

Ce numéro spécial repose sur différentes études liées au portfolio numérique en enseignement supérieur. Ce texte de cadrage propose un survol des visées et des cadres de référence des articles qui y sont réunis, en plus d’établir un éventail de contextes d’implantation du portfolio numérique au Canada et en Europe. Divers enjeux émanant de cette publication sont également identifiés afin de contribuer à la réflexion de ceux qui utilisent cet outil de près ou de loin, ou qui songent à son implantation dans un cours ou un programme de formation. This special issue is based on various studies related to the digital portfolio in higher education. This scoping text provides an overview of the aims and conceptual frameworks of the articles that are brought together, as well as establishing a range of digital portfolio implementation contexts in Canada and Europe. In addition, various issues emanating from this publication are identified to contribute to the reflection of those who use thi...

This research takes place in the context of the “Espace Entreprise” (literally, “business space”) in the Swiss canton of Geneva. This institution offers internships after compulsory school to respond to the lack of apprenticeship opportunities in the commerce sector. The present paper focuses on a digital platform called FOCUS. This platform offers a set of tools that aim to train and certify trainees’ professional skills and attitudes. In particular, this paper examines the perceptions of three assessment and reflective tools: The assessment of “missions” that trainees have to carry out, a systematic self-assessment of professional attitude, and a personal journal. Thematic analysis of interviews with trainees and trainers shows a recurring discourse about two key processes: (1) Making explicit the assessment criteria set up on the platform, (2) the co-assessment between trainee(s) and trainers. The perceptions expressed show tensions felt between the different functions of the thr...

This digital PhD Thesis and a/r/tographic study is a multimodal living inquiry, curated as a digital collection of images, essays and ethnographic video, and situated within embodied praxis. The findings from the inquiry inform our understanding of the complex yet commensurate building of identities in art education.

Abstract: In these days the learning experience is no longer confined within the four walls of a classroom. Computers and primarily the Internet have broadened this horizon by creating a way of delivering education that is known as eLearning. In the meantime, the Internet or, more precisely, the Web is heading towards a new paradigm where the user is no longer just a consumer of information and becomes an active part in the communication. This two-way channel where the user takes the role of the producer of content triggered the ...

With an easier access to knowledge and information, academics needed to find new ways to study, learn, teach, re-search and even communicate (Gras, 2005). Learning Management System (LMS) plays an increasing role in this context, since it aims to making available educational resources and allowing communication and collaboration among teachers and students (Harman, 2007; Babo et al. 2010).

E-portfolios are becoming an increasingly common component of higher education programmes, serving as constructivist learning spaces where students can reflect on their learning journeys, as centralised collections of work on which students can be assessed, and as integrated showcases where students can demonstrate their accomplishments to potential employers. At the same time, many working professionals are currently being required or encouraged to build e-portfolios which demonstrate continuing learning for the purposes of maintaining employment, seeking promotion, and applying for new positions. Pre-service teacher education courses are among the higher education programmes where participants are now commonly asked to build e-portfolios which they will be able to continue to expand and develop once they have obtained employment as teachers. This chapter is based on the reflections of two teacher educators in a pre-service teacher education programme in Australia, looking back on ...

E-portfolio is a promising approach to develop teachers into reflective practitioners who show that they can adapt to new technologies, new criteria, and new environments. The current research explored the quality of EFL student teachers’ e-portfolios and their attitudes towards using them. The research was conducted on 30 EFL female student teachers at Princess Noura bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia. The participants were engaging in practical training at schools and reflecting their skills and experiences in their e-portfolios. This research posed further questions about the relationships between the quality of EFL student teachers’ e-portfolios, their attitudes towards using them and their teaching performance. In order to explore the possible answers, the participants’ teaching performance were observed, their e-portfolios were evaluated by a rubric, and a 24-item questionnaire was administered to them. The results proved high proficiency level of the EFL student teache...