Technology Integration
E-Portfolios (Electronic Portfolios)
What are they?
An electronic portfolio (commonly known as an e-portfolio) is a collection of artifacts housed in an electronic format and organized to demonstrate specific goals and objectives.
Adopted from other professions (including art, business, and architecture) as a means to highlight skill, represent work, and organize information, e-portfolios are used by teachers and students to demonstrate their abilities in various tasks and skills through the inclusion and organization of audio, visual, graphic, and textual artifacts. Artifacts include, but are not limited to work samples, formal and informal assessments, resumes, teaching/learning philosophies, lesson plans, course projects, and personal reflections.
Several paper-based and digital tools exist for the storage, review, and retrieval of artifacts. These include, but are not limited to document storage systems, online scrapbooks, and Blogs. Portfolios differ from these systems based on their purpose for creation. All works included in portfolios function to further specific purpose(s) as defined by the creator. For example, both scrapbooks and portfolios document events through the use of text, image, and audio-visual means. Although scrapbooks serve to informally document and describe experiences, portfolios may support vastly different goals. Currently, many students and teachers create portfolios to document and demonstrate skills, obtain employment, organize teaching resources, reflect on practice for professional growth, obtain advanced certification, or satisfy program accreditation requirements.
Generally the purpose of a portfolio depends on the situation of the person creating it. Indeed, portfolios have infiltrated all levels of the teaching profession and are employed for various purposes by K-12 students, teachers, teacher educators, and student teachers.
Regardless of their function, electronic portfolios are digital, computer-constructed creations. Although they may contain products originally made through other means, these works are somehow digitized (e.g., scanned, photographed, or transcribed) and housed electronically. Several media exist for storing electronic portfolios. Some of the more popular methods include websites, Blogs, online databases, CD/DVD-ROMs, digital audio players, SD cards, and USB flash drives. Given the file size of typical electronic portfolios, 3.5” floppy disks are generally not used for storage purposes.
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