Technology Integration
E-Portfolios (Electronic Portfolios)
Why use them? (Value it brings to the classroom)
E-portfolio production affords several uses in the teaching profession for both teachers and students during all aspects of their progression. The purpose of this section is to identify and describe some of these uses.
Teachers
In recent years, e-portfolios have played a key role in many aspects of the teaching profession. Originally, portfolios were introduced into the teaching profession as a more holistic representation of teacher practices. Although standardized tests evaluated content knowledge among teacher candidates, they could not document teaching abilities. Portfolios were believed to document pedagogical skills and better represent teacher characteristics. The documentation and retrieval of teacher skills has been facilitated in recent years by the introduction of electronic portfolios. Through modern computer technologies, e-portfolios are cheaper to store, retrieve, share, aggregate, and mass produce than are traditional paper-based portfolios because all documents are electronic files that can be copied and distributed via computers. Today, e-portfolios are used among teachers and teachers-in-training to
- Organize and store teaching resources for later use
- Acquire technology skills
- Obtain employment
- Participate in project-based learning and alternative assessments
- Facilitate professional development through evidence collection, reflection, self-study, and classroom analysis
- Collect and interpret information about specific students to better meet their needs
- Obtain advanced teacher certification
- Facilitate the accreditation of teacher education programs
- Document growth of self and students over time.
Students
E-portfolio production has also been used successfully among students for developmental purposes. In most instances, its affordances mirror those of teachers; such uses include:
- Acquiring/perfecting technology skills
- Facilitating data collection, organization, and analysis of subject-related information
- Engaging in performance-based assessments and/or project-based learning
- Obtaining employment or entrance into higher education
- Representing current skills in specific areas
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