Unit 1: E-Portfolios

The following are two summaries, one of an article and the other a video, that discuss the topic of e-portfolios.

Are electronic portfolios a good idea for teacher education?

Wetzel and Strudler ask an interesting question, “Are electronic portfolios a good idea for teacher education?” Portfolios themselves have become common practice, and as the authors point out 89% of schools, colleges and departments of education already use portfolios for some type of assessment. However, e-portfolios are relatively new so questions about its use are bound to arise.

The article points out two main uses for portfolios. Portfolios are a documentation of a students learning progress which includes artifacts, work samples and reflections of the learning journey. Many portfolios take a constructivist approach with students themselves choosing what to place in their portfolios. However, in some programs standardized directions are given for artifact selection and organization. These portfolios are constructed with the intentions of outside readers in mind and are used for accreditation. Some argue that portfolio creations should be for either student reflection OR for assessment and if one portfolio is to serve two purposes, neither will be done well.

Wetzel and Strudler found benefits to using e-portfolios to include:

* increased opportunities to reflect

* better access to and organization of professional documents

* increased technology skills

* better understanding of teaching standards

* better faculty access for assessing student work

* increased faculty communication with students

* improved tracking of student performance for purposes of accreditation

* improved tracking of student performance for purposes of improvement

Disadvantages of e-portfolios identified by Wetzel and Strudler include:

          * issues pertaining to program implementation

          * issues pertaining to access to and reliability of the technology

          * issues of time and effort expended

          * lack of compatibility with faculty members’ beliefs, values, and needs

Wetzel and Strudler wrote this report 5 years ago. Since then, access to and reliability of technology as greatly increased. Also, as e-portfolios are used more frequently by an institution the ‘kinks’ to program implementation are ‘ironed out’. As well, as faculty members become more accustomed to technology in their everyday world this might cause the compatibility issues with faculty member’s beliefs, values, and needs to lessen. Although the authors do not come out and answer the question “Are electronic portfolios a good idea for teacher education?” the evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages associated with electronic portfolios.

E-portfolios for starters

The short YouTube video “E-portfolios for starters” list four main reasons why to use e-portfolios. Although it is aimed at student teachers, these reasons apply to many other individuals as well.

The four main reasons to use e-portfolios are:

          * to help keep track of work, work samples, and artifacts

          * to increase the ease of sharing information and collaboration with others

          * to showcase activities and achievements

          * to store personal reflections

Davr055 (2008). e-portfolios for starters, YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6B3tujXlbdk

Wetzel, K. & Strudler, N. (2008). Are Electronic Portfolios a Good Idea for Teacher Education?. In K. McFerrin et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2008 (pp. 181-186). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.