The
Value of an Eportfolio in Online Learning
Eportfolio or an electronic portfolio is
a primary tool for online instructors to assess learning outcome of the
students. Baker (2005) defines eportfolio as “…an electronic portfolio of
acquired learning – knowledge, skills and abilities acquired through formal,
non-formal, informal, accidental and incidental learning.” Eportfolio approach
to assessment provides the online instructors to document what the learners’
accomplish and how they are engaged in critical reflection of knowledge gained
through variety of activities such as class presentation, writing reports/journals
and engaging in collaborative activities. This approach not only benefits online
instructors to assess and record students’ acquired learning, it also benefits students
by empowering them to have control over their learning development and
strategies as well as allows them to self assess and develop critical thinking
skills. In this regard, Pelliccion & Dixon (2008) state:
This approach provides students with the opportunity to
become stakeholders in their own progress and also provides an environment for
deep learning to occur. An ePortfolio approach that spans a course of study and
beyond to a professional setting allows participants to originate and maintain
‘conversations’ about their learning and by doing so they become active in
formative assessment rather than passive receivers of graded results. Formative
learning activities such as ePortfolios shift the focus of the traditional
higher education paradigm as students are encouraged to take responsibility for
what and how they learn.(p. 752)
In my experience, instructors who adopt eportfolio in their
teaching assessment, create an environment for their students in a way that
course content is meaningful and leads to high level of understanding while
opens up possibilities for personal growth such as confidence building, team
work and active-positive thinking.
Baker (2005) argues that eportfolio approach
of assessment advanced from portfolio learning assessment. I was first exposed
to this approach in late 1990s when I took my first Women Studies course at
Langara College with an inspiring mentor, Patricia Moore. Throughout the
course, the instructor used a collection of ways to assess students learning
outcome. For example, instead of only relying on a mid- term or a final exam, they
were engaged in different activities such as presenting on a topic of interest,
engaging in group discussions throughout the course, writing summary of certain
readings as well as writing a research paper. Students also were empowered to
critically reflect on their learning achievements leading someone like me to be
in charge of my own development. The feedback from the instructor and peers was
another source of my empowerment allowing me to be aware of my strengths and
weaknesses resulting in my interest to progress my higher education in Women’s
Studies at UBC and achieve my BA and MA in this interesting discipline.
According
to Baker (2005), some of the advantages of a portfolio based assessment include
the following:
- It provides a wealth of information for instructional decisions;
- It allows for effective means of communicating students’ developmental status and progress;
- It can serve to motivate students and promote student self-assessment and self-understanding
- It contextualizes assessment and provides a basis for challenging formal test results that is not authentic or reliable, e.g., a single test score.
In
the past few days, I learned more details about eportfolios through PIDP 4150
online course. Without any doubt I argue that the approach of eportfolio
assessment is a great fit for online teaching and find this method of
assessment very effective particularly for instructors who adopt experiential
learning in the design and delivery of an online course. This is because similar
to portfolio assessment, eportfolio approach makes learners to be more creative
and more motivated to successfully finish the online course as well as it
provides an opportunity to learners to self assess their learning outcomes and
develop skills in critical reflection.
My
goal is to teach online courses in the near future and to engage in
facilitation of learning strategies which incorporate eportfolio style of
assessment. I would like to finish this blog by quoting the following statement
by Barker, “Future Ed
is deeply concerned that there be collaboration between and among ePortfolio developments
in order that this learning innovation achieves its potential for improving learning
systems and promoting lifelong learning. (p. 10)
References
Barker K.C. (2005). Eportfolio for the
assessment of learning. Retrieved from http://www.futured.com/documents/FuturEdePortfolioforAssessmentWhitePaper_000.pdf
Pelliccione l., Dixone, K. (2008)
Portfolios: Beyond assessment to empowerment in the learning landscape.
Conference proceedings Ascilite 2008. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/pelliccione.pdf
