E-Portfolios

ELI is no longer actively pursuing this topic. This page is provided as an historical resource; it is not being updated or actively managed.

Individuals and institutions are often asked to provide a record of their accomplishments, whether to show progress in mastering a field or to document educational outcomes. E-portfolios have emerged as a valuable online tool that learners, faculty, and institutions can use to collect, store, update, and share information. E-portfolios allow students to reflect on their learning, communicate with instructors, document credentials, and provide potential employers with examples of their work. Faculty use teaching e-portfolios to easily capture and share teaching and learning methods, both to advance pedagogy and for promotions and tenure. Colleges and universities use institutional e-portfolios to provide accessible, persistent collections of data, analyses, and samples of student and faculty achievement that demonstrate institutional success.

Questions the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) explores include:

• How can e-portfolios help students more effectively reflect on their learning experiences and thus enhance learning?
• How can e-portfolios help faculty reflect on and document their accomplishments?
• What are the policy implications of e-portfolios (security, privacy, access, intellectual property, definition of official record, need for institutional gatekeepers, FERPA)?
• What are the support and long-term maintenance implications of e-portfolios (cost, storage, access, archiving)?
• What kind of institutional e-portfolios help document achievements while contributing to institutional improvement?

Get an Overview of the Topic

• Paul Gathercoal et al., "On Implementing Web-Based Electronic Portfolios," EDUCAUSE Quarterly , Vol. 37, No. 2, 2002.
• John C. Ittelson, "Building an E-dentity for Each Student," EDUCAUSE Quarterly , Vo. 24, No. 4, 2001.
• George Lorenzo and John Ittelson, An Overview of E-Portfolios, The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, July 2005.
• George Lorenzo and John Ittelson, An Overview of Institutional E-Portfolios, The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, September 2005.
• George Lorenzo and John Ittelson, Demonstrating and Assessing Student Learning with E-Portfolios, The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, October 2005.

See Examples

• eFolio Minnesota
  eFolio Minnesota provides all Minnesota residents and students with the opportunity to create e-portfolios for lifelong learning.
• Gallery of Teaching and Learning, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
  The gallery features examples of electronic course and teaching portfolios that reflect the scholarship of teaching and learning.
• Indiana@Work
  The Indiana@Work e-portfolio project offers lifelong personal e-portfolio accounts and services to Indiana citizens, in addition to company e-portfolio Web sites for Indiana businesses.
• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
  IUPUI uses e-portfolios to help undergraduates document their progress toward seven campus-wide principles of undergraduate learning (see also http://www.iport.iupui.edu/teach/teach_studenteport.htm).
• LaGuardia Community College
  LaGuardia Community College uses e-portfolios to help its students share their cultural background with each other and faculty, as well as to develop their identities as members of disciplines, professions, and the academic community in general.
• The University of Denver Portfolio Community System
  DUPC is a fully developed Web-based application that provides the university community with a searchable database of electronic portfolios for students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as resources such as an assessment rubric library. It was created through a joint effort involving DU students, faculty members, and staff.
• The Urban Universities Portfolio Project
  The Urban Universities Portfolio Project (UUPP) was a collaboration among six urban public universities to develop prototypes of electronic institutional portfolios. The site links to institutional e-portfolios from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Portland State University, and others.
• Virginia Tech Electronic Portfolios
  VTeP is an online, personal information management system designed to give students, faculty, and staff an efficient way to collect, integrate, and share a wide variety of academic, career, and personal information.

Access Presentations

• Helen C. Barrett, "The ePortfolio: A Revolutionary Tool for Education and Training?" ePortfolio 2003–The First International Conference for the ePortfolio (video presentation)
• Helen C. Barrett, Trent Batson, and Tom Lewis, "Planning for Electronic Portfolios-Practical Implications" NLII 2002 Fall Focus Session Presentation
• Trent Batson, "The Current State of E-Portfolios in Higher Education," EDUCAUSE Live! Webcast Presentation, July 7, 2005
• Daniel Bernstein, "Peer Review of Teaching: Considering the Intellectual Work Behind the Performance," delivered as part of the "Today and Tomorrow" panel session, NLII 2002 Fall Focus Session Presentation
• Barbara Cambridge, "Tools for Beginners: The Range of ePortfolio Technology," ePortfolio 2003–The First International Conference for the ePortfolio (video presentation)
• Darren Cambridge, "The Future of ePortfolio Technology," ePortfolio 2003–The First International Conference for the ePortfolio (video presentation)
• J. Gilbert, P. Ross, and J. Rutenbeck, "Electronic Portfolios in Higher Education: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?" EDUCAUSE 2004 Annual Conference Presentation
• Gary Langer, "Minnesota's Electronic Portfolio-'e-folio': A Statewide Infrastructure," delivered as part of the "Why Have Electronic Portfolios?" panel session, NLII 2002 Fall Focus Session Presentation

Review Relevant Web Sites

• Catalyst Portfolio Web Site
  The University of Washington's Catalyst Portfolio Web site provides access to sample e-portfolios and FAQs for faculty and students, as well as a "Using Online Portfolios in Your Teaching" guide for faculty.
• Open Source Portfolio Initiative
  The Open Source Portfolio Initiative creates and sustains the Open Source Portfolio application. The initiative is designed to influence and reflect best practices in e-portfolio thinking for teaching and learning.
• IMS ePortfolio Specification
  IMS is an international, cross-sector developer of open specifications that enable interoperability in technology-enhanced teaching and learning. IMS has released its ePortfolio Specification, which make e-portfolios portable across platforms.

Use E-Portfolio Tools

• KEEP Toolkit
  Developed by the Knowledge Media Laboratory at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the KEEP Toolkit is a set of Web-based tools that help teachers, students, and institutions quickly create compact and engaging knowledge representations on the Web.
• Learning Record Online
  LRO enables students and instructors to collect, organize, and evaluate evidence of learning and performance as they develop their e-portfolios. This evidence is gathered in the course of normal class activities. LRO provides readers with a consistent framework for understanding diverse evidence of students' development and achievement. It also supports research to improve teaching and learning.

Read Related Writings

• Stephen Acker, " Overcoming Obstacles to ePortfolio Assessment," Campus Technology Newsletter: Technology-Enabled Teaching/eLearning Dialogue, March 2005.
• Barbara Cambridge, ed., Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices in Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning (Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, 2001).
• Helen L. Chen and Cynthia Mazow, "Electronic Learning Portfolios and Student Affairs," NetResults , October 28, 2002.
• ePortConsortium Whitepaper, ePortConsortium, 2003.
• Gary Greenberg, "The Digital Convergence: Extending the Portfolios Model," EDUCAUSE Review, Vol. 39, No. 4, July/August 2004.
• Glenn Johnson and David DiBiase, "Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Penn State's E-Portfolio Initiative ," EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2004 .
• S. Kahn, "Making Good Work Public Through Electronic Teaching Portfolios," in The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions, 3rd edition, P. Seldin, ed. (Bolton, Mass.: Anker Publishing, Inc., 2004).
• Douglas Love, Gerry McKean, and Paul Gathercoal, "Portfolios to Webfolios and Beyond: Levels of Maturation," EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2004.
• George Siemens, "ePortfolios," eLearnSpace, December 16, 2004.
• Paul Treuer and Jill D. Jenson, "Electronic Portfolios Need Standards to Thrive ," EDUCAUSE Quarterly , Vol. 26, No. 2, 2003.
• Judy R. Wilkerson and William Steven Lang, "Portfolios, the Pied Piper of Teacher Certification Assessments: Legal and Psychometric Issues," Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 11, No. 45, 2003.

Attend an Event

• ePortfolio 2005–The Third International Conference for the ePortfolio, Cambridge, England, October 27-28, 2005
• ELI 2006 Annual Meeting, Advancing Learning: Insights and Innovations, January 29–31, 2006, Westin Horton Plaza Hotel, San Diego, Calif. (conference Web site to be posted)
• ELI 2006 Fall Focus Session, E-Portfolios: Tools, Techniques, and Trends, September 11–12, 2006, location TBD