E-Portfolios in Degree Programs and Certificates
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Your online course may involve a term paper or project. Sometimes, it's called simply a project, presentation, or final paper. But, sometimes you're asked to assemble something called an "e-portfolio." You may feel a sense of panic at first, but later, once you investigate, you are encouraged.
The e-portfolio gives you a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate your abilities, and bring together the graphics, videos, articles, text, and audio that illustrate the point you're making. Further, it gives you a chance to share the insights you've gained in doing your research in the course, and also to see what your fellow classmates have discovered.
The experience of assembling a portfolio and then sharing it is collaborative, participatory, and cooperative. You're able to flourish as you join the focused learning community and truly learn from others. At the same time, you may feel more motivated that you might have felt before, as you feel a strong sense of affiliation with the group. If you're motivated by being acknowledged for your work, and feel affirmed in what you're doing, the e-portfolio approach can be a very positive activity for you.
At the same time, because it's a step-by-step process, you can match your available time with small tasks that contribute toward the e-portfolio. The positive element here is that there is no need to dread a huge project looming over you.
If you're taking a certificate course or doing a professional development series of courses, you may be required to create a portfolio that you share with others. The portfolio could be in a course such as urban design, or it might be for environmental science, and represent suggestions / plans for developing a sustainable ecosystem within a residential community.
What is an e-portfolio?
An e-portfolio is many things to many people. Generally speaking, it's a place where you can display your report, text, graphics, videos, and audio -- perhaps even a Powerpoint presentation -- in a file that others can view and sometimes comment on. In certain ways, MySpace and FaceBook provide porfolio opportunities -- after all, you're presenting a portfolio of your life, and you're encouraging friends to comment. Flickr and YouTube are also informal portfolios.
Used academically, the e-portfolio is more inclusive and more structured than an individual's space in a community or social network. A typical online course that utilizes e-portfolios will tend to have a page (or "wall") that provides a link into each class member's portfolio or project. You can see each student's work evolve over time, and you can share ideas, techniques, resources, web applications, and virtual libraries / object repositories.
Who provides them?
There are numerous providers of e-portfolios. The Rhode Island School of Design has developed Digication (http://www.digication.com), and other e-portfolio providers encourage the college to put the portfolios within Blackboard, Moodle, Angel, e-College, etc.
How are e-portfolios used?
Course finals
Capstone course
Professional development
How are e-portfolios used within different subjects?
Art History // Design
Share examples of course content artist
Make collages
Create presentations -- add commentary, video, thoughts
Display work of others (links, embeds, graphics, PowerPoints, mp3s, more)
Creative writing
Post samples
Graphics / collages, etc.
Memoirs and autobiographies, with sketches, drawings, scraps of advertisements, family photos, collages
Environmental Science
Illustrate concepts
Diagram possible solutions: graphics, PowerPoints, mp3s, flowcharts, videos, more
Case studies
Exposees? Activism (pro, con, critiques), Ethics, Current situations
Professional Development
The possibilities are virtually endless, and as applications become easier to integrate into course management system, we'll start seeing even more engaging and inspiring e-portfolios. E-portfolios truly make a distance course come alive, and they rehumanize what can be a rather cold environment by helping each other see the creativity, imagination, and focused thinking of their fellow students in a way that transcends flat text on a screen.