Special Session: e-Portfolios

There is an increasing interest in e-portfolios as a means of collecting and presenting information about an individual’s attributes and experiences.
 

The primary aim of an e-portfolio may be to collect evidence for summative assessment, to demonstrate achievement, record progress and set targets or to nurture a continuing process of personal development and reflective learning, more commonly experienced in higher and continuing education contexts, but now also occurring in further education and schools. These different approaches are not mutually exclusive, however, and may in fact represent different starting points on a journey towards embedding e-portfolio use fully into the curriculum.

The special session will try to explore the circumstances in which e-portfolio development can:

• improve understanding of the self and the curriculum

• engage and motivate learners, both individually and as part of a community of practice

• personalise learning

• support models of learning appropriate to a digital age

• promote reflective practice
   

This session will also aim to combine all relevant evidence to determine the efficacy and utility of e-portfolios as educational instruments. This would:

• establish how effective e-portfolios are as instruments to support reflective practice

• summarise the strengths and weaknesses of e-portfolios for conducting formative and summative assessment

• synthesise the evidence on e-portfolio usage in the educational centers

• ascertain whether e-portfolios can accurately determine the educational needs of learners