Published on: 01/06/2026 · Last updated on: 01/06/2026
Introduction
The Planning and decision-making guide for e-portfolios at University of Bath is designed to guide planning conversations with colleagues. If you and your course team plan to introduce an e-portfolio activity or assessment, please contact the TEL team. We can help you with your planning, and to get familiar with Mahara e-portfolio software.
Planning and decision-making guide for e-portfolios at University of Bath
Planning courses that use e-portfolios requires both pedagogical considerations and technical knowledge of the software in place. The diagram below is intended to help staff plan, design and implement e-portfolio activities and assessments. Key questions guide you through crucial planning considerations. Associated keywords help guide decisions in the design and planning process in order to successfully use e-portfolios as a form of assessment or as an accompanying documentation or presentation medium in the course.
The diagram is based on the pedagogical principle of constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996). It is characterised by the coordination of the triad comprising assessment performance, learning objectives or competence formulations, and learning activities or methods. The teaching/learning activities (methods) and the assessment are aligned with the objectives of the teaching/learning units or competence levels and taxonomy levels (e.g. Bloom et al., 1956) (Bräuer, 2016). This pedagogical principle is represented in the light yellow boxes and the corresponding considerations appear in the dark yellow boxes.
The diagram provides specific recommendations for designing e-portfolios in Mahara and for technical preparation at the University of Bath (blue area). For example, if a certain structure is mandatory – develop a template. The degree of structure and scaffolding in the template reflects the level of individual design and creativity students are allowed in their portfolio.
The diagram also visualises possible design options available to students when creating e-portfolios with the Mahara software. It shows the potential activities that can be incorporated into tasks or templates, for example: creating, selecting and structuring artefacts and resources and integrating these into an e-portfolio that can be shared with peers and/or tutors for assessment or feedback. Further suggestions indicate where tutors need to become proactive – even in the ongoing teaching/learning process – for example by guiding interactions (see also Bruder et al., 2012; University of Zurich, 2006; Hörmann & Feiter, 2023). Click on the diagram below to view the key parts.
How to proceed
Staff begin the decision-making and planning process for their course using guiding questions (first column in green). These are deliberately formulated in the first-person perspective with little pedagogical terminology in order to make it easier for less experienced teachers to start planning courses with e-portfolios. The questions are assigned systematically to the levels of learning objectives, assessment form and the method in terms of constructive alignment (second column in light yellow). The corresponding suggestions for planning and implementation (third column or dark yellow boxes) are substantiated and summarised: first, questions concerning the form of assessment should be used to clarify whether the use of an e-portfolio system is appropriate at all. Subsequently, further questions on assessment and methods help to decide on the form of the portfolio. Thus, staff can systematically plan their course with e-portfolios by answering questions step by step, for example (see also Brehmer & Becker, 2017; Hörmann & Feiter, 2023):
- What types of multimedia content are appropriate for what purposes
- What sort of portfolio will be used?
- Which content requirements are given to the participants?
- Is any interim formative feedback intended? If so, who provides feedback and how often?
- What types of multimedia content are appropriate for what purposes?
Access an image description of the diagram (opens in new tab)
Access a PDF version of the diagram (opens in new tab)
Access a full size image of the diagram (opens in new tab)
Mahara at the University of Bath
Overall, this diagram combines technical and pedagogical considerations that are necessary for the successful planning, preparation and implementation of portfolio work in academic courses. Some key technical decisions for Mahara implementation will depend on the context and design of your e-portfolio activity (e.g. approaches for formative assessment and feedback, managing summative assessment, use of Smart Evidence Framework or Mahara groups for collaboration or discussion). During initial planning, staff should contact the Technology Enhanced Learning team for further guidance.
Attributions and CC license
This work, Planning and decision-making guide for e-portfolios at University of Bath (V1UOB-04.2026) is a derivative of Planning and decision-making guide for the use of e-portfolios in academic teaching by Hannah Brodel, Martina Osterrieder, Cordula Schwiderski, Martin Sticht, Susanne Timm, Translation Janina Weiß, used under [CC BY-SA 4.0].
University of Bath, Centre for Learning & Teaching has modified this work by changing terminology to reflect UK Higher Education and amending the diagram to reflect Mahara implementation at University of Bath. This derivative work is licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0] by University of Bath Centre for Learning & Teaching
References
Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. In Higher Education 32, S. 347–364.
Bloom, B., Engelhart, M.B, Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H. & Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives – The classification of educational goals. New York: David McKay Company.
Bräuer, G. (2016). Das Portfolio als Reflexionsmedium für Lehrende und Studierende. 2., erw. Aufl. Opladen/Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
Brehmer, J. & Becker, S. (2017): Was ist ein Lern-portfolio? …und wie ist der Einsatz in der Lehre?. https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/document/download/c5639bbf4e9428f131c993d066e2b168.pdf/13_Lernportfolio.pdf [Accessed: 08.02.2024]
Bruder, R., Scholz, N., Menhard, I. (2012). Handreichung für Lehrende, Lehrveranstaltungen mit E-Portfoliobegleitung. Zentrum für Lehrerbildung, Technische Universität Darmstadt. https://mahara.tu-darmstadt.de/view/view.php?id=4585 [Accessed: 30.1.2024]
Hörmann, I. & Feiter, S. (2023). Checkliste zum Einsatz von ePortfolios in der Lehre. https://www.hs-niederrhein.de/hochschul-und-mediendidaktik/#c210629 [Accessed: 08.02.2024]
Mahara. https://mahara.org/. [Accessed: 30.01.2024]
Universität Zürich (2006). Lernportfolio, Dossier Unididaktik 1. Arbeitsstelle für Hochschuldidaktik AfH. https://www.weiterbildung.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:00000000-1937-95a7-0000-0000058e6a2d/du_lernportfolio.pdf [Accessed: 31.01.2021]