E-portfolios

What is it?

An e-portfolio is a collection of digital artefacts (for example contact information, documents, images, journal entries, resumés, multimedia, hyperlinks) and reflections. Learners and staff can use an e-portfolio to record learning over time and demonstrate achievements, skills and development to a selected audience.  

Learners can use an e-portfolio in order to build employability skills: by presenting and showcasing accomplishments and expertise to potential employers, facilitating reflection on career aspirations or preparing for job interviews. 

Mahara e-portfolio is supported at the University of Bath.  All staff and students can access the software using their university login details. 

How might I use it?

An e-portfolio can be a powerful tool which enables learners to reflect on their own learning, highlighting the improvement of skills as they develop over time. Learners can use an e-portfolio to store digital work for collaboration or to gather feedback from peers. 

A diagram showing a cycle of activity with an e-portfolio, including stages to Plan, Collect evidence, Select and prepare evidence, Reflect and Share with tutors, peers or employers for feedback
Diagram showing a learner’s cycle of activity to build an e-portfolio – adapted from Mazlan K., & Khoo L., & Jano Z., 2015 (CC BY 4.0)

Examples

  • Louise Oliver, Head of Placements & Engagement in the Faculty of Science, has been using e-portfolios for Placements students in Faculty of Science. The e-portfolio application Mahara is a key component in supporting students through building, and reflecting upon, employability skills within a range of activities. 
  • Dr Cressida Lyon, Biology & Biochemistry uses e-portfolios in the Core Skills for Biosciences to unit boost engagement with feedback and to support development of employability skills.
  • Philip Shields, Electronic & Electrical Engineering uses an e-portfolio with a Smart Evidence Framework to embed and assess design skills competencies in the curriculum 

How can staff and students use it effectively?

The learner owns their e-portfolios, and they decide what to include for public/private viewing. Learners share the content they choose – for review, feedback, formative or summative assessment.  Effective use depends on the purpose of the e-portfolio. TEL team can provide advice based on your learning context. 

  • Staff can develop and share templates to help students start to build their portfolio.  Students can take more control as they become accustomed to this way of working. 
  • Regular review and commentary by staff and/or peers can improve motivation in the development of an e-portfolio. 
  • Mahara Groups can be set up to provide an online space for students and staff to communicate, share and provide feedback. 
  • Students can submit their portfolio to Moodle for summative assessment.

Mahara is the supported University of Bath e-portfolio tool. Staff can facilitate portfolio learning activities and assessment in different ways depending on the purpose and requirements. Alternatives to Mahara include OneNote Class Notebooks, blogging, Xerte e-learning authoring and more. If you have a portfolio activity or assessment in mind, contact the TEL team (tel@bath.ac.uk) to discuss the options.  

Students can be encouraged to evidence learning activity throughout their studies.  They control access to relevant audiences. Publishing the e-portfolio after a significant learning task can help students showcase skills to employers 

The main Pros and Cons of e-portfolios

  • Provides a platform for reflection which allows learners to be aware of their own progress 
  • Students can showcase real-world examples for authentic assessment 
  • Artefacts can demonstrate development towards mastery over time 
  • Gives supervisors a comprehensive and dynamic view of learner progress, facilitating timely formative feedback 
  • E-portfolios are personalised and can therefore align with individual learning goals 
  • E-portfolios can be designed to support peer collaboration, communication and collaborative feedback 
  • E-portfolios can be submitted as evidence for formative and summative assessment 
  • Learners can take the e-portfolio with them beyond education into employment and for life-long learning 
  • Learners can create the best possible impression to a potential employer, by selecting information to present to individual employers to demonstrate their learning and / or career journey 

  • There is a learning curve in learning how to use any new software tool, and how to effectively present work 
  • E-portfolios include a large number of functions. It is therefore helpful to have templates set up to help scaffold learner development. 
  • Students need to plan steps to take the e-portfolio with them, by downloading and storing offline, until they find a new system to store their work
  • There is a limit to storage space. Some digital artefacts (e.g. long videos) may not be easily stored or shared with external audiences.

Further reading

References