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Portfolios
What is it? 
In education, a portfolio refers to a collection of information or prior work that documents learning, growth, and achievement. A portfolio can be considered anything from a learning log, to a collection of written works, to a paper or electronic portfolio of projects and papers. A portfolio can be used by an instructor for assessment purposes and can also be used for earning accreditation and certifications, job searches, and professional development.
Portfolios
What are the educational uses and benefits?
Assessment
- Used as a formative and summative assessment for instructors to assess student growth over a period of time.
- Used as a summative assessment for instructors and academic advisors to assess the overall quality of a student's work.
- Provides raw material from which to demonstrate with real world artifacts how the academic experiences maps onto professional competencies.
Cross-Curricular Considerations
- Fosters a sense of coherence across multiple courses on how the coursework fits together as a whole.
Portfolios
How do I get started?
When assigning a portfolio project it is helpful to consider
- What is the purpose of the portfolio? For example will it be a portfolio intended to show growth over time? A portfolio to Showcase a skill set? A portfolio for evaluation purposes?
- Who is the intended audience for the portfolio? A potential employer? The instructor? Peers?
- What will be the required elements and content of the portfolio?
- What guidelines will the student follow to select portfolio materials?
- How will the portfolio be presented to the intended audience? Virtually? In a face to face environment? On a CD?
- How will the portfolio be evaluated?
Tools to create Electronic Portfolios
Tools to present Electronic Portfolios
Portfolios
Where can I learn more?
- Educational Progressions - Electronic Portfolios in a Virtual Classroom: An article on using portfolios to improve assessments of students.
- Portfolios: An article by Jon Mueller on Authentic Assessment using Portfolios.
- Portfolios - A New Wave in Assessment: An article on the reasons to use portfolios to assess students.
- Wikipedia - Electronic Portfolio: A description and examples of electronic portfolios.
- Wikipedia - Portfolio: A description and examples of portfolios.
For information on tools to help create Portfolios visit:
For information on tools to help present Portfolios visit:
