What Is an Electronic Portfolio?

As educational institutions move toward greater accountability, the electronic portfolio is a prime example of how teachers, students and parents work together to improve student achievement. An electronic, or digital, portfolio is a collection of student work in digital format. This type of portfolio is a powerful way to display evidence of student learning.

Components

The portfolio includes documents from all subject areas such as science, art, music and mathematics. Portfolios may include movies, audio files, word documents, graphics and links to Internet resources.

Types

Three major types of electronic portfolios are the working portfolio, the display portfolio and the assessment portfolio. A student can easily modify a general template to create any type of portfolio depending on his needs.

Benefits

Electronic portfolios are flexible, portable and integrative. An electronic portfolio can easily travel with a student from school to school throughout their academic career. Students, teachers and parents can view documentary evidence of academic growth.

Development

Students from grades three and up can create electronic portfolios. They gather their documents in electronic format, organize them according to the purposes of the portfolio, and write an assessment of the meaning of their learning experiences.

Hardware and Software

Commonly used hardware includes: digital cameras, scanners, camcorders and audio recorders. Commonly used software includes programs for word processing, audio recording and editing, graphics manipulation and movie-making.

References

• Examples of student electronic portfolios
• Jeff Utecht on the use of electronic portfolios
• Creating an Electronic Portfolio