Uses for an Electronic Portfolio

Electronic portfolios allow individuals to display work samples virtually.

Portfolios allow individuals to put together a sampling of work to demonstrate their accomplishments. Traditional portfolios require the individual to gather physical work samples, making it cumbersome to include projects of irregular sizes or dimensions. The data storage and presentation capacities of computers allow for electronic portfolios, which can gather items of disparate varieties, store portfolio items more securely and make sharing the portfolio easier.

Teachers and Students

Electronic portfolios are increasingly popular as a way for teachers to demonstrate their abilities and educational beliefs. Portfolios condense traditional items such as biographical sketches, licenses and certifications, and curriculum vitae, but expand presentation materials with sample lesson plans, videos of presentations and examples of student projects. Students can gather their best work in an electronic portfolio.

Graphic Designers

Graphic designers' projects include website design, display layout and other projects that may not fit neatly in a physical portfolio. Electronic portfolios allow graphic designers to demonstrate interactive design features as well as supplementing design examples with procedural notes. The portfolio itself presents a design opportunity for the graphic designer.

Musicians

The flexibility of electronic portfolios gives musicians greater ability to demonstrate their musical accomplishments. Though a traditional portfolio may include a CD or cassette with recorded performances and perhaps examples of sheet music, an electronic portfolio can integrate a musician's composition experience with recorded performances or show video footage of concert presentations.

Artists

Artists benefit greatly from electronic portfolios' ability to preserve and copy portfolio items virtually. Unlike a traditional portfolio, which requires an original or photographic copy of an artwork, electronic portfolios back up the art pieces and allow artists to share their portfolios virtually on durable media such as DVDs or over the Internet.

References

• Johns Hopkins University; Creating Electronic Portfolios; Lisa Spencer
• San Diego State University; Electronic Portfolios; Yolanda Abrenica

Resources

• Teacher Tap; Electronic Portfolios