Enhancing Computing Students’ Learning Experience by Using ePortfolio for Formative Assessment

Abstract

This Innovative Practice Full Paper presents how formative assessment using ePortfolio can enhance computing students’ learning experiences and what influences the students’ preference regarding formative assessment method. The international research literature reveals that ePortfolios primarily are used in study areas such as teacher education, creative disciplines, communication, and medicine. This study contributes to ePortfolio research within the discipline of computing education and introduces computing students to the ePortfolio integrated into the LMS Blackboard. The students are used to courses and associated assignments organized in folders in the LMS, but they have no experience with the integrated ePortfolio. We derive insight from thematic analysis of 67 summative reflections written by the students at the end of a course in Collaboration Technology and observation of the students’ ePortfolios throughout the course. Findings in this study reveal two aspects of formative assessment with the ePortfolio that contributed to enhancing computing students’ learning experiences. First, considering the ePortfolio as a process, the students gained professional identity, self-assessment skills, and transferable metacognition skills. Second, seen as a product, the ePortfolio provided the students with a comprehensive overview of achievements across topics and assignments in the course. The students perceived the two aspects as so essential that if they could choose between the ePortfolio and the traditional learning management system (LMS) folder assessment method, they would have preferred the formative assessment with the ePortfolio even though the ePortfolio increases their workload.