University e-Portfolios as a New Higher Education Teaching Method. The Development of a Multimedia Educational Material (MEM)

Abstract

The new European university context requires a methodological and evaluative shift towards active didactic, socio-constructive and investigative perspectives that are student-centred. This study describes the learning setting, the results and the conclusions of an innovative practical exercise carried out by first-year students on two different degree courses at an Andalusian university, using e-portfolios set up for group work and implemented through an edublog. The study's main aim is to establish the most significant achievements, problems and evidence that emerge from this didactic group project. The project includes the design and implementation of a multimedia educational material (MEM), and involves the students in didactic planning and self-assessment processes. The conclusions show that the e-portfolio is a didactic method that fully integrates teaching, learning and assessment into a continuum by allowing students to work together didactically on such aspects. This methodological alternative also greatly helps the lecturer in his/her understanding of the students' learning processes, the working methods of his/her classes, the problems associated with team working, the information sources that students use, and the tutoring and learning-assessment processes. Lastly, the e-portfolio enables the future social educators' levels of didactic comprehension and professional-competency acquisition to be gauged.