ePortfolios In Higher Education Research Articles

An In-Depth Literature Review of E-Portfolio Implementation in Higher Education: Processes, Barriers, and Strategies

This literature review examines the implementation of e-portfolios in higher education, with a focus on the implementation process, potential barriers, and strategies for overcoming challenges. This review seeks to provide instructional designers and higher education instructors with design strategies to effectively implement e-portfolios. Through an analysis of seventeen studies, we identified six common steps in the implementation process, including identifying a purpose, stakeholders, and platform, conducting workshops, creating e-portfolios, and evaluating the project. The implementation process also raised eight concerns, including concerns related to technology, policy, pedagogy, artifact quality, privacy, student motivation, academic integrity, and teacher workload. To address these concerns, existing strategies suggest that successful implementation requires training and policy support, student-centered pedagogy, criteria for assessing artifacts, privacy and data protection, feedback, anti-plagiarism measures, and shared successful models.

EPortfolios for self-regulated learning

ePortfolios in higher education are assumed to be effective at developing and determining complex student competencies and skills highly correspondent to self-regulated learning (SRL). Research validating this assumption, however, is sparse and of varying quality. Drawing on a recent, systematic review of relevant literature by the presenter’s research team, this Pecha Kucha explores major trends and gaps in the research into relationships between ePortfolios and SRL. Corresponding areas and approaches for further research are identified, as well.
 Sustained academic success requires autonomy, agency, and motivation from the learner to effectively plan and execute learning activities (Henri, Morrell & Scott, 2017; Pintrich, 2004). Due to the correspondence of SRL to these characteristics, higher education practitioners and researchers are increasingly interested in how best to support and determine students' SRL development.
 ePortfolios are believed to be a means for accomplishing and evidencing this development. ePortfolios are deliberate, curated collections of work that may provide opportunity for development and demonstration of complex outcomes (Stefani, Mason & Pegler, 2007). This value proposition is based on perceptions that ePortfolios are guided by frameworks for learning rather than predetermined product; centre on active learner engagement and authority; and foster connection and synthesis within and across curricula (Watson, Kuh, Rhodes, Light & Chen, 2016). These criteria strongly overlap with elements of SRL and align with best practices in assessment. ePortfolios are also perceived as a way in which educational technologies may be leveraged to allow students to develop and evidence competencies in innovative ways (Author, 2014).
 The literature supporting such conclusions, however, has recognised problems. These problems range from methodological limitations to a lack of specificity about which activities comprising ePortfolio engagement are most relevant to SRL competencies (Author, 2013; Author, 2018; Rhodes, Chen, Watson, & Garrison, 2014).
 This Pecha Kucha presents results from a systematic review of relevant literature on ePortfolios and SRL. The objectives of the review were to identify methodologically sound studies examining ePortfolio use in relation to SRL, systematically review whether, and how ePortfolio use improves or allows evidence of students’ SRL skills, and propose useful directions for future research and practice.
 A systematic, multi-stage review was conducted of relevant, empirical literature. This yielded only eight studies of sufficient quality and relevance to inform understandings of ePortfolios’ interactions with SRL. Results support the general premise that ePortfolios correlate to SRL development in a higher education context. Limitations within the literature, however, inhibit our ability to establish more specific or causal connections.
 A subsequent thematic analysis of the broader scope of near-acceptable literature yielded a schema of specific, SRL-relevant ePortfolio learning tasks and activities. These have potential for informing practice but require further robust and contextually relevant research. The Pecha Kucha concludes by offering specific suggestions for conducting this research.

Utilization of e-Portfolios in Teacher Education Institutions of Higher Education in Central Visayas, Philippines

E-portfolios are useful tools for learning and assessment. With this, this paper investigated the utilization of these electronic tools in teacher education institutions (TEIs) of higher education. Using embedded mixed design, a survey and focus group discussions were conducted with 85 college teachers in TEIs in Central Visayas, Philippines. Findings revealed that teachers utilized e-portfolios for students’ progress and the former’s school work but moderately implemented them for improving the latter’s learning experiences. The use of e-portfolios is highly effective towards pedagogical considerations and effective in academics’ teaching and usability. Qualitative results show that e-portfolios have gains and challenges, but teachers acknowledge the importance of the tools in education. In conclusion, e-portfolios have helped college teachers in TEIs in enhancing students’ experiences in learning and assessment, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. A framework for utilizing e-portfolios in higher education is crafted.

The role of E-portfolios in higher education: The experience of pre-service teachers

The term e-portfolio refers to a portfolio an electronic format that allows users to collect evidence of learning in several media types (e.g., audio, video, text, and graphics) and to organise these using hypertext links. E-portfolios have been introduced into teacher education programs internationally to help pre-service teachers (PST) build records of their learning and reflections. The tool allows them to assemble a collections of evidence of their achievements against graduate standards. These e-portfolios may function as digital CVs; and support lifelong learning after graduation. Through investigating the experience of e-portfolio use by PSTs, this article provides significant evidence about the high-quality implementation of e-portfolios in higher education. The reasons behind the participants’ success in an e-portfolio-based unit is explored. In particular, the research explores the reasons why several participants were more successful than others when using e-portfolios. This is the first research that has examined PSTs perspectives on e-portfolio-based learning within constructivism, students’ approach to learning (SAL), the 3 P model (presage, process, and product) of learning, and self-regulated learning (SRL). This article aims to examine the efficacy of e-portfolios as an evidence-based strategy for the demonstration of pre-service teachers (PSTs) teaching philosophy. PSTs (N = 73) used e-portfolios to demonstrate their understanding of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards in their teacher education program. The participants in this research presented samples of evidence about teaching philosophy, internship, and professional development experiences to cover professional knowledge, professional practice, and professional engagement in their e-portfolios. The reported research in this article is part of a larger research project and in accordance with the applied theoretical framework, gives a central focus on how PSTs perceive, conceive, and interpret the e-portfolios at universities.

Construction and validation of a Questionnaire on E-portfolios in Higher Education (QEPHE)

ABSTRACT The e-portfolio is a tool increasingly used in Higher Education due to the benefits it holds, especially with regards to facilitating processes of evaluation and reflective learning. The main goal of this study was the construction of a questionnaire to analyse EP use in a Spanish University and to ensure its reliability and validity for use within relevant samples. To perform this task, we proposed a three-phase procedure: a development phase based on a literature review and the subsequent proposal of items; an evaluation phase, with revision based on experts’ judgment; and an analysis phase, in which the instrument’s reliability and validity (N = 251) were evaluated through factor analyses and descriptive statistical analyses according to dimension, degree of internal consistency and the relationships uncovered amongst the variables. As a result the Questionnaire on the E-Portfolio in Higher Education is proposed. It is composed of 32 items divided between three dimensions: Pedagogical considerations, academics’ teaching and usability. The analyses performed show the questionnaire to be valid and reliable for its proposed purpose. The questionnaire may be useful for HE academics who use the EP and for educational administrators who wish to analyse educational practices of this kind.

E-portfolios and the development of students’ reflective thinking at a Hong Kong University

E-portfolios have been adopted by higher education institutions as assessment for learning tools to develop students’ reflective thinking and their ownership of learning. This paper examines how e-portfolios are integrated in an undergraduate course at a Hong Kong university to develop students’ reflective thinking. Based on the qualitative data collected and analysed from both the teacher and students in the course, this paper first discusses the different levels of reflective thinking that the students developed as they were working on their e-portfolios. It then identifies the factors that facilitate and hinder students’ development of reflective thinking, how the facilitating factors are enabled and what the hindering factors need to be addressed. These key findings highlight the pivotal role of the teacher as a learning facilitator and guide, the scaffolding role of the toolkit to support both teachers and students, and the necessity of the technical capacity building and support in the implementation of e-portfolios in higher education.

International Perspectives on ePortfolios in Higher Education: Case Studies from Asia, North America and Europe

The authors of this paper explore case studies from three different universi-ties: Harvard University, Sookmyung Women's University, and Villanueva-Complutense University of Madrid. Although each case is from a different country on three different continents, what they have in common is that they all implemented ePortfolios at the course level within a Master of Edu-cation Program. ePortfolios are dynamic tools that can be used for many functions, which can be sorted into three categories: learning, evaluation, and career development. This paper analyzes the success factors of the three ePortfolio use cases as well as the challenges that can be considered general-izable and others that are more culturally specific. The exploration of differ-ent perspectives can help to develop a common understanding of the uses, benefits, and potential of ePortfolios in higher education.

Reflecting on personal data in a health course: Integrating wearable technology and ePortfolio for eHealth

Activity trackers (ATs) equipped with biometric sensors may support deep knowledge acquisition of health and active learning. The mechanism may be via personal data being pushed to the students, which deepens the knowledge about their own health and may impact long-term health action processes. To understand health knowledge acquisition, 43 students attending an undergraduate university course were equipped with an AT over a period of five months. Weekly observation on emerging personal data and consequent actions (lifestyle adaptations) were reflected in an individual course-related ePortfolio. Students’ change in health action process was assessed using a short standard eHealth literacy scale at the beginning and end of the course. The usability of ePortfolio tool was tested with two previously validated scales. The combination of personal information from an AT and ePortfolio may have enhanced students’ critical assessment of health-related personal and available digital information. eHealth literacy scores significantly increased by the end of the course (p < .01). The ePortfolio helped with learning, and the usability of the ePortfolio did not really interfere. The combination of AT and ePortfolio constitutes a novel and productive method of using ePortfolios in higher education in regards to eHealth literacy acquisition.

Influence of Professors on Student Satisfaction With e-Portfolio Use

This study analyzes the use of e-portfolios in Higher Education, specifically, participants' opinion concerning various aspects of the experience and the teaching methods used. Its main purpose is to determine the influence of professors in student satisfaction in this virtual environment, through a descriptive study performed using a mixed focus that combines quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The data collection instruments were a questionnaire for recording the students' opinions and a structured interview of three professors. The study's sample of 251 was drawn from students who were enrolled in different subjects. According to the results obtained, the professor is a decisive variable in student satisfaction when analyzing pedagogical issues concerning the e-portfolio, students' opinions about the professor's teaching actions, and usability of the platform. The students' opinions differ most on issues of time management and collaborative learning, but also on issues such as participation, motivation, and reflection on learning.

高等教育におけるeポートフォリオの最前線( ICTを活用した教育・学習支援のトレンド)

高等教育におけるeポートフォリオの最前線( ICTを活用した教育・学習支援のトレンド)

The ePortfolio: constructing learning in translation technology

ABSTRACTThe use of ePortfolios in higher education has experienced a rise with multiple experiences reported in different areas where student-centred methodologies are key. While these are not new in translator training, ePortfolios are still underused in this area, even if they provide an excellent framework for constructivist methodologies. In this article, I explain how ePortfolios are used in a course on translation technology with a view to implementing a learner-centred scenario. This is a course I have been teaching for some years, which has experienced, over time, a movement from traditional transmissionist techniques, where the teacher is the ‘possessor and distributor of knowledge’ to a transformationist position, as I realised that, in order for the course to be effective, students needed some form of empowerment and a more active role in their learning process. This article discusses the advantages of using ePortfolios for the learning of translation technology. It presents an experience in implementing a learning scenario based on the ePortfolio – course competences, content, resources and assessment – as a proposal for instructors wishing to adopt a similar approach. The article will end with a discussion on how these teaching practices relate to the principles of socio-constructivism.

The Role of Eportfolios in Finance Studies: A Cross-Country Study

This study explores the use of ePortfolios as an efficient assessment tool to support students pursuing a Business degree, where Finance is a major component. We conducted an analysis on the role of ePortfolios in Higher Education at Dublin Institute of Technology (Republic of Ireland) and at Universitat Jaume I (Spain) for undergraduate studies. Our findings suggest that ePortfolios could be used to facilitate and enhance students self-regulated learning experiences where the role of the instructor is fundamental at early stages—to ensure that the learning process comply with basic academic standards—and diminishes as students become familiar with their course requirements, the ePortfolio’s artefact’s and the quality of work that is expected. Overall, students’ judgment of the ePortfolio as a tool to complement their education was very positive as they found that their learning experience improved significantly and allowed them to benefit from breaks on their traditional learning approach. The initial evidence suggests that ePortfolios could be used to support technical and complex modules under a controlled environment that ensures that students do not lose focus from their core studies but simultaneously they are flexible enough to allow them to be creative and integrate their own ideas and views on their learning experience. This study allowed us to identify the need for further research looking to understand the characteristics and value of ePortfolios to support Finance Studies with the aim of enhancing assessment and learning strategies in Higher Education that foster student involvement in the learning process.

A Cross-Case Analysis of the Use of Web-Based ePortfolios in Higher Education

Higher education is mandated to document student learning outcomes and ePortfolios have been offered as a panacea for assessment, evaluation, and accreditation. However, the student voice regarding the value students construct from building and utilizing web-based electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in higher education has been sparse or non-existent in a number of disciplines. In the current study, a total of 459 undergraduate and graduate students’ perceptions were collected through structured surveys, reflective journals, emails, and reflection papers. This mixed methods study reviews the historical foundations of contemporary web-based ePortfolios within a constructivist theoretical frame and presents four case studies from two universities in southwest USA from four disciplines (education, industrial technology, chemical engineering, and human resource development). A compilation of research findings from the four case studies yielded 27 categories that were later condensed through cross-case analysis resulting in five emerging themes: career-focused, big picture of learning, social and visual learning, enablers of ePortfolios, and barriers of ePortfolios. Each theme is discussed and illuminated by extracts of student work and supported by relevant literature. Recommendations include greater communication with students regarding expectations and requirements of the ePortfolio, providing student and faculty training on web-based ePortfolios, and forming a community of practice.

Identification of Key Issues in Adopting a Web 2.0 E-Portfolio Strategy

The purpose of the paper is to identify key issues relating to best practice and sustainability in Web 2.0 as an e-Learning strategy for supporting e-portfolios in Higher Education. A practical guidelines framework was developed for best practices, which can be justified by the lack of available frameworks in the e-Learning literature. A literature search was undertaken covering publications dated from 2000 to 2009 to ascertain the level of progress made on tackling issues on implementing Web 2.0 as an e-Learning campus wide educational strategy. The findings show that the recent adoption of e-Learning and Web 2.0 initiatives has been marred by lack of research into the issues associated with long term strategy, implementation, best practice frameworks and solutions. The paper fulfils an identified information need and offers practical help to institutions implementing an e-portfolio Web 2.0 initiative.

Avoiding the Pitfalls: Current Practices and Recommendations for Eportfolios in Higher Education

Institutions of higher learning use eportfolios for multiple purposes such as to enhance student learning, conduct authentic program/institutional assessment, support students as they prepare for future careers, and meet certification standards. The article investigates existing eportfolio literature and documents our findings of current practices in eportfolio use from a survey of 43 higher education institutions which we delivered in the Spring of 2009. The intent of our research was to learn more about 1) the predominant uses of eportfolios in institutions of higher learning across the globe, 2) the challenges institutions of higher learning face when implementing eportfolios on their campuses, and 3) the considerations institutions of higher learning should address in such an implementation. We present our recommendations for eportfolio implementation along with limitations and suggestions for future research.

Food Science Education Publications and Websites

Food Science Education Publications and Websites

Evaluation of E-Portfolio Software

E-Portfolios are a new type of software and it is still relatively vague to determine, which functions are obligatory â?? that is which functions constitute characteristic features â?? and which functions are just optional (â??nice to haveâ??). This article describes the concept and the preliminary results of a research project which was conducted to evaluate E-Portfolio software, and aims at providing decision guidance for implementing E-Portfolios in higher education - first and foremost from the pedagogical perspective. Which recommendations can be made to an institution which now wants to implement electronic portfolios with a certain objective?