Action 04: Utilizing digital/online portfolios as an assessment practice

A digital portfolio is stored and organized digitally, utilizing digital tools both in the learning process and in the documentation. Yet, the technology of digital portfolios has become even more sophisticated, using several web services, like the online publishing and the access from any place and in any time. Inspired by these advances and by the fact that high quality, ‘e-portfolio’ services are provided for free, I’ve decided to embrace the idea of the digital/online portfolio, in my educational practice and particularly as an assessment practice. 


An e-portfolio might include text, images, videos, blog entries, hyperlinks, files for download, etc. It can be used both as a platform for self-expression and as a learning record, providing actual evidence of achievement, an e-portfolio, like the typical printed portfolios should demonstrate:
a) The basic aspects of student’s participation,
b) The criteria for judgment,
c) Evidence of the student’s self-reflection.
The abovementioned three requirements are truly significant since they denote that an e-portfolio, should present not only the owner's achievements in relation to a specific project, but also it needs to demonstrate:
-Why the owner (or the group) selected the specific artwork,
-How the students feels about their competence in the subject,

-How they evaluate their work in relation to the specific criteria, etc.

And since the assessment is part of the learning process and the assessor and the assessed interact with each other, the criteria for assessment should not be given but perceived and negotiated, both by the teacher and the students. Yet, they should be clear and understandable by all the participants.  

What I expect from this action
Portfolio assessment has the closest ‘fitness for purpose’ from a sociocultural perspective, as a method that attempts, both to assess the learning process and to engage students in representing and reflecting on their own progress. Consequently, by this action, I expect to help students develop self-assessment abilities and awareness of their own achievement.
The e-portfolio could be used as:
-       Formative and summative assessment,
-       Individual and group assessment

Concluding, I would note that the abovementioned actions were not perceived in isolation, but rather as consisting parts of a greater plan for action.

Monitoring my own performance and development 
By implementing the above innovative plan my role as an instructor will change, from the provider of knowledge towards the supporter of students’ learning. Consequently, I should recruit new practices of monitoring my own performance such as:    
  • Receive feedback from students, by conducting group interviews and discussions,
  • Reflect on students’ trajectory and development. Besides, the portfolio provides a way to track both student's and teacher’s practice.
  • Reflect on my own theoretical perspective since theory and practice are always entangled with each other.

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