E-portfolio: The meaning simply explained

With an e-portfolio, you can combine, access and expand various works and experiences in a kind of digital folder.

What’s behind an e-portfolio

If you like watching “Germany’s Next Top Model” or are interested in collections of an artist or designer, you have at least heard the term portfolio quite often. It is a folder in which, for example, a wide variety of photos are put together to show the skills of a model, artist or web designer. The term is also used in other areas today – for example, the project portfolio, in which several projects of a company are coordinated together. Students in particular benefit from the e-portfolio:

• The electronic portfolio on certain e-learning platforms also represents a collection that documents an overview of various processed work tasks and self-created materials in digital form.

• This makes it possible to determine how the student is developing and what skills he or she has acquired over the course of the semester.

• The e-portfolio does not show individual tests or exam results, but rather work and projects that you have created as part of your training or possibly already in a part-time job. This also includes multimedia content such as videos, presentations, audio files or photos that vividly demonstrate your skills.

• In addition, you can use e-portfolios to record extracurricular activities, including volunteer work, for example. The aim is to document important experiences and learning successes in combination. At the same time, it is also about reflecting on these learning successes and explaining what the records actually show and illustrate.

The advantage of an electronic portfolio is that you can access and update it anytime and anywhere.
• What’s more, providers of e-portfolio platforms such as Mahara and Moodle want to enable students to integrate digital media even more meaningfully into their work and learning processes – for example, to save an interesting blog post about the learning system and use it for further work.
• According to the ePortfolio initiative of LaGuardia Community College, there are three types of e-portfolios: assessment e-portfolios for, for example, the work of university teachers, learning e-portfolios for students to reflect on their learning process, and career/transfer e-portfolios that students can use, for example, to convince future employers of their abilities.

Unterschiede von E-Portfolio zu anderen Lern-Management-Systemen

An e-portfolio is somewhat reminiscent of a learning management system, although the latter are primarily in the hands of the teachers and are controlled by them. With e-portfolios, the student has the upper hand.

• Even after graduation, the e-portfolio still belongs to the graduate.
• In addition, students can decide for themselves how they design their e-portfolio, what they want to add and who can view it.
• In addition, students gain a completely different view of their academic work through e-portfolios, can critically question it and link content across courses and subjects. This also helps them to recognize connections in a completely different way.
• Through self-reflection on their own work and exchange with other students and teachers, users of such e-portfolios should be able to acquire and collect knowledge and skills much more efficiently than simply by being confronted with information and evaluations by teachers.