Tech Learning has a interesting article on Digital-Age Assessment. They believe that e-portfolios (electronic portfolios) are better at assessing students' progress in school compared to the traditional forms of assessment. They defined an e-portfolio as “a purposefully limited collection of student selected work over time that documents progress toward meeting the standards. Work may be collected over a semester, a year, or even several years, passing from one grade level and teacher to the next.”
The article addressed some of the benefits of using e-portfolios. One of the benefits that I found most significant was e-portfolios allow self-assessment to becoming a regular part of student learning as students are required to frequently select or re-evaluate which of their work is the best evidence of their skills. This also causes the students to strive to work harder in future assignments. They also noted that formative assessment also plays a key role through regular teacher feedback.
The article did address some disadvantages, such as there being no management aspect—“a teacher cannot compare how well all students have done on a certain standard without manually checking each e-portfolio. Therefore, program evaluation becomes very time-consuming.”
However, the disadvantage that I was quite surprised about was the student e-portfolios not being cumulative from year to year. In other words, teachers cannot see a growth on the standards over several years in a single e-portfolio. I’m a bit confused as earlier in the article it noted that “Work may be collected over a semester, a year, or even several years, passing from one grade level and teacher to the next.”
However, the disadvantage that I was quite surprised about was the student e-portfolios not being cumulative from year to year. In other words, teachers cannot see a growth on the standards over several years in a single e-portfolio. I’m a bit confused as earlier in the article it noted that “Work may be collected over a semester, a year, or even several years, passing from one grade level and teacher to the next.”
The major benefit of e-portfolios was to be able to assess a students learning progress through a duration of time. It’s disappointing that this duration of time is somewhat limited.
The article did not fully state why e-portfolios are more beneficial than even the traditional portfolios. It did mention that artifacts can be in the form of text, image, video, or other digital content.
The article did not fully state why e-portfolios are more beneficial than even the traditional portfolios. It did mention that artifacts can be in the form of text, image, video, or other digital content.
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