Learning Experiences in Developing Electronic Portfolios: a Case Study

The use of electronic portfolios (EPs) as a means ofauthentic assessment is increasingly popular inteacher education programs. Portfolio assessmentallows teacher candidates to select and reflect onartifacts that demonstrate teaching competencies. When students add multimedia artifacts andreflections to portfolios, they present a much richerpicture of their abilities than possible intraditional assessments. This study investigates thestudents? learning experiences in developing anddesigning their EPs. The findings show that creatingEPs helps students develop technology-relatedknowledge and skills as well as critical thinking andproblem-solving skills. The findings also indicatethat creating EPs is a meaningful task providingopportunities for synthesis in the master?s program. The process of developing EPs involves metacognitionand self-evaluation because students reflect on theirstrengths and weaknesses to set their future learninggoals. In addition, the findings demonstratethat students become active, independent, andmotivated learners in developing EPs. Studentsreported that they learned valuable insights fromcreating EPs.