In the today's world of accountability for education, one needs a systematic method to demonstrate performance. We need a picture of performance painted for others.  An e-Portfolio fulfills this perfectly for new teachers, recertification of tenured teachers, and students.  The e-Portfolio provides the flexibility to adapt itself to the need of the individual. At the same time, it is a consistent tool to convey progress over time to the audience, who is trying to measure accountability.  Developing an effective e-Portfolio takes some training, knowledge of technological tools, organization skills and reflection. A good e-Portfolio should accurately depict the content the creator of it is trying to display.

In order to have clear content, one should receive training and read about what to incorporate into an e-Portfolio. Many times we are directed to make a portfolio or e-Portfolio with little or no instruction, so consequently the work is lacking in content.  I firmly believe that training should always be the first step when attempting any new endeavor. This is why ePortfolio have not always been praised, because the creator had no instruction in the creating of them.  Before beginning the process of creating one,  thought needs to be given to many different questions. During this training one needs to identify the audience or "The Who" is this e-Portfolio intended, because this will influence the selections to be included.  For example if it is a student e-Portfolio, he/she needs to know if this is for them only, for their teachers, or for their parents/guardians.  During the training the person also needs to identify the purpose.  An e-Portfolio to depict progress in writing would look differently than one that was to measure progress over time in all subject areas.  An e-Portfolio allows the person to incorporate creativity, but training needs to address how to use it effectively.  When this important first step is addressed, I believe the e-Portfolio is one of the best tools to use for accountability.

Another factor, which makes it effective, is knowledge of technological tools that can be incorporated into the document.  An e-Portfolio is readily accessible to anyone who has a computer and much more compact that the cumbersome traditional portfolios. "Electronic portfolios represent a medium that can store aond organize substantial amounts of material.  Video segments, digital photographs, textual material, audio files, and scanned materials, which might have required significant sotrage space in traditional formats, may now be placed onto a single CD, disk, or online presentation," states Bullock and Hawk in Developing a Teaching Portfolio (p. 124.) With the traditional portfolio a binder had to be accompanied by a VCR tape if one wanted a video to be included in the portfolio.   However, an e-Portfolio can  be enhanced by simply incoporating digital still pictures, digital movie pictures, and audio into it.  For example a small video clip of a teacher teaching a lesson allows the viewer first hand experience to observe him/her in action with a simple mouse click. This capability is not available in a regular portfolio.  Another example might be a student's voice explaining the steps and findings of a lab he/she completed on dissection.  Now, the audience has concrete evidence of the objective that was mastered.  The camera equipment has come down drastically in price, so schools can now afford to have one or two available for students and teachers' use.  Once again in order that this equipment will be incorporated effectively,  we must offer training on its use.

"Electronic portfolios have value only to the extent that the content is carefully chosen, effectively organized, and rationally interpreted. Placing a poor portfolio into electronic format does not improve the quality of its content," writes Bullock and Hawk (p. 133.)  The author of the e-Portfolio needs to layout the document so that the reader clearly understands the information. The first step is to select the material to be included. An effective strategy for this is to lay it out on paper.  We have our students do this for Power Point presentations too before beginning to type.  Next, he/she chooses the medium that will enhance the selection. There might not be one for each piece. The key is does it truly enhance or is it just fluff. An audience will be turned off if the e-Portfolio has unnecessary links.  However, including URLS that give the reader more information is a tremendous help.  Logical organization for me is the key.  I ask myself the following questions, "Does this logically follow the material I am displaying?"  "Is this selection needed to show my progress or is it just extra?" I think these questions should be asked each time anything new is inserted.  The final step should be others, such as peers,  reviewing your organization and critiquing it.  A well organized electronic portfolio epitomizes the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Concise reflections should be written for each piece selected.  Reflections are brief statements about what you learned, what went well, what was a negative, what could be improved, and how could it be improved.  This not only helps the audience think about the work from your point of view, but also helps the creator think about the work.  Writing reflections are not easy at first but beneficial, because they set direction for the future. This allows the audience to see the future direction for growth. Reflections, also, measure the importance of the piece.  For example, if the reflection says this was not a good piece of writing, because it needed more elaboration.  This tells the audience I understand that my elaboration is not perfected yet.  If the reflection hadn't been included, the audience might have assumed I chose this thinking it was perfect.  Reflections can also include circumstances that might have changed the results. An example of this is I really want to include a writing piece about Abraham Lincoln that I wrote. However, I felt it could have been better if I was given more time to spend on it, because the LC materials were all checked out with 158 students writing on the same topic.  Adding reflections in an e-Portfolio is very simple and can be updated easily.  The traditional portfolio can include these, also; but in an electronic version a mouse click can bring up the reflection.  This allows it to be separate from the work, so one can view the work without reading it first.

Electronic Portfolios are a real asset to the author and to the audience, because content, media, organization, and reflections paint a picture.  The picture doesn't have to be linear as in a traditional portfolio. Now, with a click the reader can choose the path he wants to view it.  For instance, if he wants to read the reflection first, then he clicks on it.  He can choose to skip a section first and then return to it.  It can be stored on a CD, server, or hard drive, so all of the items don't have to be protected from the elements a traditional portfolio does.  It is also so much easier to view, because the computer screen readily displays as many copies of it as are made.  The traditional portfolio needs to be in the hands of the reader, and chances are more than one copy will not be available.  A good ePortfolio is a valuable picture for others to see to measure accountability in education.
 

References

  Bullock, Ann Adams, and Parmalee P. Hawk. 2001. Developing a Teaching Portfolio. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall.