A Comparative Analysis of Common E-Portfolio Features and Available Platforms

Literature Review Haken (2006) explained that assessment is an integral part of assuring that an educational institution achieves its learning goals, as well as a crucial means of providing the essential evidence necessary for seeking and maintaining accreditation and validation. Ridgway, McCusker, and Pead (2004) discuss what they refer to as e-assessment. They explain that technology is pervasive in professional practice and educational effectiveness and as a result should play an important role in assessment programs. They also assert that e-assessment is flexible and supports the assessment of higher order thinking, social skills, and group work through such means as electronic portfolios. It is important to measure knowledge gained; however, measuring knowledge is not sufficient to determine teaching and learning effectiveness (Haken, 2006). As a result, assessing students' critical thinking and ability to engage in knowledge application has been found to be crucial to successful assessment programs and one that can be facilitated with, and satisfied by, the use of student learning portfolios (Wright, 2004). A number of educators have defined student learning portfolios. An excellent description was offered by Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991) who described a portfolio as a meaningful collection of student work that demonstrates progress and/or mastery guided by standards and includes evidence of student self-reflection. Abrenica (1996) defined a portfolio as a collection of student achievement artifacts created during a period of time that serve as authentic assessment tools used to evaluate student learning. Weidmer (1998) explained that electronic portfolios are a digital collection of student work that demonstrates individual efforts, progress, and achievements in designated areas. According to Buzzetto-More (2006) electronic portfolios have a number of advantages over those that are paper based as they support: a greater variety of artifacts and allow for increased learner expression; are dynamic and multimedia driven; accessible by a large audience; contain meta-documentation; easy to store; and may serve to promote a student academically or professionally. According to Lorenzo and Ittelson (2005b) electronic portfolios are the biggest innovation in educational technology since the introduction of course management systems and they show promise across disciplines, institutions, and applications. Jafari (2004) explains that academic leaders are excited by electronic portfolios because they offer a new environment to demonstrate and assess student learning and the mapping of outcomes in accordance with established objectives. Electronic portfolio adoption is on the rise according to Casey Green's 2004 Campus Computing Survey which found that the number of institutions offering electronic portfolios doubled from the previous year (Batson, 2005). According to the American Association of Higher Education (2001), portfolios have a broad application in a variety of contexts for the collection of meaningful evidence about learning outcomes that can enhance the effectiveness of student assessment programs. Popper (2005) reported that portfolios can be used to assess learning-outcome achievement as well as to diagnose curriculum deficiencies that require improvement. He explained that portfolios should include a variety of samples of student work so that learners and educators have ample opportunity to assess learning mastery. Chun (2002) explains that the portfolio building process encourages students to engage in structured reflection as well as to see how learning translates into productive practice. Helen Barrett, who has published numerous papers over the past decade on the uses of electronic portfolios in education, explained, in 2000, that electronic portfolios, due to their dynamic nature, are able to illustrate relationships by demonstrating how student learning and achievement relates to learning goals and the ability of a program to effectively communicate these goals to learners (Barrett, 2000). …