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ePortfolios

ePortfolios digitally curate student work to provide an authentic representation of learning outcomes. From compiling course-related essays to documenting volunteer experiences and employment history, ePortfolios capture learning wherever it occurs.

ePortfolios are both a product—an archive of learning artifacts—and a process that supports student learning: Building an ePortfolio leads students to naturally make valuable connections between various courses, assignments, and cocurricular activities through reflection of their past work. Whether showcasing students’ knowledge and skills for graduate school or a job application, ePortfolios paint an accurate portrait.

ePortfolios also allow faculty and other educational professionals to measure a student’s level of mastery across a wide range of learning outcomes. When combined with AAC&U’s VALUE rubrics, ePortfolios provide a means for direct assessment of student work drawn from the curriculum, co-curriculum, and beyond the campus. Did you know that the Integrative Learning VALUE Rubric was originally designed with collections of work like ePortfolios specifically in mind? Integrative learning is an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus” (AAC&U, 2009, p. 1). As the definition suggests, ePortfolios can be an ideal tool for facilitating students’ integrative learning. VALUE rubrics can be used as is or modified to meet the needs of the course, program, and/or institution at large.

A unified ePortfolio system guides students through curated courses, programs, activities, internships, research projects, and other high-impact practices. Work embedded within these experiences becomes the basis for measuring student progress and attainment. Beyond the individual student, ePortfolios enable reporting to external audiences and the benchmarking of achievements among and between peer institutions.

Institute on ePortfolios

ePortfolios—digital repositories of student work—allow faculty and other educational professionals to help students organize, preserve the forms of, and reflect upon their learning. In this yearlong institute, participants discover how to best ideate, design, and implement ePortfolios according to their unique needs. Teams of administrators, educators, and student leaders develop and then actualize an ePortfolio strategy under the guidance of institute faculty, identifying and addressing challenges as they arise. This institute is ideal for any campus, state system, or consortium aiming to redesign learning for students using ePortfolios.

Forum on Digital Innovation

Previously the Forum on Open Learning and ePortfolios, AAC&U’s newly conceptualized Forum on Digital Innovation is a one-day, online conference highlighting open learning practices and ePortfolios while also exploring the full range of evidence-based approaches, innovative strategies, and emerging domains that support and facilitate the goals of learning, equity, affordability, and access in higher education.

International Journal of ePortfolio

Focused on practices and pedagogies associated with the use of ePortfolios in educational settings, this open-access AAC&U journal is published biannually in April and October.

Publications on ePortfolio: Archives of the Research Landscape (PEARL)

A research database that’s kept up-to-date by the ePortfolio community, PEARL makes empirical evidence of the effectiveness of ePortfolios available to researchers and practitioners.