Evaluating, Comparing, and Best Practice in Electronic Portfolio System Use

Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) are commonly positioned to show evidence of student learning with formative and summative assessment benefits. At the University of Auckland teacher education program, two e-portfolio systems were adopted to document preservice teacher's course work and to attest to the Graduating Teacher Standards. This article seeks to (a) evaluate e-portfolio systems, (b) compare the MyPortfolio (Mahara) and Google Sites systems, and (c) provide recommendations for best practice in system use. The software system comparison between the MyPortfolio (Mahara) and Google Sites system was based on the essential technology features for system use. User satisfaction and usability data were obtained through self-reported surveys (N = 192). Open-ended questions (N = 192) and semistructured interviews with a sample of course participants (N = 12) ascertained the best practice approach for system use. Mean scores were higher for the MyPortfolio (Mahara) system. One-way analysis of variance indicated that the differences were statistically significant.