Background

Grant Wiggins' defines a portfolio as:

" a representative collection of one's work. As the word's roots suggest (and as is still the case in the arts), the sample of work is fashioned for a particular objective and carried from place to place for inspection or exhibition." (Wiggins, 2000)

Educators in the Pacific Northwest, through the Northwest Evaluation Association (1990), developed the following definition of a portfolio:

A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection; the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection.

A valuable efolio reading - Digital Portfolio Culture - By Dr. Davis

An electronic portfolio uses electronic technologies, allowing the portfolio developer to collect and organize portfolio artifacts in many media types (audio, video, graphics, text). A standards-based portfolio uses a database or hypertext links to clearly show the relationship between the standards or goals, artifacts and reflections. The learnerís reflections are the rationale that specific artifacts are evidence of achieving the stated standards or goals. Often, the terms Electronic Portfolio and Digital Portfolio are used interchangeably; however there is a distinction: an Electronic Portfolio contains artifacts that may be in analog form, such as a video tape, or may be in computer-readable form; in a Digital Portfolio, all artifacts have been transformed into computer-readable form. An electronic portfolio is not a haphazard collection of artifacts (i.e., a digital scrapbook or a multimedia presentation) but rather a reflective tool that demonstrates growth over time. (Barrett, 2000)

The benefits of developing electronic portfolios for either students or teachers includes:

• minimal storage space

• easy to create back-up files

• portability

• long shelf life

• learner-centered

• increases technology skills

• through hypertext links it is easier to make argument that certain standards are met

• accessibility