Overview for Faculty
What are the benefits of using an ePortfolio in my teaching?
ePortfolios used within a course or department encourage students to think about their learning in a broader context of career, culture, and experience. Most students are excited by the idea of creating an electronic portfolio. They recognize the value of having an electronic tool they can use to showcase their work to prospective employers or graduate studies. ePortfolios also allow students to:
- share examples of their work with faculty, advisors, mentors or potential employers,
- master valuable information technology skills, and
- demonstrate knowledge, skills and attitudes gained within and beyond the classroom.
To view some examples of student ePortfolios created at SF State, visit our Gallery.
Benefits to Faculty
Faculty play a key role in helping students to engage in the process of learning how to “collect, select, reflect, connect, build, and publish” their academic and co-curriclular work.
Well-conceived ePortfolios can serve multiple purposes—providing a means to authentically assess student performance, acting as a bridge between educational institutions (e.g., high school to university, transfer between community college and university), or allowing prospective employers to evaluate a student's abilities.
ePortfolios allow faculty to find their students' academic and co-curricular work centralized in one location. As a student progresses through a program, different faculty members and advisors can review what he or she has done to meet the program objectives. While an ePortfolio may include transcript information (on secure sites), it provides a great deal more information about a student's abilities, competencies, and leadership skills. Further, ePortfolios may be used in advising and both formative and summative assessment of student work.
Departmental archives of former students' ePortfolios also help faculty show current and prospective students what is required in a particular program and the type of work done by program graduates. Several departments at SF State have created ePortfolio archives (not all may be listed here):
- Health Education ePortfolios (link opens new window)
- Public Administration ePortfolios (link opens new window)
- Instructional Technologies ePortfolios (link opens new window)
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