The ePortfolio Program at Loyola University Chicago is designed to support students, faculty, and staff in the process of creating dynamic, engaging ePortfolios as a tool for teaching, learning, reflection, transformation, and assessment.
ePortfolios: What Will You Build?
An ePortfolio (electronic portfolio) is a digital collection of work over time that showcases your skills, abilities, values, experiences, and competencies through a broad range of evidence-based learning. An ePortfolio may include a variety of artifacts - or relevant documents and media files - that provide a holistic representation of who you are, personally, professionally, and academically. An ePortfolio may function as a venue for collecting and sharing academic work with faculty members, a tool for inviting collaboration and feedback, a professional portfolio to share with prospective employers, or a private log of academic progress.
ePortfolios for Students
ePortfolios can be a powerful catalyst for integrative learning and holistic development as well as a tool for self-branding and professional development. ePortfolios can:
- Encourage engagement in active reflection and meaning-making
- Foster reflection on the principles central to an academic discipline and the university as a whole
- Facilitate the integration of topics and themes across disciplines and over time
- Provide a forum to synthesize work and share that work with others
- Contribute to holistic development in multiple ways, including: personal development, academic development, and career development
- Provide a resource for demonstrating skills, abilities, and experiences in the job-search process
ePortfolios for Faculty/Staff
ePortfolios can foster and provide evidence of student learning across all curricular, co-curricular, and institution-wide outcomes. ePortfolios enhance learning and provide opportunities for assessment of learning in the following ways:
- Represent multiple learning styles, modes of accomplishment, and quality of work accomplished by students
- Provide structure around clear expectations and articulated goals
- Offer the potential for progressive formative assessments that foster improvement while learning is still in process
- Encourage reflection on learning as well as personal goal-setting and future planning
- Facilitate program and institutional review through sampling and aggregation of data from individual student portfolios [Adapted from www.aacu.org/value]