E-portfolios in an educational and ocupational context

ePortfolios (or e-portfolios) are also known as “electronic” or ‘digital’ portfolios, “webfolios” and even “on-line personal development plans” or “Digital notebook”. There are also many definitions of ePortfolios, but it is important to remember that an ePortfolio is best defined by its purpose. However, the ePortfolios allows learners to trace the development of their thinking and learning over time and to show those competencies to the university and to employers. More than that, ePortfolios can provide digital resources relevant to their own study (personalised information) and links to other learners (for collaboration and feedback). When working with e-portfolios in an educational context, it is important to not only introduce the method, but to also implement ePortfolios as an overall concept. Successful implementation of the ePortfolios approach demands a different approach to teaching and learning. When working with ePportfolios, the focus lies in the combination of storing both the products and the process of learning. The documentation of learning processes is achieved by recording reflections on the learning progress of individuals. In this presentation we will analyze the ePortfolios from the main actors’ perspective: the main challenge is to acquire the necessary skills to build a professional ePortfolio and, more fundamentally, to develop the ability to reflect on and accept greater responsibility for their own professional development. Using ePortfolios, students learned to think more about their own learning, to organize their work better, to plan how to improve their skills and competences etc. the use of new tools, resources and approaches can definitely contribute to the new vision of professional development that is being called in favor to support teachers’ efforts and to adjust their teaching to the actual learning needs of their students. ePortfolios can serve these purposes, allowing and contributing for the reflection on the teachers’ goals, assessing their practice strengths and areas which need improvement documenting at the same time their professional growth thus generating ideas for future teaching development. Additionally, teachers need strategies to support learners in creating and maintaining their ePortfolios, and in evaluating the outcomes. they are interested to find on the labor market highly qualified graduates, according with their expectations and without a great effort or time consuming In this respect, during this paper we will present how and in which way the educational actors can benefit if they implement ePortfolios in the educational and occupational context.