Portfolio assessment and reflection: enhancing learning through effective practice

Portfolio assessment across the disciplines can be enhanced by the addition of vital reflective pieces. While many instructors include reflection as a part of their practice, fewer utilize critical steps necessary to further students' responsibility for their own learning. This article reviews a number of guidelines to aid in this process. They are as follows: creating a safe and supportive environment for candid reflection, the development and design of strategic prompts to enhance learning and move students toward metacognitive independence, use of a shared discourse so students and teachers are able to develop reflections from common understandings and vocabulary, and the construction of concise rubrics to ensure knowledge of required tasks.