e-Portfolio Basics: Types of e-portfolios

There are three types of portfolios: developmental, assessment and showcase:

Developmental Portfolios: demonstrate the advancement and development of student skills over a period of time. Developmental portfolios are considered
works-in-progress and include both self-assessment and reflection/feedback elements. The primary purpose is to provide communication between students and
faculty.

Assessment Portfolios: demonstrate student competence and skill for well-defined areas. These may be end-of-course or program assessments primarily for
evaluating student performance. The primary purpose is to evaluate student competency as defined by program standards and outcomes.

Showcase Portfolios: demonstrate exemplary work and student skills. This type of portfolio is created at the end of a program to highlight the quality of student
work. Students typically show this portfolio to potential employers to gain employment at the end of a degree program.

Hybrids: Most portfolios are hybrids of the three types of portfolios listed above. Rarely will you find a portfolio that is strictly used for assessment, development or
showcase purposes. Occasionally, you may come across showcase portfolios that do not show evidence of self-reflection, rubrics for assessment or feedback,
however, as Helen Barrett, an expert in the field of e-portfolios, would say "a portfolio without standards, goals and/or reflection is just a fancy resume, not an
electronic portfolio."

Self-reflection is an important component of electronic portfolio development. If you do not require participants to self-reflect on the artifacts they add to the
portfolio, they will not gain from the rich learning experience that e-portfolio development can provide!

PURPOSES OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

1. 1. by pared Pre ed in S. T sh Erw li 2 En g 0 BSE 3
2. 2. First… Portfolio assessment matches assessment to teaching.
3. 3. Second… Portfolio assessment has clear goals.
4. 4. Third… Portfolio assessment gives a profile of learner abilities in terms of depth, breadth and growth.
5. 5. Fourth… Portfolio assessment is a tool for assessing a variety of skills not normally testable in a single setting for traditional testing.
6. 6. Fifth… Portfolio assessment develops awareness of own learning by the students.
7. 7. Sixth… Portfolio assessment caters to individuals in a heterogeneous class.
8. 8. Seventh Portfolio assessment develop social skills.
9. 9. Eighth… Portfolio assessment promotes independent and active learners.
10. 10. Ninth… Portfolio assessment can improve motivation for learning and thus achievement.
11. 11. Tenth… Portfolio assessment provides opportunity for student-teacher dialogue.
12. 12. Thank You!
13. PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IS MOST USEFUL FOR:
14. *Evaluating programs that have flexible or individualized goals or outcomes. For example, within a program with the general purpose of enhancing
children's social skills, some individual children may need to become less aggressive while other shy children may need to become more assertive.
15. Each child's portfolio asseessment would be geared to his or her individual needs and goals.
16. *Allowing individuals and programs in the community (those being evaluated) to be involved in their own change and decisions to change.
17. *Providing information that gives meaningful insight into behavior and related change. Because portfolio assessment emphasizes the process of change or
growth, at multiple points in time, it may be easier to see patterns.
18. *Providing a tool that can ensure communication and accountability to a range of audiences. Participants, their families, funders, and members of the
community at large who may not have much sophistication in interpreting statistical data can often appreciate more visual or experiential "evidence" of
success.
19. *Allowing for the possibility of assessing some of the more complex and important aspects of many constructs (rather than just the ones that are easiest to
measure).
20. PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IS NOT AS USEFUL FOR:
21. *Evaluating programs that have very concrete, uniform goals or purposes. For example, it would be unneccessary to compile a portfolio of individualized
"evidence" in a program whose sole purpose is full immunization of all children in a community by the age of five years. The required immunizations are
the same, and the evidence is generally clear and straightforward.
22. *Allowing you to rank participants or programs in a quantitative or standardized way (although evaluators or program staff may be able to make subjective
judgements of relative merit).
23. *Comparing participants or programs to standardized norms. While portfolios can (and often do) include some standardized test scores along with other
kinds of "evidence", this is not the main purpose of the portfolio.
24. USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT WITH THE STATE STRENGTHENING EVALUATION GUIDE
25. Tier 1 - Program Definition
26. Using portfolios can help you to document the needs and assets of the community of interest. Portfolios can also help you to clarify the identity of your
program and allow you to document the "thinking" behind the development of and throughout the program. Ideally, the process of deciding on criteria for
the portfolio will flow directly from the program objectives that have been established in designing the program. However, in a new or existing program
where the original objectives are not as clearly defined as they need to be, program developers and staff may be able to clarify their own thinking by
visualizing what successful outcomes would look like, and what they would accept as "evidence". Thus, thinking about portfolio criteria may contribute to
clearer thinking and better definition of program objectives.
27. Tier 2 - Accountability
28. Critical to any form of assessment is accountability. In the educational arena for example, teachers are accountable to themselves, their students, and the
families, the schools and society. The portfolio is an assessment practice that can inform all of these constituents. The process of selecting "evidence" for
inclusion in portfolios involves ongoing dialogue and feedback between participants and service providers.
29. Tier 3 - Understanding and Refining
30. Portfolio assessment of the program or participants provides a means of conducting assessments throughout the life of the program, as the program
addresses the evolving needs and assets of participants and of the community involved. This helps to maintain focus on the outcomes of the program and
the steps necessary to meet them, while ensuring that the implementation is in line with the vision established in Tier 1.
31.
Tier 4 - Progress Toward Outcomes

32. Items are selected for inclusion in the portfolio because they provide "evidence" of progress toward selected outcomes. Whether the outcomes selected
are specific to individual participants or apply to entire communities, the portfolio documents steps toward achievement. Usually it is most helpful for this
selection to take place at regular intervals, in the context of conferences or discussions among participants and staff.
33. Tier 5 - Program Impact
34. One of the greatest strengths of portfolio assessment in program evaluation may be its power as a tool to communicate program impact to those outside of
the program. While this kind of data may not take the place of statistics about numbers served, costs, or test scores, many policy makers, funders, and
community members find visual or descriptive evidence of successes of individuals or programs to be very persuasive.
35.
36. ADVANTAGES OF USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
37. *Allows the evaluators to see the student, group, or community as individual, each unique with its own characteristics, needs, and strengths.
38. *Serves as a cross-section lens, providing a basis for future analysis and planning. By viewing the total pattern of the community or of individual
participants, one can identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, and barriers to success.
39. *Serves as a concrete vehicle for communication, providing ongoing communication or exchanges of information among those involved.
40. *Promotes a shift in ownership; communities and participants can take an active role in examining where they have been and where they want to go.
41. *Portfolio assessment offers the possibility of addressing shortcomings of traditional assessment. It offers the possibility of assessing the more complex
and important aspects of an area or topic.
42. *Covers a broad scope of knowledge and information, from many different people who know the program or person in different contexts ( eg., participants,
parents, teachers or staff, peers, or community leaders).
43.
44. DISADVANTAGES OF USING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
45. *May be seen as less reliable or fair than more quantitative evaluations such as test scores.
46. *Can be very time consuming for teachers or program staff to organize and evaluate the contents, especially if portfolios have to be done in addition to
traditional testing and grading.
47. *Having to develop your own individualized criteria can be difficult or unfamiliar at first.
48. *If goals and criteria are not clear, the portfolio can be just a miscellaneous collection of artifacts that don't show patterns of growth or achievement.
49. *Like any other form of qualitative data, data from portfolio assessments can be difficult to analyze or aggregate to show change.
50.

51. HOW TO USE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

52. Design and Development
53. Three main factors guide the design and development of a portfolio: 1) purpose, 2) assessment criteria, and 3) evidence (Barton & Collins, 1997).
54. 1) Purpose
55. The primary concern in getting started is knowing the purpose that the portfolio will serve. This decision defines the operational guidelines for collecting
materials. For example, is the goal to use the portfolio as data to inform program development? To report progress? To identify special needs? For
program accountability? For all of these?
56. 2) Assessment Criteria
57. Once the purpose or goal of the portfolio is clear, decisions are made about what will be considered sucess (criteria or standards), and what strategies
are necessary to meet the goals. Items are then selected to include in the portfolio because they provide evidence of meeting criteria, or making
progress toward goals.

58. 3) Evidence
59. In collecting data, many things need to be considered. What sources of evidence should be used? How much evidence do we need to make good
decisions and determinations? How often should we collect evidence? How congruent should the sources of evidence be? How can we make sense of the
evidence that is collected? How should evidence be used to modify program and evaluation? According to Barton and Collins (1997), evidence can
include artifacts (items produced in the normal course of classroom or program activities), reproductions (documentation of interviews or projects done
outside of the classroom or program), attestations (statements and observations by staff or others about the participant), and productions (items
prepared especially for the portfolio, such as participant reflections on their learning or choices) . Each item is selected because it adds some new
information related to attainment of the goals.
60.
Steps of Portfolio Assessment
61. Although many variations of portfolio assessment are in use, most fall into two basic types: process portfolios and product portfolios (Cole, Ryan, & Kick,
1995). These are not the only kinds of portfolios in use, nor are they pure types clearly distinct from each other. It may be more helpful to think of these as
two steps in the portfolio assessment process, as the participant(s) and staff reflectively select items from their process portfolios for inclusion in the
product portfolio.
62. Step 1: The first step is to develop a process portfolio, which documents growth over time toward a goal. Documentation includes statements of the end
goals, criteria, and plans for the future. This should include baseline information, or items describing the participant's performance or mastery level at the
beginning of the program. Other items are "works in progress", selected at many interim points to demonstrate steps toward mastery. At this stage, the
portfolio is a formative evaluation tool, probably most useful for the internal information of the participant(s) and staff as they plan for the future.
63. Step 2: The next step is to develop a product portfolio (also known as a "best pieces portfolio"), which includes examples of the best efforts of a
participant, community, or program. These also include "final evidence", or items which demonstrate attainment of the end goals. Product or "best pieces"
portfolios encourage reflection about change or learning. The program participants, either individually or in groups, are involved in selecting the content,
 the criteria for selection, and the criteria for judging merits, and "evidence" that the criteria have been met (Winograd & Jones, 1992). For individuals and
communities alike, this provides opportunities for a sense of ownership and strength. It helps to show-case or communicate the accomplishments of the
person or program. At this stage, the portfolio is an example of summative evaluation, and may be particularly useful as a public relations tool.
64. Distinguishing Characteristics
65. Certain characteristics are essential to the development of any type of portfolio used for assessment. According to Barton and Collins (1997), portfolios
should be:
66. 1) Multisourced (allowing for the opportunity to evaluate a variety of specific evidence)
67. Multiple data sources include both people (statements and observations of participants, teachers or program staff, parents, and community members),
and artifacts (anything from test scores to photos, drawings, journals, & audio or videotapes of performances).
68. 2) Authentic (context and evidence are directly linked)
69. The items selected or produced for evidence should be related to program activities, as well as the goals and criteria. If the portfolio is assessing the effect
of a program on participants or communities, then the "evidence" should reflect the activities of the program rather than skills that were gained elsewhere.
For example, if a child's musical performance skills were gained through private piano lessons, not through 4-H activities, an audio tape would be
irrelevant in his 4-H portfolio. If a 4-H activity involved the same child in teaching other children to play, a tape might be relevant.
70. 3) Dynamic (capturing growth and change)
71. An important feature of portfolio assessment is that data or evidence is added at many points in time, not just as "before and after" measures. Rather than
including only the best work, the portfolio should include examples of different stages of mastery. At least some of the items are self-selected. This allows
a much richer understanding of the process of change.
72.
4) Explicit (purpose and goals are clearly defined)
73. The students or program participants should know in advance what is expected of them, so that they can take responsibility for developing their evidence.
74. 5) Integrated (evidence should establish a correspondence between program activities and life experiences)
75. Participants should be asked to demonstrate how they can apply their skills or knowledge to real-life situations.
76. 6) Based on ownership (the participant helps determine evidence to include and goals to be met)
77. The portfolio assessment process should require that the participants engage in some reflection and self-evaluation as they select the evidence to include
and set or modify their goals. They are not simply being evaluated or graded by others.
78. 7) Multipurposed (allowing assessment of the effectiveness of the program while assessing performance of the participant).
79. A well-designed portfolio assessment process evaluates the effectiveness of your intervention at the same time that it evaluates the growth of individuals
or communities. It also serves as a communication tool when shared with family, other staff, or community members. In school settings, it can be passed
on to other teachers or staff as a child moves from one grade level to another.