ePortfolios considerations

Inclusion & access considerations

ePortfolios can be a useful tool for teaching diverse learners, if considerations are kept in mind for those who may need assistive technology, flexibility or differing ways of collecting, showcasing and reflecting on their work in a digital environment.

Gathered below is a collection of resources for faculty and instructors to consider or share with students that may be useful. This is not an exhaustive list of resources, so please connect with us directly if you find you or a student is need of additional resources or supports.

• UVic training and resources for Adaptive Technologies
• ePortfolios as Assistive Technology
• Accessible ePortfolios for Visually Impaired Users: Interfaces, Designs & Infrastructures

Reflection

Ideas for Integrating Reflection in ePortfolios

• Reflection is more effective when it is integrated at the start of a program, practiced continuously and includes experiences from different learning situations. Yancey (2015) speaks of an environmental model of an ePortfolio as opposed to a compilation model. An environmental ePortfolio includes communication with peers and instructors, connections to class materials and extracurricular activities, enabling students to reflect on and connect different learning experiences.
• Forms of social interaction that include elements of social media can help students be more confident in using the ePortfolio as a learning platform (Roberts, 2018).
• To stimulate more open and deeper reflection students can be offered the opportunity for private reflection, allowing students to “privately self-assess their reflective writing” (Roberts, et al, 2014, p. 443), and selecting excerpts from personal journals for sharing in their ePortfolio.
• ePortfolios may be used for transformational learning instead of competency assessment by assessing the depth of learning in students’ reflective writing (Springfield, et al., 2015).
• Reflection activities that have a clear structure support students by clarifying purpose and processes of learning. Models of reflection can be built into the ePortfolio process (Ebil et al., 2020; Wang, 2009).
• Different reflection tools can be offered for optional use. This can help free instructor’s time by focusing on students who need more help, and tools can be chosen to match personal preferences (Nielsen et al., 2015)

Click here to download a list of references and additional suggested readings focused on reflection in ePortfolios.  

Reflecting on Work-Integrated Learning Experiences in ePortfolios

ePortfolios are particularly suitable for reflecting on learning. As students collect, select and describe evidence of their learning experiences, they naturally engage in reflection in multiple ways. The development of reflection skills can be guided, scaffolded and supported to create deeper learning experiences and skills for lifelong learning.

The Office of Community Engaged Learning (CEL) offers suggestions and support for faculty and staff interested in community-engaged learning, including the following resources for reflection:

• Models for reflection in CEL
• Reflection activities in CEL
• Questions for reflection in CEL