Virtual Learning Network: ePortfolios's blog: Do e-Portfolios make a difference to student outcomes?

Karen Mills

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June 1, 2011 by Karen Mills Comments (4)

e-portfolios

We are wondering what/if any data schools are using to see if an e-Porftfolio is making a difference to student outcomes. Some our teachers are beginning a Teacher Action Inquiry and need some baseline data so we can see if they have make a difference. Any thoughts?

Results depend on how e-portfolios are implemented. Look at the data that has been published on the Tamaki Schools’ Manaiakalani Project in Auckland

Helen Barrett 336 days ago

Something happened to the link:

http://www.manaiakalani.org/research-1/2008---2010-report

Helen Barrett 336 days ago

Nick Rate

To reinforce and expand on what Helen has said above, I think the answer to the question needs to be framed around your pedagogical approach to learning that is defined through your eportfolio use and implementation. Other questions such as:

What pedagogical approach are your eportfolios grounded in?
What research supports that approach and results in improved outcomes for students?
Can the same methodologies in that research be applied to the context of eportfolios?

For me, the approach to eportfolio implementation has always been firmly grounded assessment for learning practices. Black and Wiliam (1998) in their publication Inside the Black Box: Raising standards through classroom assessment, discuss assessment for learning and how it is at the heart of effective teaching. In their extensive review referencing over 250 published research articles on the subject, they have concluded that assessment for learning is one of the most powerful ways of improving student learning.

When you look at AFL's characteristics...

it is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part;
it involves sharing learning goals with pupils;
it aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming for;
it involves pupils in self-assessment;
it provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them;
it is underpinned by confidence that every student can improve;
it involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data.

...many are supported by other research into effective teaching and learning. For example, Hattie's effect sizes, where feedback comes in at 1.13.

So how about these questions to guide your teachers' inquiry into practice:

are the eportfolios embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part?
do your eportfolios facilitate sharing learning goals with pupils?
are your eportfolios helping pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming for?
do your eportfolios involve pupils in self-assessment?
do the eportfolios provide feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them?
are the eportfolios underpinned by confidence that every student can improve?
do the eportfolios involve both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data?

ePortfolios are part of a bigger approach to teaching and learning and I think that definitively capturing the direct impact of them will always be difficult. However the research supporting the bigger global pedagogy behind them should be well understood and harnessed.

It is a very good question you pose Karen as eportfolios are currently reemmerging and surging back as a trend in education. I would be really interested to know how schools are capturing their effectiveness or whether their approach is similar to mine, where it is the effectivenes of the pedagogy measured, not a vehicle.

Nick Rate 334 days ago

First go at participating on the VLN! We've discussed this lots and after several years have decided that the question is not so much about the degree to which portfolios are making a difference to student outcomes, but rather 'what conditions are required for them to be of benefit?' Both questions are worthy! With regards to Nick's comment, I agree that the portfolios enable and extend so much of the possibilities with regards to assessment for (as?) learning. Off to read Helen's link now though!

DaveR 312 days ago

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Do e-Portfolios make a difference to student outcomes?

Karen Mills

Nick Rate