Tertiary teaching in New Zealand/Blended learning/Introduction to eLearning tools/Your portfolio

"A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas of the curriculum. The collection must include the following:

• Student participation in selecting contents. • Criteria for selection. • Criteria for judging merits. • Evidence of a student's self-reflection. It should represent a collection of students' best work or best efforts, student-selected samples of work experiences related to outcomes being assessed, and documents according growth and development toward mastering identified outcomes.” Paulson, F.L. Paulson, P.R. and Meyer, CA. (1991, February). "What Makes a Portfolio a Portfolio?" Educational Leadership, pp. 60-63.

In broad terms, a professional portfolio could be described as a collection of material put together in a meaningful way to demonstrate the practice and learning of an educational practitioner.

'''Portfolios are useful tools that can have a variety of purposes. Portfolios can be used for: '''

• Identifying the skills you have gained through your various experiences and how they relate to the career you are interested in. • Presenting and demonstrating your work and your successful achievements. • Assessment of your learning, efforts, progress and achievement.

The two main types of portfolios used are : • Paper based portfolios - usually a collection of evidence on paper (writing and pictures) collated in a folder or book format. • E-portfolios - where evidence is collated electronically (can be in any media format: text, images, audio, video, web links)

Traditionally Portfolios have been paper based but nowadays due to advancement in technology e-portfolios are becoming more common. “An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user’s abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. Some e-portfolio applications permit varying degrees of audience access, so the same portfolio might be used for multiple purposes.” Electronic portfolio. (2010, September 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on May 10, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electronic_portfolio&amp;oldid=386144238 Here are some useful links to find out more about e-portfolios : What is a Portfolio?, Overview by Clark University. Overview of e-portfolios A YouTube clip, An e-portfolio can be as simple as an electronic document with the appropriate evidence attached.Some people use wikis, blogs orGoogleApps