E­ PORTFOLIO­IN­EDUCATION
‑
PRACTICES AND REFLECTIONS
Edited by
Fernando Albuquerque Costa
Maria Adelina Laranjeiro e ­ P o r t f o l i o ­ i n­ ed ucation
‑
Practices and reflections
Associação de Professores de Sintra | 2008

e ­ P o r t f o l i o ­ i n­ ed ucation
‑
Practices and reflections

E­ PORTFOLIO­IN­EDUCATION
‑
PRACTICES AND REFLECTIONS
Edited by
Fernando Albuquerque Costa
Maria Adelina Laranjeiro
Associação de Professores de Sintra | 2008

e‑Portfolio in Education. Practices and reflections;
Fernando Albuquerque Costa e Maria Adelina Laranjeiro (ed.)
isB n : 978‑989‑95341‑3‑1
I — Costa, Fernando, 1958‑
II — Laranjeiro, Maria, 1950‑
ASSOCI AÇ ÃO D E P R O F E S S O R E S D E S I N T R A
Praceta Francisco Ramos Costa, 13 C,
Tapada das Mercês
2725‑579 Mem Martins, Portugal
Tel.: 21 917 04 61
Fax.: 21 917 84 51
profsintra@netcabo.pt
www.profsintra.org
e‑Portfolio in Education. Practices and reflections
© Associação de Professores de Sintra and the authors
Book design: Pedro Serpa
set in: Corbel 9/13, typeface designed by Jeremy Tankard
Printed By: Imprensa de Coimbra, Lda. (Portugal)
2008
legal dePosit: 286 010/08
isBn: 978‑989‑95341‑3‑1

This publication has been carried out with the support of the European Commis‑
sion in the framework of the Project “Digital portfolio as a strategy for teachers’
professional development” (Socrates Programme). It reflects the views only of
the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.
It can be ordered from Associação de Professores de Sintra, Praceta Francisco
Ramos Costa, 13 C, Tapada das Mercês, 2725‑579 Mem Martins, Portugal

CONTENTS
Introduction — Electronic Portfolios: a double challenge 009
for teachers
Fernando Albuquerque Costa & Maria Adelina Laranjeiro
Chapter 1 · Educational potential of e‑portfolios: 013
from student learning to teacher professional development
Maria João Gomes
Chapter 2 · A theoretical approach to the digital portfolio: 021
a strategic method of knowledge management in the university
Maria Isabel Valdizán Garcia & Julio Mata Melo
Chapter 3 · The experience of a digital teaching portfolio 037
as an orientation factor at the University of Burgos
Maria Sonia Frías González & Beatriz Izquierdo Ramírez
Chapter 4 · ePortfolios and eArgumentation 053
Maria José Loureiro, António Moreira & Maria João Gomes
Chapter 5 · Digital portfolio as a strategy towards teachers’ 061
professional development
Maria Adelina Laranjeiro, Cristovalina Afonso & João Carlos Sousa
Chapter 6 · Digital portfolio as a strategy for teacher’s professional 067
development: lessons learned from an international course
Ruben Jans & Valère Awouters
Chapter 7 · Analysing ICT tools for portfolio educational goals 075
Fernando Albuquerque Costa & Elisabete Cruz

Chapter 8 · ePEARL: Supporting learning using 083
electronic portfolios
Anne Wade, Philip C. Abrami, Elizabeth Meyer & Beverley White
Chapter 9 · Using the digital portfolio as support 095
in eyewitness subjects
Juan Casanova Correa, Francisco Pavón Rabasco & Montserrat Vargas Vergara
Chapter 10 · The use of digital portfolio in Portugal 105
Fernando Albuquerque Costa, Maria Ângela Rodrigues,
Maria Helena Peralta & Mónica Raleiras

INTRODUCTION
ELECTRONIC­PORTFOLIOS
A DOUBLE CHALLENGE FOR TEACHERS
The present publication addresses the use of digital portfolios in education‑
al context and it is one of the latest dissemination activities of the Digifolio
project – Digital Portfolio as a strategy for teachers’ professional development,
a COMENIUS 2.1 project which was carried out between 2005 and 2008. It in‑
volved several universities and teacher training institutions from five different
European countries.
The project, which main focus was the reflection on the potentialities of port‑
folios and digital technologies in the perspective of teachers’ professional devel‑
opment, came to its end with an international seminar which aimed at dissemi‑
nating the work produced in the frame of a previous teachers training course, as
well as allowing and welcoming the contribution of other education professionals
with their practices and reflections on the above‑mentioned thematic.
Although it was impossible to include in this publication all the papers pre‑
sented at the international seminar, we consider the present compilation a
meaningful set of the ideas exchanged and of the reflections produced, during
the seminar, by the more than a hundred participants who came from thirteen
countries where the subject of digital portfolios used for educational purposes
starts being in the centre of most educational discussions.
In fact, though the experience of using digital technologies for design‑
ing and building educational portfolios is still incipient, as it was possible to
confirm in the first research survey and systematizing work carried out in the
different countries involved in Digifolio project (Costa, Rodrigues & Peralta,
2006), there are clear evidences of the interest on digital portfolios in Educa‑
tion, at least in what concerns the official policies concerning either to teach‑
ers or to students.
In spite of their recognized potentialities, namely as an alternative learn‑
ing and assessment strategy in relation to the traditional school work orga‑
nization, there are emergent difficulties not only related with the exigency
introduction · 9

imposed by the use of portfolios but also those arising from the use of digital
technologies for their accomplishment.
These difficulties are specially felt by the teachers who didn’t have a spe‑
cific training in the use of new technologies for pedagogical purposes and
need an added investment in order to develop the required competencies al‑
lowing them to use and understand how technologies can help to achieve the
designed learning objectives with the use of portfolios.
Thus, this publication must be read keeping in mind this perspective, al‑
lowing both the reflection upon the potentialities of the portfolios in the learn‑
ing process and the way digital technologies can help to attain that aim.
With diversified approaches and different foci, having as reference very
different contexts, we hope the texts now presented can somehow contribute
to the reflection on this subject, being at the same time a good indicator of the
concretization level of these new ways of teaching and learning.
In the first Chapter (Educational potential of e‑portfolios: from student learn‑
ing to teacher professional development), Maria João Gomes introduces the
subject stressing the fact that portfolios are a work strategy both for teach‑
ers and students and even though used with different aims they are a com‑
mon learning opportunity.
In Chapter 2 (A theoretical approach to the digital portfolio: a strategic method
of knowledge management in the university), Maria Isabel Valdizán Garcia and
Julio Mata Melo deal with the subject of portfolios at university level as a re‑
sponse to the traditional learning and teaching processes and to the challenge
imposed by the digital technologies in what concerns the access to knowl‑
edge, highlighting their enormous potential in this same specific aspect.
In Chapter 3 (The experience of a digital teaching portfolio as an orientation
factor at the University of Burgos), Maria Sonia Frí