This document discusses electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) and their uses. E-portfolios can serve as online resumes but also as collections of work samples, reflections, and accomplishments. They can be used by students, institutions, and teachers for various purposes like applying to graduate school or showcasing best work. E-portfolios contain various digital artifacts and media types. The author plans to create e-portfolios to track their growth as a student and teacher and share practices with colleagues. E-portfolios could also help students reflect on writing progress and share with parents.

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Electronic Portfolios
Brenda J. Joseph
Western Oregon University

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Electronic Portfolios
Many people think of electronic portfolios or e-portfolios as online resumes. E-portfolios
can be that, but they can also be so much more. Lorenzo and Ittelson (2005) state that e-
portfolios are “a digitized collection of artifacts including demonstrations, resources, and
accomplishments that represent an individual, group, community, organization, or institution” (p.
2). The components of an e-portfolio might include various things such as text documents,
images or graphics, videos, or other multimedia pieces (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005). Some e-
portfolios will also contain notes and reflections on work (D2L, 2013).
E-portfolios can be used for several purposes. Some of the main uses of e-portfolios
include student, institutional, and teaching e-portfolios (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005). Students
might want to create an e-portfolio when they are applying to graduate school to show their
accomplishments in a professional manner. Another use of student e-portfolios would be “to gain
teaching licensure or certification” (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005, p. 3). Institutional e-portfolios
may showcase work from different departments and sometimes serve to demonstrate
accountability (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005). Similarly, teaching e-portfolios can be used to
showcase best work, teaching accomplishments, teaching philosophies, lesson plans, awards, and
much more (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005). Teaching e-portfolios also have the potential to lead to
professional learning communities. Teachers sharing their best practices with their colleagues
can serve to improve schoolwide practices.
As previously mentioned, one element that may be found in an e-portfolio is text
documents. Text documents can be linked, word documents, pdfs, and much more. They are
often work samples, quotes, and reflections (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005). Graphics might include

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photos, digital images, art, or any other form of visual aid that would help represent best work or
accomplishments. Some multimedia elements that might be included in an e-portfolio are videos,
audiotapes, or even what appear to be elements of a video game (Lorenzo & Ittlelson, 2005 and
Leonardi, n.d.).
In my own life I plan to use e-portfolios in a variety of ways. One will be to showcase my
accomplishments as a student and now a teacher. I would like to create something to track and
reflect on my educational practices. This will help me to grow as a teacher and may also benefit
some of my peers as well as give me an opportunity for feedback from others. If I should look
for other employment down the road I would be able to tailor my e-portfolio for that purpose as
well.
For my students, I could use e-portfolios to help track their progress as well. In the past I
have had students keep portfolios for their writing so that they could reflect on their growth
throughout a course. Having e-portfolios would simplify the process for students and would
provide the ability to share with me as well as with their parents. The instructor I took over for
was using Google Classroom for students. It would be very easy to transfer documents and other
artifacts from Google Classroom to Google Sites when students begin working on their
portfolios.
E-portfolios have many possible uses in both education and other professional arenas.
There are various platforms available that can be either easy or more complex to use. E-
portfolios serve various purposes and the components of an e-portfolio may vary depending on
its purpose and creator.

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References
D2L. (2013, April 1). ePortfolio introduction [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=TFb0u6dI3u4
Leonardi, R. (n.d.). Interactive resume of Robby Leonardi. Retrieved from
http://www.rleonardi.com/interactive-resume/
Lorenzo, G. and Ittelson, J. (2005). An overview of e-portfolios. Educause Learning
Initiative: Advancing learning through IT innovation, 1. D. Oblinger (Ed.). Retrieved from
https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2005/1/eli3001-pdf.pdf