Eportfolio assessment can help students develop skills for lifelong learning by allowing them to identify and reflect on their own learning, make judgements about their work and the work of others, and prepare for unpredictable future challenges. Eportfolios encourage student ownership of learning by having them select work to showcase and provide reflections. When used for assessment, eportfolios can provide formative feedback to students and inspire high-quality work by helping students learn to recognize quality in their own and others' work. Eportfolios have the potential to align learning goals, practice, and evaluation in a way that supports lifelong learning beyond graduation.

1. Making a Difference – Innovation in Assessment
Belinda Allen, Kate Coleman & Adele Flood, Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU)
Epor%olio
assessment
acts
as
sustainable
Becoming
an
self
and
peer
ASSESSOR
can
assist
assessment
(Boud,
2000)
that
enables
students
to:
in
a
students
prepara4on
for
life
long
learning.
• iden4fy
their
learning
• make
judgements
about
their
learning
Epor%olios
have
the
ability
to
involve
students
in
• prepare
them
for
future
learning.
‘preparing
them
for
the
tasks
of
making
complex
As
Boud
&
Falchikov
(2006)
suggest,
assessment
judgements
about
their
work
and
that
of
others
should
‘not
only
address
the
immediate
needs
of
and
for
making
decisions
in
the
uncertain
and
cer4fica4on
or
feedback
to
students
on
their
unpredictable
circumstances
in
which
they
will
current
learning,
but
also
contribute
in
some
way
to
find
themselves
in
the
future’
(Boud
&
Falchikov,
their
prospec4ve
learning’.
2006)
Benefits of eportfolio assessment
As
Royce
Sadler
(2011)
tells
us;
there
are
3
basic
requirements
for
learners
to
become
proficient
in
some
Unless
the
students
can
‘appraise
the
quality
of
a
domain:
work
they
are
in
the
process
of
construc4ng,
they
have
no
framework
for
improving
it’
(Sadler,
REFLECTION
1. Students
need
to
know
what
high
quality
work
is
ePor%olios
encourage
student
ownership
and
direc4on
of
and
be
able
to
recognise
it
when
they
see
it;
2011).
learning
as
they
select
and
reflect
on
their
evidence
for
2.
Students
need
to
know
how
to
iden4fy
quality
and
Epor%olios
can
encourage
the
ability
to
NOTICE
presenta4on.
to
be
able
to
locate
par4cular
weakness’
and
strengths
that
account
for
quality
in
work;
and
QUALITY
in
a
student’s
own
work
and
that
of
As
Housego
&
Parker
(2009)
tell
us,
an
epor%olio
can
contain
a
their
peers
as
they
become
more
familiar
with
‘range
of
materials
from
a
variety
of
sources’,
including
those
3.
Students
need
to
know
how
to
iden4fy
the
the
‘standard’
required.
produced
for
course
based
assessment
to
support
reflec4ve
necessary
changes
and
adapta4ons
that
could
Teaching
students
to
NOTICE
high
quality
work
convert
a
par4cular
work
–
whether
their
own
or
prac4ce.
that
of
another
producer
–
into
one
of
a
higher
can
be
achieved
in
an
epor%olio
as
students
quality’
with
the
necessary.
supports.
become
‘recep4ve
to
the
processes’.
RE-THINKING PEDAGOGY
Teaching
and
learning
beyond
the
walls
of
our
ins4tu4on
should
encompass
new
thinking
about
pedagogies
and
new
ways
of
developing
courses
for
students
beyond
gradua4on.
Integra4ng
por%olios
at
a
course
and
(par4cularly)
program
level
can
enhance
the
life-­‐long
learning
need
for
alignment
of
learning
goals
and
prac4ce
with
evalua4on.
ePor%olio
prac4ce
supports
BarneL's
“epistemology
for
uncertainty”
which
proposes
that
students
“develop
powers
of
cri4cal
ac4on.”
(Barne',
2000,
p240).
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
epor%olios
have
the
poten4al
to
provide
the
core
principles
for
effec4ve
assessment.
1. Assessment
that
guides
and
encourages
effec4ve
approaches
to
learning,
2. Assessment
that
validly
and
reliably
measures
expected
learning
outcomes,
in
par4cular
the
higher-­‐order
learning
that
characterises
higher
educa4on;
and
3.
Assessment
and
grading
that
defines
and
protects
academic
standards.
(Assessing
Learning
in
Australian
Universi:es,
Three
objec:ves
of
Higher
Educa:on
Assessment.
James,
McInnis
&
Devlin,
2002)
Model
for
eporIolio
pracJce
An
epor%olio
is
able
to
draw
together
the
user’s
personal,
professional
and
academic
prac4ces,
requires
them
to
develop,
evaluate
and
select
representa4ve
artefacts,
and
present
them
in
formats
to
suit
different
audiences
and
purposes.
INNOVATION
Any
change
in
assessment
prac4ce
requires
course
and
program
revision.
Lefng
students
become
inspired
by
high
quality
work
is
an
aspira4onal
goal
of
an
epor%olio
in
higher
educa4on.
As
an
innova4ve
and
transforma4ve
pedagogy,
epor%olio
assessment
can
lead
to
more
frequent
and
reflec4ve
feedback
through
more
forma4ve
assessment.
Contact:
Kate
Coleman,
e.
kathryn.coleman@unsw.edu.au;
Belinda
Allen,
e.
belinda@unsw.edu.au,
Learning
and
Teaching
Unit
(LTU)
UNSW.