Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) can be created by staff and students and have multiple purposes. They can be used for:

  • course assessments,

  • to support the accreditation of professional degrees,

  • reflective learning,

  • to prepare students for the workplace,

  • to showcase graduate attributes, and

  • teaching portfolios.
     

Student portfolios
ePortfolios have been used in Higher Education for more than a decade for course assessments and to support the accreditation of professional degrees. More recently, ePortfolios have been used to prepare students for the workplace and allows them to showcase graduate attributes. Notably, the successful use of ePortfolios are most often derived from careful curriculum design and cannot be seen as a ‘tacked on’ technology.

ePortfolios allow students to curate different forms of evidence using a variety of media in an online space. What makes ePortfolios unique are their portability and the ability to tell a story about one’s learning journey in a time-stamped way that a paper portfolio is often unable to do. They can also be shared online with an audience beyond the University, such as with potential employers.
 

Teaching portfolios
Online Teaching Portfolios offer a more public and professional view of teaching as a scholarly activity. They provide an overview of your development as a university teacher, helping you and others to see your teaching as an ongoing process of enquiry, innovation, and reflection. Creating such a portfolio involves thinking about your teaching in context, as well as in selecting and organizing evidence of your teaching. As particular and augmented forms of representation of what an academic CV might look like, teaching portfolios have the following features. They are:

  • concise (e.g. 10 pages + appendices),

  • highly personalised and critically reflective,

  • evidence-based,

  • intentionally and thoughtfully integrated, organised, and presented.

  • They are focused on teaching practices and student learning.

Some examples of teaching portfolios here. However, developing a teaching portfolio is sometimes experienced as a daunting task, and a digital teaching portfolio even more so. CILT offers a variety of opportunities for you to develop your ePortfolios. 
 

Resources

The following resources are a useful starting point as you explore the ways that ePortfolios are used in higher education.  

For queries and support regarding the use of ePortfolios at UCT, please contact cilt-helpdesk@uct.ac.za