ePortfolios
Our Office

Location
Student Services Center, Room 440
530-898-6891
eportfolios@csuchico.edu

Regular Hours
8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Monday–Friday

Mailing Address
Office of Undergraduate Education
400 W. First St.
Chico, CA 95929–0680

Contact ePAT

List of Members

For Faculty and Staff

ePortfolios have tremendous potential benefits for students and faculty. As Chen and Light (2010:3) state:

"E-Portfolios – as both process and product – can promote deep learning and knowledge transfer by fostering student’s ability to make connections between … learning experiences in a variety of classroom, workplace and community settings…. In other words, an integrative approach to student learning encourages students to take responsibility for documenting and demonstrating their own abilities … within a broader learning landscape ...

As “container” of authentic evidence of student work, e-portfolios can serve as a catalyst for conversations among faculty and other stakeholders with departments and programs about common learning outcomes, coherence among courses and professional development. … e-portfolios offer insight into the process by which students learn, rather than just an end product."

Resources

The actual and potential use of ePortfolios is generating a rapidly growing literature and suite of professional conferences; most of the literature is widely available online.  Key publications include: Electronic Portfolios and Student Success: effectiveness, efficiency and learning(opens in new window) by Helen Chen and Tracy Penny Light (2010, AAC&U) and E-Portfolios: for Reflection, Learning and Assessment(opens in new window), Special Issue of Peer Review, Winter 2014, 16(1). 

The Connect2Learn website(opens in new window) is a “FIPSE-funded project coordinated by LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) that links ePortfolio teams from 24 campuses nationwide into a supportive community of practice. Launched in 2011, C2L focuses on exploring and documenting ePortfolio strategies to advance student, faculty, and institutional learning.”  C2L is a rich repository of ideas, tips, cautionary tales and other documentation of ePortfolio use.

A third key resource is The International Journal of ePortfolios(opens in new window), a peer-reviewed, open-access, web-based journal. “The journal’s focus includes the explanation, interpretation, application, and dissemination of researchers’, practitioners’, and developers’ experiences relevant to ePortfolio.”

Examples

There are two main approaches to creating ePortfolios: Open source platforms that allow users to build their own websites – “a domain of one’s own” – and commercial vendors who sell specialized ePortfolio products.

Open source: Some faculty are attracted to open source solutions. These have the advantage of being free – usually within limits – with considerable latitude for site design.  All current (2016) use of ePortfolios on our campus is via open source platforms. Open source providers include: WordPress(opens in new window), Wix(opens in new window), Weebly(opens in new window) and others.

Vendors:  Chico State is currently considering three commercial ePortfolio platforms: Digication(opens in new window), Pathbrite(opens in new window) and Portfolium(opens in new window). The CSU Chancellor’s Office has a site license for Portfolium. Chico State faculty and students currently (2016) have 2-year window of free access.  

Current Use of ePortfolios