E-Portfolios in K–12 Education

An e-portfolio (electronic portfolio) is a purposeful electronic collection of evidence that reflects a student’s learning over time. Electronic portfolios have been emerging in education since the introduction of the personal computer. Recent developments have changed the genre from a static digitized notebook to an interactive environment.

There are two major approaches to implementing e-portfolios in K–12 education as discussed in the U.S. Department of Education’s 2010 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP). These two main approaches for e-portfolio development are characterized as workspaces and showcases. The two approaches described in the NETP can coexist. There can be two different technology environments: (1) one that supports personalization and communication, and (2) another that supports hyperlinks and assessment data without interfering with the student-centered representations of learning. This ...