Portfolio
Sample Portfolios and Development Resources
Portfolios are systematic collections of evidence that demonstrates what a person or an organization has learned over time. These collections often include both work samples and reflections on learning, and are designed for presentation to specific audiences. As expressed by Walvoord (2004): “portfolios must be used more like case studies than like large samples. Their purpose is to bore a deep but narrow hole, to give richer texture and depth to the institution’s understanding of how students learn” (p. 77)
Barrett, H. C. & Wilkerson, J. (2004). Conflicting paradigms in electronic portfolio approaches: Choosing an electronic portfolio strategy that matches your conceptual framework.
This paper explores two approaches to the use of portfolios in education. Implications of these strategies are examined in light of portfolio purpose, development, implementation, and evaluation.
Cambridge, B. L., Kahn, S., Tompkins, D. P., & Yancey, K. B. (Eds.). (2001). Electronic
portfolios: Emerging practices in student, faculty, and institutional learning. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
Chen, H.L., & Light, T.P. (2010). Electronic portfolios and student success: Effectiveness, efficiency, and learning. AAC&U Publications.
This publication presents an overview of electronic portfolios and ways individuals and campuses can implement e-portfolios to enhance and assess student learning, recognizing that learning occurs in many places, takes many forms, and is exhibited through many modes of representation.
*Banta, T.W., & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
This edited book brings together assessment gurus, giving the reader a history and the how-to of assessment. A review of this book by D.F. Westerheijden is available in The Review of Higher Education here.
Walvoord, B. E. (2004). Assessment clear and simple: A practical guide for institutions, departments, and general education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
"The first edition of this book became an essential go-to guide for anyone who participates in the assessment process in higher education. With the increased pressure to perform assessment to demonstrate accountability, Assessment Clear and Simple is needed more than ever. This second edition of the classic resource offers a concise, step-by-step guide that helps make assessment simple, cost-efficient, and useful to an institution."
Sample Portfolios and Development Resources
Alverno College’s Diagnostic Digital Portfolio (DDP)
Alverno College’s DDP is an institutional database designed to increase the visibility of student learning and development over time. While students are viewed as the primary users and beneficiaries, faculty, advisors, administrator, and program assessment uses are also recognized.
Career Portfolio by Florida State University
The FSU Career Portfolio is designed to help students plan for careers, reflect on their skills and abilities, and to organize evidence of past achievements. Development of this system began in 1997, with its initial launch occurring in April 2002. The portfolio website offers many resources about portfolio development, evaluation of the portfolio system, sample student portfolios, and use of completed portfolios in institutional reaccreditation efforts.
This is an example of a for-profit organization who has developed a web-based portfolio, assessment, and reporting tool. Their client case studies show some interesting ideas on assessing student work.
Sakai Project & the Open Source Portfolio
This website is designed to connect organizations and individual application developers around the world who use Sakai – a free and open source course management system. A core part of this application is the Open Source Portfolio (OSP), which is a non-proprietary, open-source electronic portfolio application that is continually under development by a collaborative, world-wide community. The OSP is targeted toward students and faculty, allowing students to collect evidence of their work and accomplishments over time, to reflect on learning related to those accomplishments, and to showcase selections of their work to audiences of their choosing.
Urban Universities Portfolio Project (UUPP)
The UUPP was a collaboration among six urban public universities to develop prototypes of electronic institutional portfolios. The project, which took place from 1998-2001, was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE). This website provides links to the six portfolios, which continue to grow and evolve, as well as a number of resources and links.
*Due to copyright regulations we cannot put up direct links to many of these articles, but they are available through many university libraries.