Have you thought about using eportfolios or asking your students to create an eportfolio as part of their learning journey at Flinders? I think many of us might have thought about it, but perhaps we are not sure how and why.

An eportfolio could be generally defined as a collection of artefacts, and in an educational context it would be artefacts of learning. The scope of these artefacts is very flexible. Thus, it could include the evidences of learning, personal reflections, recording professional and scholarly activities; or even personal notes, thoughts and planning.

As our focus in this article is on using eportfolios in higher education, let’s start with the reasons (why) behind using eportfolios. Due to their nature, eportfolios provide a holistic way of showcasing achievements which could include integrated assessments to meet learning competencies, outcomes, objectives of a specific topic, course or degree; and/or the overarching graduate attributes. At the same time, they encourage students’ reflections on their learning progression or work integrated learning and promotes the concept of celebration of learning. Lastly, an eportfolio platform allows contributions or curation of content from multi-topics or multi-disciplines which enables the student to see the big picture of their learning and the connection among topics during their course of study.

As for the how, we are currently using the Mahara eportfolio platform at Flinders University which is integrated with FLO (Flinders Learning Online). To begin planning, building and using Mahara, and set up a structure for activities in FLO, a starting point would be our eLearning Gateway entry Mahara eportfolio. In addition, we have professional development workshops dedicated for Mahara eportfolio you could attend. For support in planning, designing or implementing your eportfolio activities, contact your college eLearning support team.

Contributed by Mustafa Ameen
Learning Designer – CILT