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Portfolio - General Information

With the help of ePortfolios, learners can design, document and reflect on their learning and development processes. Different portfolio types can be realized in OpenOlat's Portfolio 2.0.

What is a portfolio?

Portfolio: a term that is often used, but can be understood very differently. Originally the term comes from Latin and is composed of two parts: portare = carry and folio = sheet. A portfolio is therefore sheets that are carried around. This often happens in a so-called binder. Portfolios, for example, have been common in the "art" field for many years. Application portfolios also have a longer tradition. The electronic storage of the various elements, often called artifacts, in electronic folders or collective folders is called an ePortfolio. The goal of an ePortfolio is to collect electronic data, reflect on the individual artifacts and also the compilations, and thus optimize one's own learning process. ePortfolios can be used only for oneself, individually, or shared with other persons (teachers, peers).

Portfolio types

A portfolio is not just a portfolio. A distinction is made between various types and purposes. Here are some examples, all of which can also be realized with OpenOlat:

  • Reflection portfolio: The reflection portfolio can be further divided into a learning and an assessment portfolio.

  • Learning portfolio: The creator is also the owner of the portfolio and generally creates the portfolio out of self-motivation. For example, learners can reflect on their entire course of study, a semester or specific subject areas (self-evaluation).

  • Assessment portfolio: Reflection is used as part of a teaching/learning process. Learners are given tasks that are linked to assessment criteria. The processing of the portfolio is thus externally determined. Often the learners are not the owners of the portfolio or work with a pre-structured portfolio.

  • Development portfolio: One's own development is documented with various artifacts. Learners document their further development over a longer period of time and collect all relevant artifacts in their ePortfolio. If necessary, they can later create different portfolio binders from these development documents.

  • Presentation portfolio: The creator of the portfolio presents themselves or their own projects. This portfolio type can also be used as an application portfolio, for example. For this, the user places collected artifacts under a specific question or for a specific purpose or target group.

Tip

It is already clear from the types mentioned how different portfolios can be. Therefore, the first step in planning and creating ePortfolios is to be clear about which type should be realized.

Advantages of a portfolio

A portfolio has several advantages:

  • The users of a portfolio can collect, describe and analyze content of any kind. Especially the electronic storage simplifies this process.
  • With a portfolio it is possible to reflect on one's own learning and thus optimize the learning process.
  • As everything is saved in binders, the portfolio remains available over a longer period.
  • Feedback and responses from third parties on all collected materials as well as on selected parts can be easily obtained.

Disadvantages of a portfolio

Of course, portfolios also have disadvantages:

  • The basic idea of a portfolio is to place the creator at the center (self-determination). Portfolios that are strongly dictated from outside do not correspond to this basic idea. In addition, in this case the portfolio is filled out by the user in the way the "client" would like it to be, and not the way the user would design it. Open self-reflection can be lost as a result.
  • A portfolio often provides unlimited space to collect whatever is found. The art is to collect everything relevant and to have the courage to leave out the unimportant.
  • A reflection, which in itself is certainly a good thing, can be taken to the extreme with the portfolio. This danger of "over-reflection" must be prevented.
  • The use of ePortfolios only makes sense if they are used over a longer period of time, e.g. one semester, one year or during the entire study program.

What is a reflection?

A reflection is an examination of a past event or current process that is as emotion-free as possible. Reflection means to regard as distanced as possible what happened, for example with a work assignment, with oneself or with a group, in what way, through what interventions or similar. When learning with portfolios, written reflection plays an important role. Each learner considers their own personal learning progress, the extent of their own interest and involvement, and where and how what has been learned can be applied. Good reflection is an important fundamental step for learners towards working independently.

Reflections can also be edited afterwards. If you have linked an artifact in a binder, you can edit the associated reflection in the table overview in the "Reflection" column.

Further information

E-Portfolio (German) >
Eine Taxonomie für E-Portfolios (German) >

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