ABSTRACT
In recent years, electronic portfolios or ePortfolios have become a common means of facilitating and documenting student-teacher learning and development. With a number of established affordances, ePortfolios have become a useful learning and assessment tool in teacher education. This chapter provides a data-led account of the benefits and potential use of ePortfolios.
This chapter addresses the ‘What, Why, and How’ of ePortfolios in teacher education:
What are ePortfolios and how are they used in teacher development?
Why should student teachers develop ePortfolios and what is the research evidence on the value in the process?
How are ePortfolios implemented? What are some of the possibilities, constraints, affordances, effective strategies and promising practices?
The literature review presents evidence of widespread implementation of ePortfolios in teacher education over the last two decades. The authors discuss the competing purposes of ePortfolios, emphasizing key issues such as, process vs. product-based learning, or formative vs. summative assessment. The final section addresses reflective processes and technology options for implementation, with a discussion of commonly used ePortfolio platforms, including tablets or mobile devices, with online applications that support collection of evidence, reflection on learning, and presentation of outcomes.