ABSTRACT
This chapter examines practices on multiple campuses as they describe traditional uses of eportfolios for assessment of outcomes-based learning and then investigates wider circles of eportfolio influence on colleges and universities. Programs or institutions interested in using eportfolio assessment typically create or revisit learning outcomes before designing an eportfolio system. Alverno's practice provides a clear illustration of the ways in which student input and involvement are crucial to eportfolio assessment. As students work with peers and instructors to determine which documents best demonstrate outcomes and make reflective arguments about their learning based on those documents and outcomes, they discover and share much more than data that can be reduced to numbers and sorted into discreet categories. Students move beyond listing documents according to the learning outcome being demonstrated by showing the process, in demonstrating higher-level thinking by synthesizing artifacts and outcomes, and in applying their discoveries to personal growth and social problems.
