What is an E-portfolio?

Electronic portfolios contain student works, comments, evaluation checklists and grades that make it possible to monitor a student's progress in academic and relational learning. In the case of a web-accessible portfolio, the student, the teacher and the parents are invited to record and store elements in the portfolio. They are encouraged to assess the accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses of the student. Since the information is confidential, an access code is required to view or modify a student's portfolio. The administrator of the portfolio is responsible for providing a unique access code for each person entitled to contribute to the portfolio. The number of individuals entitled to contribute to the portfolio must be limited.

The advent of School Board Portals with their secure and personalised access will alleviate some of the concerns and issues raised here.

Characteristics

Accessing the Portfolio | Managing Portfolios | Validity Period of Portfolios | Location of the Server

Accessing the Portfolio

Participants must provide information that identifies them when they access a portfolio.

Since access is controlled, participants must identify themselves. An access code, which may be the name of the person and a password, is required. The administrator of the portfolio generally provides the information that makes it possible to access a student's portfolio. A student's portfolio must be accessible only to a limited number of individuals, namely the teacher, the student and the parents.

Managing Portfolios

Portfolio management requires that space for the portfolio of each student in the group be created and that the teacher, the parents and the student each receive a different access code. The portfolio administrator must ensure that only authorized persons (teacher, parents, student) have access to a student's portfolio. The administrator has a list of all the portfolios and of the access codes assigned to each of them.

Validity Period of Portfolios

A portfolio may be used for more than one school year to show progress and learning. It makes it easier to track progress from one year to the next within a cycle, and from one cycle to the next. This planning and intervention tool is a valuable asset for the teachers who are responsible for the student.

Location of the Server

The server that hosts a portfolio may not be under the responsibility of the same authority as the students.

Some servers that offer such services are not under the responsibility of the school board and are often outside the country. In such case, the school board cannot guarantee the confidentiality of the information provided and cannot always ensure that its obligations will be assumed by the organization that hosts the server.

The school board must ensure that its obligations as regards the protection of personal information are transferred to the hosting organization.

Additional Reference Material

To learn more about portfolios (electronic or not) as well as about the Portfolio Process, consult the QESN-RÉCIT web site " Portfolio Process - Le portfolio dans l'apprentissage".