QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #32

Portfolio assessment – Part I

Why use portfolios? One response comes from a Maryland-based school district looking to enhance its application of portfolios to student assessment (http://www.pgcps.pg.k12.md.us/~elc/portfolio.html):

Portfolios can enhance the assessment process by revealing a range of skills; support instructional goals; reflect change and growth over a period of time; encourage reflection; and provide for continuity in education from one year to the next. Instructors can use them for a variety of specific purposes, including:

·         Encouraging self-directed learning.

·         Enlarging the view of what is learned.

·         Fostering learning about learning.

·         Demonstrating progress toward identified outcomes.

·         Creating an intersection for instruction and assessment.

·         Providing a way for students to value themselves as learners.

·         Offering opportunities for peer-supported growth.

The following links lead to discussions on the history of portfolio use, types of portfolios, and how they can be used most effectively in the classroom. In an upcoming Quick Resource Sheet, we’ll concentrate on the increasing use of electronic or online portfolios.

http://electronicportfolios.org/ALI/research.html

“In classrooms, portfolios are not so much an instructional strategy to be researched, but more of a means to an end: to support reflection that can help students understand their own learning and to provide a richer picture of student work that documents growth over time.”

http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie97/papers/1427.pdf

“This paper presents a review of the literature

(including World Wide Web sources) and discussion of using

student portfolios in the college classroom. Topics discussed

are the definition of portfolios, contents, uses, evaluation

methods, effectiveness, and suggested sources for further

research. Specifics from various college courses, including

engineering, writing, mathematics, and science courses,

illustrate concepts.”

http://www.jalt.org/pansig/2004/HTML/AppleShimo.htm

“This paper presents the results of a study concerning learner perceptions 

of the benefits of portfolio assessment compared to traditional testing. 

Responding to both closed Likert 5-point scale questions and open-response 

written questions, learners at two Japanese universities strongly believed 

portfolio construction helped them improve compositional and expressive writing ability. 

Though it was enjoyable for most students, learners found portfolio construction much more 

difficult than exams and showed improved meta-cognitive awareness of the learning process. 

Although examinations assess only a moment of the learning process and can be 

demotivating, portfolios encourage learner autonomy and increase linguistic competence 

while assessing the learning process over an extended period of time.”