"a portfolio without standards, goals and/or reflection is just a fancy resume, not an electronic portfolio." - Helen Barrett
ePortfolios can be used for showcase, career, learning (developmental), assessment (course and progam), and personal reflection purposes. The key is reflection. Without reflection, it's an online resume, a informational webpage, or an online file cabinet for documents. ePortfolio is more than a tool, it's a learning process.
Where it all started for me:
Educational Psychology was my favorite subject and topic of discussion in graduate school. Ryan and Deci and their intrinsic motivational theory on self-determination made sense to me as an educator. I began studying their research and applying learning strategies to promote the development of self-determined learning behaviors in my students. One gloomy, wintery Monday, as I was exploring emerging classroom technologies in my Teaching Learning Center at Dutchess Community College, I stumbled upon Epsilen, an eportfolio tool and social networking community for educators and students. This application made sense. Suddenly the sun burst through the clouds as I remembered Ryan and Deci and their Self-Determination research in education. Could this be a tool to facilitate self-determined learning behaviors with our students? I had an eportfolio from graduate school, but it was designed with Microsoft Frontpage and resided on a CD in a packing box at home. Epsilen was free and resided in the Cloud. So began my passion for promoting self-determination and lifelong learning with eportfolios that live in the Cloud.
See - Enhancing Inquiry, Evidence-Based Reflection and Integrative Learning with the Lifelong ePortfolio Process: The Implementation of Integrative ePortfolios at Stony Brook University by Nancy Wozniak - http://tinyurl.com/Wozniak-EnhancingInquiry