REFLECTION ON THE 25th MARCH SEMINAR "WHAT TRIGGERS STUDENTS TO CREATE E-PORTFOLIOS?"

Schedule;

General Seminar Overview

The Seminar "What triggers students to ePortfolios" was kept on 25th of March, 2017 on the school of education (ESE) auditorium in Instituto Politecnico de Setubal. It lasted 4 hours from 9:00 to 13:00. It was free but we registered the seminar online before. Professionals from different countries approached e-portfolio and its usage from different aspects. In that seminar, professionals mentioned ePortfolio that is an important part of using technology in class. E-portfolio can be defined basically as a set of practices to improve learning or as a genre of self-expression to create an identity or as a way to discover tacit knowledge within yourself (as part of a generative knowledge process). Within the educational field, there are numerous researchers who have confirmed the usefulness of the e-Portfolio in the learning processes, as well as in the development and assessment of student’s competence. The use of these platforms encourages and facilitates both students’ and professors’ by collaborating and sharing their knowledge and information.

One or two aspects you considered relevant and explain why?

The use of the e-Portfolio seems to be a perfect complementary way to assess students’ competence, providing professors with a great and precise follow-up of their students. It provides making their knowledge acquisition easier and assessing their learning process throughout the academic life. Furthermore, it increases communication opportunities between professors and students. Besides, ePortfolio gives students to collect their works and resources which are crucial for effective learning.  Consequently, students’ acceptance, motivation, assessment and the using of technology increase their creativity to ePortfolio. In order to trigger students to create ePortfolio, students have to understand the benefits, and how the technological tools will help them in their learning.

As a student, what are the most important e-portfolio characteristics for the learning process? Can you explain?

This is a fact that there is no reason to exclude technology from the learning environment. This is because the existence of digital platforms aids university teaching practice. As a student, by using e-Portfolio, we can create our personal environment. It’s a great motivation to engage in learning via digital tools since it's a more interesting and effective way of learning and creating something. As well as learning in an effective way, we can upgrade our computer skills.

This is a short and good video to understand ePortfolio and its usage;