Originally, portfolios were collections of works that demonstrated an individual's skills and abilities, such as artists’ portfolios in which they present their oeuvre. Today, portfolios are more than just a collection of individual works, and the focus is shifting towards the dialogue between the portfolio owner, supervisor(s), and assessor(s), so that the portfolio becomes a tool for providing insight into and assessing the development (over time) of complex skills.
Although the purpose of portfolios is fairly clear, this does not mean that each portfolio is the same. Smith and Tillema (2003) distinguish four different types of portfolios based on the goal of the product in relation to the voluntariness of creating the portfolio. They define the dossier as a mandatory collection of work that is necessary for selection into a programme or profession. The other extreme is the personal development portfolio, which someone creates voluntarily to demonstrate that they continue to develop themselves. Such portfolios are used, for example, in the medical world for accreditation. Two forms that we frequently encounter in education are the training portfolio and the reflective portfolio. The training portfolio is a portfolio in which students, often using a fixed template, collect evidence throughout a course to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. The reflective portfolio is a personal portfolio in which work is collected to demonstrate mastery of (self-selected) learning objectives. In this type of portfolio, the explanation for the portfolio (why certain evidence has been included) is often just as important as the work itself. Although Smith and Tillema still classify the reflective portfolio as voluntary, this type of portfolio is increasingly being used on a compulsory basis in education; consider, for instance, the portfolio in the PPO learning pathways.
Depending on the assessment objective you have in mind, you can use one of the above-mentioned portfolio types in your teaching (formative) or as a form of assessment (summative), but choosing the most suitable type does not automatically mean that the portfolio will be effective in your education.
One of the most important aspects of portfolios, regardless of what type you choose, is that students take control of their own learning process. Portfolios, and reflective portfolios in particular, provide the opportunity to gain a more authentic picture of a student's abilities. This is because portfolios assess complex skills for which students need to combine knowledge, skills and attitudes relevant to performing professional tasks. In addition, portfolios provide students with the opportunity to showcase their individual strengths, leaving room to not only assess the final product, but also the process.
Although it sounds simple for students to design their own portfolio in which they take ownership and demonstrate their mastery of the course's learning objectives, assessing a portfolio is more difficult than expected. The successful assessment of a portfolio begins with the initial assessment design. You need to know what you want students to demonstrate through their portfolio (learning objectives), and students need to understand what these learning objectives entail (transparency). Furthermore, you must decide whether to give students complete freedom in what they include in their portfolio (reflective portfolio), or whether you want students to use a specific template (training portfolio), or whether you would prefer to use a hybrid approach.
Based on the choices you make regarding the content of the portfolio, you will need to create an assessment model that is specific enough to assess students effectively, especially if there are multiple assessors, but at the same time you need to leave room for individual variation between students. The use of rubrics, which provides space for feedback alongside scores, is a key aspect of portfolio assessment. You will also need to consider to what extent you wish to assess only the final product, or whether you would also like to take into account the process of creating the product, for instance in the shape of interim products and a feedback narrative in the portfolio. In the case of multiple assessors, it is important that the assessors interpret all criteria in the rubric in a similar way (calibration). If your entire assessment design, i.e. the assignment description, potential templates and the assessment rubric, is well-structured, then the portfolio is an excellent way to assess complex skills whilst also giving students room to develop.
Next to portfolios’ summative assessment purpose, a portfolio often has a formative role. A powerful portfolio is more than just a collection of assignments that a student must complete (tick off?) to pass the assessment; the well-known hoops that students feel they have to jump through. A portfolio is a space where students can and must take control of their own development within a course or over a longer period.
An example of this is a (digital) portfolio used to develop writing skills. A portfolio pertaining to this goal can be designed in such a way that students add a draft version of their current work to their portfolio once every two weeks. In addition, this could include an assignment requiring students to ask at least one student for peer feedback and to ask their teacher at least (or at most?) one feedback question. In this way, the teacher maintains an overview of the progress, but the marking workload does not become too heavy. Using the feedback received and the input from educational activities, the student adds the next version to their portfolio, listing the changes made in comparison to the previous version to make the development even clearer. This cycle is repeated right up to the deadline for the final product, so that the student receives constant feedback and can continue to develop.
One aspect of learning from portfolios is that both students and teachers should know how to provide effective feedback, feedforward and feedup. The ability to receive and process all this input is also crucial to making portfolios effective. Receiving feedback requires more than just implementing the suggestions made by fellow students or tutors. De Kleijn's (2021) model clearly shows that students need interaction for feedback, feedforward and feedup to be meaningful. Students must make sense of the feedback in order to take action (making sense of feedback information). It is then important that students use the feedback to set or adjust their goals and plan actions (using feedback information). Students then explain what has happened with the feedback (responding to feedback information) or ask follow-up questions based on the feedback received. In the example above, students provided this feedback by listing the adjustments point by point. The final strategy is seeking feedback (seeking feedback information). This can serve as both the starting point of a new feedback cycle and a continuation of the current cycle, as not all feedback might have been clear for the students. To assist with requesting feedback, De Kleijn and Kneyber (2022) developed a poster that provides students with tools for asking for feedback. The posters are available in Dutch and English.
Now that it is theoretically clear what portfolios are and how they can be used effectively, the question arises as to how this can be made practical without lecturers' inboxes being flooded with emails asking for feedback and/or having no clue as to how far all students are in their development. Radboud University uses Portflow as a portfolio tool, and this is fully integrated in Brightspace. In Portflow, students can start collecting evidence of their mastery of their personal goals and/or the course objectives. In addition, Portflow allows for the collection of feedback, feedforward and feedup from teachers, tutors and assessors, thereby ensuring a meaningful learning process together.
If you would like to know more about portfolios, what type of portfolio fits you and your course and/or how to use a portfolio effectively (in the digital learning environment), then we would of course be happy to help. Make an appointment or drop by TIP Arts!
