Enabling comments on an artifact, collection, reflection, or presentation allows users who are viewing the item to leave feedback. Use this feature to collaborate with peers so they may congratulate you on your work, provide constructive criticism, or point out additional resources.
Enabling assessments for an artifact, collection, reflection, or presentation allows users with the appropriate permissions to evaluate the item using a rubric. You must select which rubric you want users to evaluate your work against from the list of rubrics provided by your organization.
When others comment and assess an item in your portfolio, their feedback becomes a part of the item. You can see it below the item's details when viewing the item, or through the feeds and widgets on your ePortfolio dashboard.
Note: Selecting the Comments check box allows users with the appropriate permissions to leave comments on the item. Click Sharing on an item's Edit page to assign permissions to a user.
Note: Selecting the Assessments check box allows users with the appropriate permissions to leave assessments on the item. Click Sharing on an item's Edit page to assign permissions to a user.
You can submit portfolio items to a dropbox folder in your BeachBoard course for formal assessment. When you submit a portfolio item to a course dropbox folder, a copy of the item is made in Dropbox. Future changes to the item are not reflected in the Dropbox copy.
Rubrics are used in ePortfolio for assessing artifacts, collections, reflections, and presentations.
In order for assessments to be used in ePortfolio, rubrics must be available at the course, department, or organization level. Rubrics are created in the Rubrics tool in your BeachBoard course. An ePortfolio user who has permission to assess an item may assess the item using any of the rubrics shared with them through a course, department, or organization.
ePortfolios are quickly being recognized as important learning tools because they encourage users to track and share all of the work that goes into a project, instead of just the final result. They also encourage users to tweak and improve their work over time. This shift helps emphasize the importance of looking at the entire learning process, rather than the end results, and helps users build an attitude of life-long learning and continuous improvement.
BeachBoard ePortfolio lets you monitor user progress and provide ongoing feedback and support through comments and assessments. It is also integrated with your BeachBoard course so that users can submit items to dropbox folders in specific courses where they can be assessed or graded using the Competencies and Grades tool. When an item is submitted to a dropbox it becomes a unique object and is not updated when changes are made to the item in ePortfolio. Thus, having users submit items to a dropbox allows you to evaluate their achievements at a specific point in time, while evaluating users through ePortfolio allows you to provide guidance so they can continue to improve their work.
You must have the appropriate permissions to leave comments, assessments, or annotations on an item in a user's portfolio. You can receive permissions to comment on, assess, or annotate (edit) a user's work in one of two ways:
Encouraging users to give you permission to comment on and assess portfolio items that relate to course work is an excellent way to provide users with informal, intermittent feedback.
ePortfolio items that are submitted to a dropbox folder are treated as unique objects that are not modified when the original item changes. This allows you to assess or grade assignments without worrying about users revising their work.
Dropbox folders can be associated with a competency or a grade book item in your BeachBoard course. You can also attach feedback or comments to specific submissions.
Tip: If you select the Allow users to add this folder to their ePortfolio option for a dropbox folder, users can add their submissions, including feedback, to their ePortfolios. This allows users to continue improving their work, while maintaining a copy of how the item appeared at the time of assessment.
