ePortfolio and Other Tools

Using ePortfolio in a course

BeachBoard ePortfolio is a user-focused online portfolio tool that empowers users to take an active role in their learning. Users upload, organize, reflect on, revise, and present digital learning artifacts that demonstrate their learning and achievements. This enables users to showcase successes in all areas of their lives, rather than restricting them to work from a particular course, institution, area of study, or period of time. It also encourages open assessment practices by allowing users to reflect on their work, update submissions over time, and seek feedback from peers, mentors and members of the community through both comments and rubric evaluations.

At the same time, ePortfolio can be a great way to organize project work for a course and to encourage self and peer evaluation, and ongoing revision and reflection.

The following user scenarios demonstrate how ePortfolio can support formal instruction.

Scenario: graphic design course

You are teaching a graphics design course that contains users at various skill levels. At the end of the first month of classes you have each user plan a major design project suited to their skill level and interest. You have them fill out a form that collects information on the purpose and scope of the project, as well as what design and development skills they hope to acquire.

You also have them create a collection for the course and share it with their peers. The collection should give course mates permissions to view, see, and add comments. Users should share all of their course work through the collection.  

Each week you have users write a reflection and associate any relevant work. You provide comments on their reflections and encourage users to comment on each others' work.

Mid term you have users create a presentation on one design area they have developed significant knowledge in and share it with others in the course, including permissions to see and add assessments. Each user then evaluates their peers' work.

At the end of the course you have users submit their final project to a dropbox folder and you evaluate the projects through the Grades tool in your BeachBoard course. You encourage users to import their grades and submitted project into their portfolios as a formal record of their achievements.

Scenario: second grade class

You are a second grade teacher that believes in teaching information technology skills at a young age, and in keeping parents and guardians informed of their children's progress.

You create a portfolio for each child that contains collections and presentations for Reading, Writing, Math, and Art. You include a separate page for each weekly assignment in the presentations. You encourage parents to view the presentations and print copies of the assignments to help their kids at home. You actively review and respond to feedback.

At the end of the week you scan and upload each child's assignments and add them to the appropriate collection and presentation. You evaluate and comment on each artifact. You keep a Virtual Stickers folder with different pictures of mammals, fish, birds, and reptiles. When a child does an exemplary job on an assignment you let them choose an image and upload it to the Stickers page at the end of their presentation.

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Allowing certified BeachBoard course artifacts

If you are using both ePortfolio and a BeachBoard course, you can allow users to import items from your course as learning artifacts in their portfolios. You can allow learning artifacts to be imported from the following tools:

  • Quizzes
  • Dropbox
  • Grades

BeachBoard course artifacts differ from other artifacts because they cannot be modified. They are certified artifacts that record a submission or achievement at a specific point in time. BeachBoard course artifacts are not updated when items are changed in a course and users can only change their name, description, and tags. Users cannot modify the actual content.

Allow quiz artifacts

Select the Allow users to add this quiz to their ePortfolio option on the appropriate New Quiz or Edit Quiz page in the Quizzes tool.

Allow dropbox artifacts

Select the Allow users to add this folder to their ePortfolio option on the appropriate New Folder or Edit Folder page in the Dropbox tool.

Allow grade artifacts

Select the Allow users to add their grades to their ePortfolio option on the Org Unit Display Options page in the Grades Setting area in the Grades tool.

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Creating quicklinks to ePortfolio items

Quicklinks to ePortfolio content are created the same way as other quicklinks. They differ from other quicklinks in that the person following the link must have that item shared with them. If you want to include quicklinks to portfolio items in your course content, ensure your course participants have permission to view the item.

Create a quicklink to an ePortfolio item

  1. Open the HTML Editor.
  2. Select the Quicklink icon Insert Quicklink button.
  3. Select ePortfolio Item in the Category drop-down menu.
  4. Select whether you want to link to an item in your portfolio or another users’ portfolio using the Source drop-down menu.
  5. Click the Select Item button.
  6. Select the item you want to link to.
  7. Give your link a caption and choose where you want the ePortfolio item to open.
  8. Click Insert.
  9. Save the HTML file.
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  Last Updated 8/10/12