With the proliferation of eportfolios and their organizational uses in higher education, it is important for educators and other relevant stakeholders to understand the student perspective. The way students view and use ePortfolios are revealing elements to aid educators in the successful integration of ePortfolio systems. This research describes…

This study investigates the interaction between four pairs of high school students in a 7-week national research apprenticeship program. Each student was interviewed about perceptions of experiences working with a peer in the same setting, and the resulting stories were analyzed. Through discourse analysis of the interviews and interrelated…

Standard classroom tests tend to showcase what students know at that point in time and do not usually reflect real-life mathematics. They are not always accurate indicators of what students understand and how they understand it. Portfolios are tools that allow students a better opportunity to exhibit mathematical growth in understanding and…

Alternative programs in special education are often developed in response to chronic personnel shortages. At issue, however, is the quality of alternative programs and their graduates. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a large special education alternative certification program that adheres to both professional…

Two experienced teacher educators describe a framework for effective teaching that can be applied in any subject area and grade level. Their detailed review of the structures, processes, and content of effective practice provides you with lots of practical tips you can use right away, including: (1) How to teach both the depth and the breadth of…

This article deals with how a major top-down reform in Norwegian higher education has affected student writing, and teachers' and students' roles. The Quality Reform was strongly influenced by the Bologna Declaration and was implemented from 2002. One of the outcomes was that, while Norwegian universities previously demanded very little…

Curriculum design gurus Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, authors of "Understanding by Design," coined the term "backwards design." They recommend educators to begin with the question: What would we accept as evidence that students have attained the desired understandings and proficiencies--"before" proceeding to plan teaching and learning…

The e-portfolio phenomenon has been likened to a massive technology wave hitting the wide beaches of higher education (Ayala, 2006). A review of the literature suggests that this wave might change the landscape of the beach, washing away existing landmarks and creating a new topography. Moreover, the claims of a beneficial impact on students and…

In this study, we aimed to develop a framework that could be used to describe the value of the learning portfolio for the learning process of individual student teachers. Retrospective interviews with 21 student teachers were used, as were their portfolio-evaluation reports on their experiences of working on a portfolio. Seven functions of the…

This paper provides practical description, examples, and step-by-step guidelines for using portfolio assessment. Both advantages and limitations of portfolio assessment are offered, although the authors clearly argue for the benefits of using portfolios to evaluate learning. Contains a sample format for holistic grading of a portfolio. (Author/RS)

This book offers administrators a reliable guide to creating a document that evidences performance. The book tells what the administrative portfolio is and how it can be created and used. Part 1 contains 12 chapters on creating and using the administrative portfolio: (1) "Changing Roles and Expectations of Academic Administrators"; (2) "The…

In 1994, the situation of one writing teacher changed when she joined others at her institution to collaborate on the design and follow through of the Portfolio Composition Program for first-year writing students. Today, the collaboration continues as volunteer full-time faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and other part-time teachers try out…

This guide contains practical steps for integrating portfolios into any K-12 classroom and tips for effective classroom management of portfolios. It also contains actual examples of portfolios in action in a variety of subject areas. The chapters are: (1) "Starting Out: Designing Your Portfolio" (James Barton and Angelo Collins); (2) "Preparing…

Three theoretical perspectives can be considered to ground the conceptualization of the use of student electronic portfolios. These include the Student Integration Model of V. Tinto (1987), the Theory of Involvement of A. Astin (1985), and the Innovation Design Theory of E. Rogers (1995). The use of portfolios moves the learning process from a…

This document is a scoring guide that presents the Teacher-candidates' Overall Program Portfolio Scoring: Systematic, Comprehensive and Hierarchical Evaluative Measures of Excellence (TOPPS SCHEME) approach to scoring teacher candidates' program portfolios. The guide facilitates systematic, comprehensive, and hierarchical means of measuring and…