E-portfolios in an EFL context: Technical and pedagogical implications

E-portfolios, combined with a learner-centered approach to teaching and learning, along with the ongoing technological advancement of the 21st century, have contributed to an overall reflective and engaged student learning experience. The presenters will discuss their experiences and share pedagogical and technical implications of integrating e-portfolios in their contexts.

With the advent of the learner-centered approach to learning in the past century, as well as the accompanying technological advancement, and because life has become more “fluid”, especially to students, e-portfolio development has witnessed a massive growth. Not only that, but it has sometimes become one criterion according to which academic institutions are assessed. The main function associated with e-portfolios is documentation of learning. This poster session highlights the benefits of learning through guided and critical reflections of one’s learning process and experience.

Facilitators will demonstrate how Wix was used in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) intensive program to document and assess students’ learning. Through a collaboration between an English Instructor and an instructional technologist, students were able to use the tool creatively and reflectively, centering on their achievement of the program learning outcomes. Building on their experience of conducting this project over three semesters, the presenters will discuss the importance of integrating reflective e-portfolios, steps for incorporating them in different contexts, and implications (pedagogical and technical) for students and teachers. Additionally, facilitators will showcase select students’ e-portfolios to practically exhibit the progression in quality and depth of students’ learning, reflections and critical thinking.