• Compose a second email to the same teacher, which succinctly summarises an example of the use of an e-portfolio and draws attention to the implications of this example for her context.

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I don’t know about succinct but here is my follow up email

Dear lecturer,

This email provides further details about the use of eportfolios in assessment.

You state that your students are required to work collaboratively but it is likely that they will be working on individual eportfolios. As the aim of your course is to impart scientific methods, it may be worth considering a standardised recording format (such as a template) which all of the students can follow when they record evidence. The SQA report ‘Guidance on using e-portfolios’ has detailed guidance on gathering items of evidence in an eportfolio along with exemplar forms.

In Liu (2020), the student maintains an eportfolio to document his progress in understanding coding languages and general purpose computing devices. This is not the same subject matter as your course. However, this student has documented with pictures, video and text his process for developing and testing coding and mechanical prototypes. This provides you with an example of the types of eportfolio posts which are available. He has tagged each entry with hashtags such as #coding and #computerscience so that the posts can be collected later. One of the features of the eportfolio system he is using is the ability to gather linked artifacts into a single report style page which could assist your students as they collaborate on their submissions.

For further reading – Fuller et al. (2017) carried out a study into the use of eportfolios in an introductory biology course. The students were around the same age as those in your cohort. It was found that the students were more engaged with the course material, submitted work earlier and achieved higher scores in their course. Hopefully your students will benefit from the use of eportfolios in the same way.

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References

Edward Liu (2020) Edward Liu Virginia Tech sophomore in computer science and aspiring software engineer , Available at: https://portfolium.com/EdwardLiu89 (Accessed: 11th March 2021).

Fuller, K., 2017. Beyond reflection: Using ePortfolios for formative assessment to improve student engagement in non-majors introductory science. The American Biology Teacher, 79(6), pp.442-449.