An Introduction to Portfolios

The use of portfolios in assessment has occurred for many years in disciplines like Art and Design and is gaining ground rapidly in areas like Education; and can be found in pockets in other learning areas. In general, a portfolio is a varied document or collection of documents compiled by a student either on paper or electronically, perhaps as a website.

There are three main types of portfolios, each of which serves a somewhat different assessment purpose, although these overlap to some extent.

1. Developmental portfolio The aim of this type of portfolio is for students and their teachers to have evidence of how they have progressed throughout a course. Students might be asked to select pieces of their work which best demonstrate their progress; for example, they might choose to include their introduction to an essay from early in the year, and compare it with an essay introduction written at the end of the year, pointing out the ways they have improved. Developmental portfolios are also useful for assessing individual learning contracts, where a student contracts to improve particular skills within a course.

2. Showcase portfolio As its name suggests, this type of portfolio is an opportunity for students to display their best work. Guidelines might ask students to include particular pieces or types of work they have completed throughout the past months or year. Showcase portfolios give students the opportunity to put continued effort into their work to refine it to a high standard.

3. Reflective or artefact portfolio Reflective portfolios can be similar to a learning journal, where students write about how they feel they have achieved certain aims or objectives of the course. When artefacts are used, students might select certain triggers or pieces of work which are a starting point to provide evidence of their achievement, and then write in more detail about how this achievement took place. For example, medical students might be asked to write about examples of the importance of ethical behaviour and how cultural differences are important in patient care. The artefact or trigger they use might be a scenario they encountered while working in a hospital, or something they have read in medical journals. Reflective portfolios are particularly useful for assessing development of behavioural-type objectives.

When setting portfolio assignments for students, it is especially important to give clear, detailed guidelines, especially to students who have not undertaken such an exercise before. At the same time, outlining to the students why you expect the portfolio to be beneficial to them is important, as in many cases they will involve a considerable amount of effort over an extended period of time. When appropriately implemented, portfolios can be a fantastic learning tool as well as providing a fitting means of assessment.

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