Why an e-Portfolio?

Why should I use an ePortfolio?

There are numerous advantages to creating and maintaining an e-portfolio. Developing an e-portfolio can assist you in showcasing your skills, notable achievements, and current projects. It reflects your growth, self-reflection, and evaluation. Furthermore, it demonstrates your competencies to potential employers and feedback from others as mentioned by Nikos Andrioitis, "It is a detailed description of learning that has taken place. It is a reflection on practice and a reflective practice in itself. It is a recollection of experience and performance. It defines the strengths and weakness of the employee" (Andriotis, 2017).

How will this help me grow as a professional?

Showcasing my skills, achievements, and current projects in my e-portfolio is an excellent starting point to demonstrate not only my potential but also my personality. I like to consider e-portfolios as the virtual representation of myself.

For instance, I began sharing my e-portfolio with my colleagues at work, and when they accessed it, they remarked that the content was distinctly reflective of me; some even commented, “Those are your colors,” indicating that the design of the e-portfolio reveals my vibrant personality.

By listing my current projects, such as developing an innovation plan for my campus, I will show my growth in several areas, particularly in research and writing. When I graduated from Lamar in 2019 with a Business Degree in Accounting, I realized that writing is not my strongest skill. Additionally, another area for growth is technology, particularly in creating an e-portfolio. I have already observed that navigating the application to add or modify elements in my e-portfolio no longer takes me as long as it did on day one, which required at least three hours just to figure out the theme. I am becoming more and more knowledgeable on how technology can be used in and outside of the school setting.

How does this help others in my field or career?

My goal once I complete my e-portfolio is to inspire and encourage my colleagues to develop e-portfolios of their own and to encourage their students to do the same. This represents a significant advancement for them, as it will assist in showcasing their skills when seeking new employment opportunities or pursuing higher education. While this might be a difficult task because some may think it's time-consuming, my objective will be for them to see how meaningful and purposeful a collection of digital artifacts, such as projects, can be.

How can this ePortfolio benefit you in the future?

After conducting research on e-portfolios, I have found their benefits to be numerous; one such advantage is the ability to showcase my past blogs, and allowing others to observe my growth since my initial post. Additionally, I can highlight my previous and current projects, enabling them to recognize my potential for creating innovative solutions for others. The writing piece of the e-portfolio will help me identify more areas of growth and what I have learned.

For the remainder of the academic year, I intend to incorporate my e-portfolio with my students, encouraging them to begin developing their own. My objective is to demonstrate the value of maintaining an updated portfolio and its benefits, especially to those students who are very creative in art, making videos, or even writing. Students will then have access to their own projects for years to come. Just like Audrey Watters noted in her article, "And then — contrary to what happens at most schools, where a student’s work exists only inside a learning management system and cannot be accessed once the semester is over — the domain and all its content are the student’s to take with them. It is, after all, their education, their intellectual development, and their work" (Watters, 2019). Students will no longer have to worry about where they have left their artwork or if they deleted that fantastic video they recorded. All can be saved into their e-portfolio to share. I want my students to experience creating an e-portfolio to deepen their learning, which then can result in higher grades and a better sense of themselves.

Moving forward, I plan to regularly update my portfolio to reflect my current professional experiences and my activities with my students. My aspiration is to pursue a career in educational leadership, specifically in administration, and this will serve as an effective means to present my past accomplishments to prospective school districts.

Overall, I believe that creating and updating an e-portfolio can help you grow not only as a professional but also as a person, as well as open numerous opportunities in the future.

Andriotis, Nikos. “The 6 Benefits of ePortfolios and How to Create Them.” eFront Blog, 20 Mar. 2017,

www.efrontlearning.com/blog/2017/02/requirements-benefits-eportfolios-

training.html.

Watters, Audrey. “The Web We Need to Give Students.” Medium, BRIGHT Magazine, 25 June 2019,

brightthemag.com/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713.