Designing and Evaluating “Portfolio Practice I,” a Course for Online Graduate Students

Abstract

This research aims at proposing design principles for the support of portfolio activity through implementation of a portfolio course. Taking our implementation of a new course entitled “Portfolio Practice I” for online graduate students as a practical example, we reviewed the course results from actual students’ portfolios and questionnaire survey results. By reviewing the trends in the created portfolio have, we confirmed that students utilized the samples presented by the course instructors and customized them to fit the situational context. They get habituated to the e-portfolio system (Mahara) as they use it more. Through the questionnaire surveys, we found that the students understood the value of portfolio creation activities and the course goals. We suggested that the operability of the e-portfolio has significantly influences the learning load and that support for the creation process is important. Per these results, we propose suggestions for implementers at the conclusion of this paper.