10 Reasons to Create an E-Portfolio

Different from other seminars, in Media in Foreign Language Education we could chose our form of performance record: A Term Paper or an E-Portfolio to represent our learning progress. Since we learn working and teaching with media, at the end of the semester we should also have a product created by media. The obligatory group blogs are a reasonable compromise for those who prefer traditional teaching without new media and want to elaborate a term paper. Preparing the entries for the group blog encouraged me to create an e-portfolio because it was work I enjoyed. And here are ten reasons for you to create an e-portfolio at the earliest occasion:

1. Take advantage of the situation and try something new, interesting and enjoyable in your  study period.
2. Improve your media competence, get to know and use the real beneficial aspects on the internet. Start practicing to integrate your media skills in your lessons.
3. There are many opportunities to find material like pictures and videos or topics which are similar to yours and to include them to your e-portfolio only by linking.
4. One great advantage of an e-portfolio instead of a term paper is that it is easier to show your sources, you can link them. Therefore, the reader of your e-portfolio can follow your thoughts and structure much easier because he does not need to look it up after reading, he can do it right in that moment.
5. Another advantage is the mobility, of course if you do have internet access. For instance, I have to complete my e-portfolio in Turkey because of an exchange semester. I do not need to carry a folder or something else with me. Every time I have the possibility to go online and that is nearly always the case, I can continue my work. Except for one difficulty, YouTube is forbidden in this country. So, be careful whether you really have access to every website you need.
6. Speaking of accessibility: Even after years it is not difficult to look up something in your e-portfolio. A term paper will be somewhere in your room, you have to search it. But also if you look for certain paragraphs or sentences in your e-portfolio, it is much easier, you can just use the search function and do not need to read a whole text to find a special topic.
7. Creativity is asked in many areas of life today and an e-portfolio helps you to work on this skill. In order to prepare their students for this challenge also teachers or course instructors at university claim creative ideas or presentations. For example, in a pedagogy seminar I had to write a reading journal which is an individual work and requires creativity and I did it in form of blog entries which was praised.
8. Time factor: Of course, your e-portfolio has to be finished so that it can be marked. Deadlines are often a difficulty and wished to be postponed. With an e-portfolio you have a day more time. You do not need to finish it the day before and print it out to hand it in on the last day. Within seconds you can correct mistakes and use even the last hour to check your entries before you ‘hand it in’.
9. I have some lesson plans in my e-portfolio and I will introduce these to my students. The work I have done about “Media in FLE” is not just for a grade but useful for my future as a teacher.
10. Impress your future students with your media competence and your interest in their joy while learning a foreign language. Teach them how to benefit from new media. As you can imagine it is essential to have experiences with new media in order to teach it. Thus, you can also be an example for other teachers who insist on their monotonous didactical methods.

But there is one challenge: Do not forget to concentrate on your content while you think about the design and other formalities. You should have the content as you would have in your term paper, additionally the e-portfolio allows you to have a fitting design. Have fun starting your own e-portfolio!

Here a link describing different forms of e-portfolios, evaluation of e-portfolios and examples: e-teaching.org- e-portfolios

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