RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
The International Journal for
Recording Achievement,
Planning and Portfolios
Students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the use of ePortfolios as learning tools
in the Early Years Education Degree in Mondragon Unibertsitatea
Sirats SantaCruz Elorza, Nagore Ipiña and Eugenio Astigarraga
Mondragon Unibertitatea, Spain
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to analyse students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the
use of ePortfolios as learning tools. The research was carried out in the Faculty of
Humanities and Education from Mondragon Unibertsitatea in the Early Years Education
Degree. Data was gathered by means of two semi-structured interviews conducted with
the teachers and two focus groups carried out with first year students.
Results show that students consider ePortfolios as significant tools to foster self-
reflection about learning and personal and professional growth. Teachers are likely to
believe that ePortfolios are important tools to promote learning and to get to know
students deeply. However, students found difficulties to understand the aim of the
ePortfolio and the nature of the artefacts. Teachers agreed that more criteria to mentor
the progress of students’ learning process are needed. Conclusions drawn from this
study show that explicit training on ePortfolios is necessary to foster awareness on the
importance of reflective practices for learning.
The use of Learning ePortfolios 1 in
higher education
ePortfolios are becoming an important
and commonplace element in higher
1
Although the term portfolio may refer to both
electronic and paper portfolios, the concept
ePortfolio will be used throughout this paper to
make explicit reference to the digital portfolio.
education (Alcaraz, 2016; Clark & Eynon,
2009; Cobos, López & Llorent, 2016;
Soto, Barquín & Fernández, 2016). But
the use of ePortfolios in educational
contexts began mainly in the USA and in
the UK when dissatisfaction about
standardised tests arose (Alcaraz, 2016).
In fact, ePortfolios have been used to
organise, design and assess students’
learning processes (Bahous, 2008) as
well as to collect experiences and reflect
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