Bridges For Engineering Education: Exploring E Portfolios In Engineering Education At Virginia Tech

Abstract

One of the objectives of an engineering/education collaborative known as Bridges for Engineering Education, Virginia Tech (BEEVT) is to create a contemporary framework for undergraduate engineering pedagogy. Among the issues being studied by the collaborative is the use of ePortfolios in the education of engineers. Several BEEVT investigators and selected engineering students participated in a pilot of the Virginia Tech Electronic Portfolio (VTeP) in fall 2003. This paper presents a review of studies on the use of portfolios and summarizes the findings of the pilot. The future plans of BEEVT investigators targeted at developing guidelines for the use and evaluation of ePortfolios for improving both student learning and engineering programs are also briefly discussed.

Portfolios In Engineering Education: What Do They Promise And How Can They Be Used?

“…In the portfolio program designed by Williams 6 , the instructor required students to include certain documents in their portfolios, but also allowed students to choose and include additional materials that showcased their best work. The portfolio designed by Knott 14 was more adaptive in that the freshmen students were required to include one specific assignment in their portfolios but were allowed to choose all of the other material they wished to include. For the portfolios in the other seven studies, students were given the freedom to choose all of materials to include in their portfolios as long as these materials met the instructors' general guidelines.…”

“…For example, Upchurch's portfolio program 8 was designed to have instructors provide feedback to students on their portfolios, and also have discussions among students themselves; Christy 9 designed the course-based portfolio program to have students not only obtain feedback from the instructor, but also allowed students to resubmit their revised portfolios; Mourtos 10 designed the portfolio program to also include a review cycle similar to Christy in which instructors gave feedback about a draft portfolio and students were allowed to rework the assignments and include both the original and revised versions in their portfolios. The interaction between the students and instructor also varies in time, for example, Knott's portfolio 14 for freshman provided minimal interaction between the student and the instructor in that the instructors only provided suggestions on about organizing the materials, while Heinricher's Page 11.1000.8…”

“…For example, students in Upchurch et al's study 8 thought one of the main benefits of creating a portfolio was to archive assignments and to be able to review their work. Knott 14 reported that students saw being able to keep a record of achievements and job experience as one major advantage of creating a portfolio. Heinricher 11 reported that students often highly value the portfolio as a rich source of documentation of learning related to their career goals.…”

“…Students felt that it was important to document not only the final project, but also the process leading to the final project. 14 Students were reported to want a means of creating a record of achievements in a professional format. 14 It was also notes that that student personal, academic, and professional development throughout the progress of a course were also well demonstrated in the process of creating portfolios.…”

“…14 Students were reported to want a means of creating a record of achievements in a professional format. 14 It was also notes that that student personal, academic, and professional development throughout the progress of a course were also well demonstrated in the process of creating portfolios. 15 It was suggested that assembling portfolio materials helps students see what they were able to accomplish and what they learned, which provided positive affirmation and instilled self-confidence.…”