E-Portfolios and Blogs: Online Tools for Giving Young Engineers a Voice

Abstract

Weblogs or blogs, as they are referred to by the Internet savvy, are gaining popularity as a medium for publishing content on the Web. They allow the author to voice their own opinion or ideas, and have the potential to reach a massive audience via the Web. On the other hand, e-portfolios are gaining recognition as a personal learning and development tool, where users can learn through reflection, and are able to showcase their work to demonstrate skills, competencies and capabilities. This paper presents an e-learning system that couples a blog with a learning e-portfolio. The system is called dotFOLIO and is currently being trialled in a first year engineering course taught at the University of Sydney. An evaluation of the system was conducted through a survey to gather the students' initial perceptions of reflective learning and of using dotFOLIO for a learning activity that was previously paper-based. Preliminary results of this survey are presented.

Towards an analysis framework for investigating students' engagement and learning in educational blogs

“…Every student posts to the blog his classroom and/or homework writing assignments, tasks, and exercises. In addition, students can share their blogs with peers in their class and receive feedback through the comments section of their blog (Carroll et al . 2006; Dippold 2009).…”

Updating Assessment Styles: Website Development Rather Than Report Writing for Project Based Learning Courses

“…A range of online assessment tools have been reported in the literature including websites, blogs, wikis and e-Portfolios (Bishop et al, 2014;Carroll et al, 2006;Chao, 2007;Chen et al, 2005;Judd et al, 2010;Miyazoe and Anderson, 2010;Reijenga and Roeling, 2009). These tools are generally used to facilitate collaboration between students, enable self-reflection and in some cases enhance communication.…”

Revealing Student Blogging Activities Using RSS Feeds and LMS Logs

“…Berman & Katoma, 2007;Chang & Chen, 2007;Chang, Chang, & Chen, 2008;Hall & Davison, 2007); or offering the students a means of reflection on their work on assignments, the obtained results, and their learning process and progress (e.g. Carroll, Calvo, & Markauskaite, 2006;Lin & Yuan, 2006;Xie, Ke, & Sharma, 2008). For instance, this can be used in overarching e-portfolio scenarios (Chuang, in press) or simply as a "spontaneous and authentic" (Ray & Coulter, 2008) alternative to classic means of web-based communication.…”

“…There are numerous studies and theoretical investigations available in the literature on successes and failures of integrating blogs into web-based or hybrid course environments (Kim, 2008). Previously reported uses of blogs in education include, for instance, the facilitation of collaborative learning by having students publish their work in a blog and receiving comments, feedback as well as support by peers and teachers (e.g., Berman & Katoma, 2007;Chang & Chen, 2007;Chang, Chang, & Chen, 2008;Hall & Davison, 2007); or offering the students a means of reflection on their work on assignments, the obtained results, and their learning process and progress (e.g., Carroll, Calvo, & Markauskaite, 2006;Lin & Yuan, 2006;Xie, Ke, & Sharma, 2008). For instance, this can be used in overarching e-portfolio scenarios (Chuang, in press) or simply as a "spontaneous and authentic" (Ray & Coulter, 2008) alternative to classic means of web-based communication.…”