Who owns the portfolio

I never considered the use of a digital portfolio as anything more than a display of artwork for employment purposes. The truth is that an ePortfolio can be much more than that, especially if you make it yours. It can reflect your learning process, your growth, your personality, and your interests. It can teach you to self-assess and evaluate your learning progress, as well as to think critically and take responsibility for your work. In an ePortfolio, students take ownership of the data that is published and control to choose with whom to share it and when. It is a means of receiving comments and feedback from colleagues.

For this tool to work, as educators, we must emphasize the importance of ownership. Giving them structure but allowing them to have options and a voice will promote ownership (Harapnuik, Thibodeaux & Cummings, 2018). If students still see their audience as a teacher with a red pen, nothing will change. Until students see their ePortfolio as a space that rewards rigor and experimentation, it will not promote student agency (Rikard, 2015).