Literature Review

Introduction

Teaching Architecture is significantly different from teaching other disciplines. Students require to develop creativity and imagination to achieve a suggestive result in formal terms while learning to solve functional issues (Franquesa, Moreno & Elinbaum, 2016). Subjects and the activities in the curriculum are organized so students can empower their ability and promote critical reasoning. It is therefore essential to choose well the tasks the students will need to carry out to ensure proper learning of the teaching material (Luera et al. 2016).

Architecture students must develop an active attitude in their education as well. Consider their work and that of others critically and constructively is a skill that brings significant benefits across all aspects of architectural practice (Lewarne, 2020). An E-portfolio is a relevant tool to help them acquire all these skills.

An E-portfolio can be defined as a digitized collection and presentation of a student's academic experiences, efforts, progress, and achievements over a period of time (Lu, 2021). Research on E-portfolios supports its use as both, a formative and a summative assessment tool in higher education (Wuetherick & Dickinson, 2015). There are numerous ways in which the E-portfolio can support teaching and learning processes during the architecture program. This review of literature focuses on three main aspects of E-portfolios: as a tool to document and organize students’ Learning Process, as a pedagogical instrument to increase students' self-awareness in learning, and as a resource to enhance interactions between peers and teachers.

A pedagogical instrument to document and organize

students’ Learning Process

E-portfolios emphasize and support the learning process by linking various courses, assignments, and class activities. Peet et al. (2011) use the term “integrative learning” tool to refer to E-portfolios, as they help architecture students to make connections between concepts and experiences acquired in different courses and apply them in new situations and challenges. It is for this reason that an E-portfolio must support different digital materials, activities, and learning methodologies adopted by teachers and at the same time be adapted to the possible changes that may occur over time (Romero, Saucedo, Caliusco, & Gutierrez, 2019). E-portfolios offer the chance to build a document that can allow architecture students to present their accomplishments and to help them, later on, apply for internships, work opportunities, scholarships, collaborative research projects, and other future opportunities. Hence the E-portfolio will become an important instrument for architecture student success.

Research shows that E-portfolios can facilitate deeper integrative learning, equipping architecture students to begin their careers (Mihai et al., 2021). E-portfolios provide a rich resource for both students and faculty to learn about the achievement of important outcomes over time, make connections among disparate parts of the curriculum, gain insights leading to improvement and develop identities as learners or as facilitators of learning. They help students plan their own academic pathways as they come to understand what they know and are able to do and what they still need to learn (Miller, 2009).

A pedagogical instrument to increase students' self-awareness

in learning

E-portfolios are tools that will move students toward self-understanding and self-knowledge (Chen & Black, 2010). Shepard et al., (2010), highlight the importance of E-portfolios offering opportunities that allow students to make connections among coursework, extracurricular involvement, and work experiences. They help students to identify which aspects of their work dominate and which must improve (Barberà, Bautista, Espasa & Guasch, 2006). At the same time, E-portfolios allow educators for longer teaching and learning episodes to be tracked more effectively than individual observations, making them a formative and summative assessment tool (Wuetherick & Dickinson, 2015).

Through an E-portfolio architecture, students build knowledge for themselves as they learn, either individually or socially (Hein, 1991). They reflect and develop a critical analysis concerning their learning process, including the evolution of their learning and their ideas, being aware of how they change as the work develops. E-portfolios are “powerful tools to realize individualized learning in formal education” (Dorninger & Schrack, 2008). Students decide “who can view the E-portfolio, what artifacts get added, how it is designed, and so on” (Eportfolios Explained, 2020). Therefore, students have ownership of their work and a voice through it, as they have complete freedom to choose the platform and tools to develop their E-portfolios, but also what evidence of learning is included and how it is presented (Harapnuik, 2019), and provides a transformative framework for architecture students to develop their theoretical and technical ability in a more nuanced, self-reflective application (Britton, 2010).

Enhance interactions between peers and teachers

E-portfolios can contribute to a "sense of belonging" to the academic community. Classes where student e-portfolios are connected with netfolio for example, allow other students to assess their peers' work at the same time as theirs are being assessed. This process creates a chain of co-evaluators, facilitating a mutual and progressive improvement process (Barberà, 2009). The interaction among educators, learners, and peers defines a process of learning through concepts and practice, manifested in an interactive process of negotiation and co-construction of knowledge (Castano & Molinero, 2020), which is very important for architects.

Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our connection with other human beings (Hein, 1991). Constructivism states that we do not learn isolated facts and theories in some abstract ethereal land of the mind separate from the rest of our lives: we learn in relationship to what else we know, what we believe, our prejudices, and our fears (Santalucia, 2010). Well-developed ePortfolios have the potential to enable students to share their architectural projects, documents, and reflections from coursework spanning their entire program, with clear program-related criteria, in a collaborative virtual environment (Bryant & Chittum, 2013; Challis, 2005). At the same time, architecture educators can utilize e-portfolios to learn about their students’ overall development, which will ultimately support in building them: (1) growth mindsets; (2) academic ownerships; (3) honest self-evaluations—so that they can be influenced to becoming lifelong learners (Al-Nassar & Gharib, 2020). There is abundant evidence supporting the advantages of peer feedback related to the use of ePortfolios. Students have reported that ePortfolio design influenced their thinking and engagement in the project, and the authors suggested a larger role for students in institutional assessment.

Conclusion

Using an ePortfolio as a tool for undergraduate architecture students helps them enhance interactions between peers and teachers, and increase self-awareness in their learning while documenting and organizing the student learning process. An ePortfolio gives our students choice, ownership, and voice through an authentic learning opportunity that will benefit them not only during their preparation as future architects but also for their professional careers, making them proactive life-long learners.

References

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Barberà, E. (2009). Mutual feedback in e-portfolio assessment: an approach to the netfolio system. BERA. Retrieved from https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00803.x

Britton, J., (2013). Intersecting Self-reflection and Skill Development in Landscape Architecture Pedagogy. Landscape Research Record. Retrieved from: https://thecela.org/wp-content/uploads/INTERSECTING-SELF.pdf

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Mihai, A., Questier, F. & chang, Z. (2021). ePortfolios in Political Science: The Interplay Between Independent Learning Space and Collective Knowledge Building. International Journal of ePortfolio. Retrieved from https://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP356.pdf

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Romero, L, Saucedo, C., Caliusco, M. & Gutierrez, M. (2019). Supporting self-regulated learning and personalization using ePortfolios: a semantic approach based on learning paths. International Journal of Education Technology in Higher Education. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-019-0146-1

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Wuetherick, B, & Dickinson, J. (2015), Why ePortfolios? Student Perceptions of ePortfolio Use in Continuing Education Learning Environments. International Journal of ePortfolio. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1107862.pdf'