I have been scanning some examples of e-portfolios that are openly available on the internet. I believe there is a good argument to allow the open access of e-portfolios so that students can showcase their work to potential employers or their peers. However, I am certain that there are many e-portfolios which are secure for access by institutions only. So these few examples are not likely representative of the whole.
What I do like about these few examples is that they represent a number of web services which have been proposed to be suitable for building and sharing e-portfolios. These sites showcase e-portfolios built using basic HTML webpages, Google Sites, Wikispaces, Blogger, one designed using Flash, and one embedded into Facebook. All of these platforms offer a significant degree of flexibility and have individual issues around access, data ownership, portability, permanence and security.
Click on the e-portfolio images below to explore the individual sites.
The first e-portfolio example is from Clemson University and reflects on a student's experience in an education program. It seems to be designed in basic HTML but may be built off of a template. The e-portfolio is hosted on Clement web servers.
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The second e-portfolio example is also from Clemson University, but showcases the work of a Civil Engineering student. This e-portfolio is built on Google Sites, a free service for building websites from Google. The e-portfolio is thus hosted on Google web servers.
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This example is of an e-portfolio designed using Wikispaces by an educational developer/facilitator.
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This next example is designed and hosted on Blogger and represents the architectural design work of an independent consultant. As Blogger is being used the site flows in chronological order with new posts always appearing at the top of the page.
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The next example is designed in Flash and represents the work of a recent graduate at the Mcgill School of Architecture. This site is hosted on the designer’s personal webspace.
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The last example is of an e-portfolio which has been embedded into Facebook. I presume one can simply add HTML pages onto user profiles to do this (although it looks like this uses some sort of Facebook App). This could be useful as it can be shared with Facebook networks exclusively and take advantage of Facebook features such as comments and the Like button. The e-portfolio showcases the work of a design student from the Academia Conocimiento Virtual in Puerto Rico.
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I believe that one of the issues many have with e-portfolios is that there is no specific template for what they are supposed to look like. This is also one of the most exciting things, as they allow the student to present their work as they see fit. Naturally some basic required content may be necessary within the e-portfolio if it is to be used for assessment but the look, feel and layout can be left up to the student.
