Essay on Showcasing Performance-Based Artifacts in Your E-Portfolio

Introduction

Over the years learners especially in tertiary institutions of learning have continued to use electronic portfolios to show their progress in learning, demonstrate their skills and competencies as well as allow their trainers to assess them conveniently (Ittelson, 2005). With the advent of the digital or e-portfolios, students have been uploading purposeful and systematic artifacts to showcase their learning. To date, there has not been any agreed set of standards or ways of submitting a performance-based project or artifact particularly those that originate from the information technology discipline to an e-portfolio (Mason, 2014).

For instance, a student may want to upload a coded software program to his portfolio explaining how it works by using technology. To spice it up, the student may create a 2 to 5 minutes video clip that is embedded in the portfolio and aid in explaining the code (Barret, 2016). The story serves to draw the attention of the portfolio user, for example, a teacher who may be assessing the quality of the work done. The short clip may incorporate dramatic questions that draw the attention of the listener and make the content more understandable.

Another way to flavor the presentation is creating and using still images of the content to be explained (Cook, 2016). For instance, the student may take screen short of the code as well as the user interface of the software and embed them on the explanation. In itself, it breaks the boredom of concentering to understand complex details. Again, a picture speaks a thousand words and is also appealing to the eyes of the readers. The images should however not be overused; ideally not more than 15 and should appear at most for 5 seconds.

Further, the learner may add more juice to the presentation by adding a background tune. The music should evoke the rhythm and pace of the presentation (Barret, 2016). The listeners are kept abreast and feel more involved in the presentation.

Conclusion

Students must be prompted to spice their performance based artifacts on their respective e-portfolios to draw more understanding and attention to their assessors as well as future employees who may be interested in their achievements.

References

Barret, H. (2016, March 24). ePortfolios for Learning. Retrieved March 21, 2018, from Portfolios: http://eportfoliosblog.blogspot.co.ke/search/label/storytelling

Cook, H. (2016, January December). Adding Media (Images, Video and Audio) to an ePortfolio. Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://support.digication.com/hc/en-us/articles/235437988-Adding-Media-Images-Video-and-Audio-to-an-ePortfolio

Ittelson, G. L. (2005). An Overview of E-Portfolios. Educause Learning Initiative, 2-5.

Mason, J. M. (2014). Using Introductory Videos to Enhance ePortfolios and to MakeThem Useful in the Hiring Process. International Journal of ePortfolio, Volume 4, 170-175.