What Is Portfolio

1. What is a portfolio?

A portfolio is a collection of evidence that represents achievement and learning within a module/course or programme of study.

2. What is portfolio-based learning?

Portfolios require both the gathering and presentation of evidence and an element of critical reflection or commentary. This may either be integrated into elements of the portfolio, or be a separate element in its own right, in which the student "draws the evidence together into a coherent tale of learning, of sense made, of new ideas developed, tested and sometimes discarded" (Baume, 2001:8).

Portfolio-based learning thus tends to draw heavily on _experiential learning theory_, particularly Kolb’s (1984) concept of the ‘learning cycle’ (see also Maughan, 1996). This recognises that experience by itself is just a starting point. Learning only takes place if students reflect on that experience, conceptualise new ‘rules’ for action based on their experience and reflection, and then test those rules in another concrete situation.

How easy are portfolios to assess?

It depends on the portfolio! Assessing portfolios can be a long job, and can raise issues of assessment validity and reliability. All of these problems can be overcome.

How manageable have you made the assessment?

• Have you taken steps to keep the portfolios manageable?
• Do not assume that you need to read all of the evidence (in depth, or sometimes, even, at all). Particularly if there is a reflective commentary, the assessor may only need to check that evidence:
1. is there
2. what the student claims it to be
3. proves what the student claims that it proves

• This can often be achieved on a fairly cursory reading, provided the student has labelled the evidence clearly.
• You can also reduce the assessment burden by:
  • using ‘tick-box’ feedback pro-formas which list common errors and limit the need to write extensive comments
  • making some tasks subject to student self-evaluation and/or peer review (this also enables you to show that the assessment enhances students opportunities to learn how to learn)

Do you want to assess them periodically or summatively?

You may want to choose between ‘end of module’ summative assessment or on-going periodic assessment during the module.

Summative assessment is usually so-called because it is (1) summative in purpose, ie it is used to make a final judgement on a students performance, and (2), often (though not necessarily), summative in time, ie it occurs at the end of a module. It contrasts with formative assessment, which normally takes place during the module, the purpose of which is developmental. Periodic assessment is a hybrid. It is summative in purpose, in that it ‘counts’ as a final judgment, but the fact that it is undertaken periodically through the module means it may also have some of the developmental functions of formative assessment.

There is nothing wrong with this! It is perfectly acceptable practice to combine formative and summative objectives in an assessment task. The main pros and cons (you may think of others) seem to be:

	Pro	Con
Summative	1. may be better for assessing progression and development throughout the module, rather than a set of discrete tasks 2. may be easier to achieve reliable assessment decisions	1. need to create a separate opportunity for formative evaluation, given novelty of the assessment method 2. can you ensure adequate marking time? 3. problem of storage and moving bulky documents between markers
Periodic	1. good for assessing a range of discrete tasks 2. can make the assessment process more formative 3. may enable students to have continuing opportunities to achieve competence 4. educes/eliminates end of module assessment rush	1. may encourage students to become very task – and assessment – orientated 2. likely to commit more in-course staff and student time to the assessment process 3. beware of students losing work/not handing in portfolios for external moderation (unless this is also undertaken periodically)

How do you ensure validity and reliability of assessment?

An assessment is valid where it enables students to demonstrate that they have achieved the essential outcomes of the course and it requires assessors to make their judgements against those intended outcomes. It is reliable where there is close agreement on assessment judgements between assessors.

Portfolios are effective tools for making valid assessment decisions because:

• they require students themselves to show how they have met the outcomes of the course (and so may involve less inferential judgment by tutors than some assessment tasks)
• they make it harder for students to learn atomistically (for example by ‘question spotting’) and so enable students to achieve larger course outcomes

BUT the capacity for portfolios to include large amounts of personal and tacit knowledge can create problems for reliability it can become harder to compare like with like or to judege objectively the value of the knowledge and understanding displayed.

To minimise reliability problems, maximise:

• student understanding of the task required
• consensus over assessment criteria (are students satisfied the criteria are fair and objective?)
• the clarity of assessment and marking criteria
• opportunities to standardise assessment judgements within the marking team

and limit the number of assessment outcomes to those which you believe are necessary and achievable as a rule, reliability declines with the multiplication of outcomes.