Teachings methods
What Is Portfolio?
Although portfolios are used in the assessment of student’s performance in nowadays, they are used as a method by architects, painters, photographers and artists in showing their works. However, as portfolio has been used for different purposes it maybe different from than that of artists. It is not possible to use only one definition for portfolio.
Definition of portfolio may change according to users’ purpose and way of usage. Many researchers defined portfolio in order to explain its features.
According to Arter and Spandel (1991), portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits to the student, or others, her efforts or achievement in one or more areas.
Collins (1992, identify portfolio as “a container of collected evidence with a purpose. Evidence is documentations that can be used one person or group of persons to infer another person’s knowledge, skill, and/or disposition”.
Winsor and Ellefson (1995),who stress the learning process and learning product, define that “portfolio is a fusion of process and product. It is the process of reflection, selection, rationalization, and evaluation, together with the product of those processes”. There are some essential characteristics to the development of any type of portfolio used for assessment. Barton and Collins (1997) state that portfolios should be multisource, authentic, forms of dynamic assessment, explicit of purpose, establish a correspondence between program activities and life experiences, based on student’s ownership, and multi-purposed. Therefore, portfolios should be on going so that they show the students’ efforts, progress, and achievement over a period of time.
Organization of Portfolio Content
A portfolio is not a collection of a students’ work haphazardly over time. Thus, in developing a portfolio it is important to decide its’ purpose, evidence consisting of portfolio, and its’ assessment criteria (Barton & Collins, 1997).
Although portfolios are used in the assessment of student’s performance in nowadays, they are used as a method by architects, painters, photographers and artists in showing their works. However, as portfolio has been used for different purposes it maybe different from than that of artists. It is not possible to use only one definition for portfolio.
Definition of portfolio may change according to users’ purpose and way of usage. Many researchers defined portfolio in order to explain its features.
According to Arter and Spandel (1991), portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits to the student, or others, her efforts or achievement in one or more areas.
Collins (1992, identify portfolio as “a container of collected evidence with a purpose. Evidence is documentations that can be used one person or group of persons to infer another person’s knowledge, skill, and/or disposition”.
Winsor and Ellefson (1995),who stress the learning process and learning product, define that “portfolio is a fusion of process and product. It is the process of reflection, selection, rationalization, and evaluation, together with the product of those processes”. There are some essential characteristics to the development of any type of portfolio used for assessment. Barton and Collins (1997) state that portfolios should be multisource, authentic, forms of dynamic assessment, explicit of purpose, establish a correspondence between program activities and life experiences, based on student’s ownership, and multi-purposed. Therefore, portfolios should be on going so that they show the students’ efforts, progress, and achievement over a period of time.
Organization of Portfolio Content
A portfolio is not a collection of a students’ work haphazardly over time. Thus, in developing a portfolio it is important to decide its’ purpose, evidence consisting of portfolio, and its’ assessment criteria (Barton & Collins, 1997).