RESPONSE TO SCHOLARLY ARTICLE RESEARCH

RELATING TO ARTS INTEGRATION AND E-PORTFOLIOS

Stephanie M. Greene
IDFA 605-251 Creating An Electronic Portfolio
Towson University
March 29, 2017

ABSTRACT: The scholarly article E-Portfolios in Music and Other Performing Arts Education: History

through a Critique of Literature by Peter Dunbar-Hall, Jennifer Rowley, Wendy Brooks, Hugh Cotton, and

Athena Lill at the University of Sydney as published in The Journal Of Historical Research in Music

Education, April 2015 is a project highlighting the potential benefits and challenges of using e-portfolios with

performing arts based programs at the university level. A series of sixty-four literary articles are cited and

critiqued for the purpose of this project.

Electronic portfolios have a greater potential to alter higher education at its very core than any other

technology application weve known thus far (p. 143). The e-portfolio has proven itself to be a tool that

promotes self reflection, aids in assessment, provides immediate and interactive access to artifact curation, and

requires acquisition of valuable technology skills that can then be used for future endeavors. This is noted by

the large number of research articles related to this topic spanning the past 25 years. Although this article did

not focus on Arts Integrated programs in a K-12 environment, the correlation will be made. This article

critiqued literature and research that supports and questions the use of portfolios at the university level for

performance-based undergraduate programs. Research included university programs in music, dance, and

theater and teacher education programs in these fields. Specifically, we see an increase of the use of the e-

portfolio to address critical reflection of learning, peer review, teacher assessment, and self-promotion for

employment. The e-portfolio has become a powerful tool for sharing in this current and growing age of social

media and on-demand access to information. The research also refers to tapping into the learners digital

presence and skills as an extension to their online presence (p. 141).



This article broke down the literature review into categories: e-portfolios in universities, in dance

education, in music and music education, and the dramatic arts. There was also a nod to stakeholders including

future employers. It was interesting to note that research for the dramatic arts provided the introduction of new

vocabulary such as defining the e-portfolio as a performance space suggesting that they involve rehearsal prior

to presentation and thus rely on reflective practice and the concept of an audience, as well as defining the

students as e-performers (p.152).

Benefits to the teaching and implementation of e-portfolios included accessibility to and storage of

data, ease of sharing, potential for upgrading, ability to link various forms of media, varying options for

presenting work examplesthe learner can reflect on and review learning (p.144). Notably, these benefits

were consistent between the disciplines, even with the limited literature on school-based music classes, and

specifically in relation to teacher education programs in these fields. Challenges across the disciplines included

limited file capacity (and the costs associated), privacy of filmed participants in video material (p.148), and,

first and foremost, the inconsistent student technology skills/background knowledge which can affect the

success of e-portfolio creation (p. 154).

So how does this tool prove to have such a powerful impact on higher level education? The acquisition

of technology skills, the effective communication and sharing system, and the increasing value of self reflection

are all at the heart of e-portfolios. By requiring this process in higher level education, we are creating Future

Ready (http://dashboard.futurereadyschools.org/framework) learners gaining transferrable knowledge into

careers not only of the performers but to future teachers. The value and skills will then transfer down in a

reverse scaffold to high school programs, and as time and technology progress, possibly middle and elementary

levels. The skills gained by younger students will eventually provide stronger e-portfolio programs in higher

education. Naturally, when a teacher chooses to provide an Arts Integrated program to his/her students, the

skills and value for integrating some form of e-portfolio will become second nature. This process will still face

challenges if there is inequity in technology or lack of consistency and training.