eportfolios

IN L2 ACADEMIC WRITING/ EAP CLASSES

Jordan Ruyle, Lecturer

College Writing Programs
UC Berkeley
Overview

Context
Description of the project
Theoretical Framework
Student Benefits
Teacher Benefits
Closing Thoughts
More information, samples, and references
Context

Type of class
Academic writing for multilingual students at UCB
Mix of levels- in language and in their academic careers
Mix of needs

ePortfolio definition
Website (Weebly, Wordpress, Other)
Capstone vs. reflection on one class
Description of the project

Students create a website to present their work and

their commentary on their work.

Platforms
Weebly
Wordpress
Tumblr
Other
Description of the project

From the assignment description:

Your eportfolio should have
A welcome page
Sixsubpages: one page with your reflective essay; two pages
with short reflective descriptions and example writing
assignments; two pages dedicated to grammar or writing
topics; one page with your grammar correction log.

Take a look: I removed the links from the version Im

sharing to protect student privacy. Email me for
examples ruyle@berkeley.edu
 Why does it work?
Theoretical Framework

Reflection and metacognition

Reflecting on successes and failures leads to learning (Flavell, 1977)
Commission from the National Research Council supported the
importance of reflection and metacognition (Bransford et al., 2000)

Constructionism
Papert emphasized socially mediated learning and emphasized that
learning is best done by building something new (Papert, 1991; Kafai and
Harel, 1991).
Why does it work?
Theoretical Framework
Digital vs Paper Portfolios and L1 Composition
Abundant research supporting the claim that digital portfolios encourage
metacognition in L1 student writers (Cambridge and Yancey, 2009;
Wozniak and Zagel, 2014; Yancey, 2004)
ePortfolios in general ESL courses (grammar, speaking, etc)
Yes!
ePortfolios in EAP
Harder to find
Opportunities for more research and input?
Benefits to Students

Connections
Between course topics/activities
Outside the course
students completing an eportfolio show heightened levels of
metacognition in relation to connections to learning and
connections to career or personal goals. (Bowman et al., 2016)
This happened spontaneously in my classes
Biancas eportfolio; Chens eportfolio
In her eportfolio, the student mentioned writing in her academic field
then she elaborated on it during her oral presentation at the end of the semester, strengthening
the connection:
Benefits to students

Eportfolio use

Promotes metacognition and reflection

Fosters engagement and community

Project-based assignment
Integration, synthesis, and application of course material
Collaboration
Benefits to students

Eportfolio useis digital

Provides new opportunities for learning and
communication
Multimodality

Develops digital literacy

Digital publishing
Citation and intertextuality in a digital space
Benefits for teachers

Eportfolios
Function as both formative and summative assessment
F: I see what they need help with during the semester
(scaffolded assignments)
F: Feedback to me about the course
S: Holistic view of student progress
S: Students talk about/ show me their own progress
Lead to positive washback
Implementation

Assignment description/ Rubric

Scaffolding
Support/ workshops/ student experts
Student Anxiety
Clear rubric
Scaffolded assignments
Workshops
Closing Thoughts

This is one use of eportfolios. It works for me, but one size
does not fit all!

How might it work in your classes? Could you adapt it?

What other opportunities do you see?

Can you predict any problems with using eportfolios?

More info

Documents, references, and examples are on our Weebly

site:

http://coleandruylecatesol.weebly.com

Also see the CATESOL conference tool for documents.