Abstract
WITH THE PROLIFERATION OF EPORTFOLIOS and their organizational uses in higher education, it is important for educators and other relevant stakeholders to understand the student perspective. The way students view and use ePortfolios are revealing elements to aid educators in the successful integration of ePortfolio systems. This research describes the development of the Electronic Portfolio Student Perspective Instrument (EPSPI) and initial validation (N=204) efforts in the context of an ePortfolio initiative in a College of Education. The EPSPI incorporates four domains from a student perspective: employment, visibility, assessment, and learning; and connects those domains with four relevant stakeholders: students, administrators, faculty, and employers. Descriptive analyses, exploratory factor analysis, and a qualitative analysis using grounded theory were used. Results indicate that student perspectives towards ePortfolios are multidimensional with three distinct, internally consistent underlying constructs: learning, assessment, and visibility. Qualitative analysis revealed four interrelated themes from a student perspective: system characteristics, support structure, purpose, and personal impact.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Albert D. Ritzhaupt, Oma Singh andThelma Seyferth are PhD candidates in the instructional technology program at the University of South Florida. Ritzhaupt is an instructor of computer information systems and currently conducts research in computing education, technology integration in educational environments, and multimedia learning environments. Singh's research interests are in design-based methods to analyze development and validation of online learning modules, and instructional technology with a focus on secondary and adult education. Seyferth has served as a key integrator in the ePortfolio initiative since its inception and is actively engaged in educational research. He also serves as a help desk manager for the ePortfolio system.
Robert F. Dedrick is Associate Professor in Educational Measurement and Research at the University of South Florida, and conducts research in the use of structural equation modeling to examine measurement quality of psychological instruments, the analysis of change using hierarchical linear modeling, and mentoring in doctoral education.
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Ritzhaupt, A.D., Singh, O., Seyferth, T. et al. Development of the Electronic Portfolio Student Perspective Instrument: An ePortfolio integration initiative. J. Comput. High. Educ. 19, 47–71 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033426
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033426