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Tracy Penny Light, Helen L. Chen, and John C. Ittelson. Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Guide for College Instructors. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012. 160 pp. Soft cover: $40.00. ISBN: 9-780-4706-3620-6.
Documenting Learning with ePortfolios: A Guide for College Instructors explains how electronic portfolios can meet the challenges of reforming higher education toward greater institutional ac- countability and student engagement.
According to the text, the need to understand the usefulness of electronic, or ePortfolios comes at a critical point in time. Pressure from policymakers, communities, and parents of college-goers have led to increased scrutiny in recent years concerning the investment in U.S. higher education. Across the nation, leaders in education, accrediting bodies, and even the president of the United States call for greater accountability from institutions in ensuring quality in college education. At the same time, the largest stakeholder group-the student population itself-contributes to this pressure on institutions to rationalize absorbent student loan debt through advanced professional opportunities and personal and intellectual development.
To work toward legitimizing the value of a college degree, many institutions have begun adopting electronic portfolios. These ePortfolios have evolved to showcase the academic and co- curricular experiences of students, thus helping faculty to better gauge the degree to which students learn. Documenting Learning starts educators on the path of outlining the people involved, benefits, and challenges in implementing ePortfolio usage.
Within 160 pages, the authors include nine concise chapters grouped in three nearly equal sections: "Documenting Learning with ePortfo- lios," "Creating and Implementing ePortfolios," and "Practical Considerations for Implementing ePortfolios." Each section adequately incorporates the 79 references and 24 tables and figures, thus providing clarity and substantiation to the case studies presented throughout...