Introducing ePortfolios to IT students: The support process

Abstract

Implementing ePortfolio takes time and increases teachers’ workload due to the support the students need. In a preliminary study, support material was developed and tried out among four student assistants from the second year of a three-year bachelor’s degree program in information technology. The objective was to identify types of support and how to design the support to make students as independent as possible when developing ePortfolio for the first time. Based on the preliminary study findings, we customized the support before introducing ePortfolio to an entire class in the study described in this paper. The aim of this research is to gain insight into students' perception of the support they received and how a support process should be carried out to succeed with ePortfolio implementation. Empirical data was collected among students attending the second year of an IT education emphasizing organization and business. The findings demonstrate the importance of motivating the students to work on their ePortfolios and providing students with sufficient support. The findings can be the basis for the design of principles for e-portfolio implementation on a micro-level.