Threshold Concepts Associated with ePortfolios

Brenda Refaei and Ruth Benander

ePortfolios have the potential to provide users with an integrative learning experience, but implementation often falls short in actual practice because many administrators, faculty, and staff are unfamiliar with the threshold concepts associated with eportfolio learning and implementation. Faculty and staff must be comfortable with these threshold concepts if they are to help students learn. In learning these concepts there are also key bottlenecks that can make implementation difficult if instructors are not prepared. The threshold concepts associated with eportfolio implementation include defining the eportfolio, the practice of reflection, and the roles of students and instructors. We suggest that acknowledging and addressing the threshold concepts required for understanding eportfolios can help create a more effective implementation of eportfolios. In extended interviews with ten students, ten faculty members, and ten employers, these portfolio users identified the threshold concepts associated with eportfolios that will aid in effective implementation of eportfolios.