The Brightspace ePortfolio: One tool – endless possibilities

Throughout the last year, we have all pushed the learning and teaching technologies available at the university to their limits to ensure that our students had the best learning experience possible. As part of this need for innovation, the EDU had an opportunity to work with staff from across the partnership to explore one of the lesser known and previously largely unused tools in Brightspace – the ePortfolio tool.

What is the Brightspace ePortfolio tool?

The Brightspace ePortfolio tool is a personal portfolio tool which can be utilised by students for a number of different use case scenarios. First and foremost, students can use it to upload and record evidence of their learning as well as reflect on any artifacts they have previously uploaded or added to their ePortfolio. Other use cases include using the ePortfolio and other associated tools for peer review activities, group work or journaling. Any items uploaded or created in the ePortfolio can be shared back with lecturers either manually or automatically for both formative as well as summative assessment, feedback and feedforward.

How can I use the Brightspace ePortfolio tool?

As mentioned above, a number of programme teams and staff members from across the university have piloted a variety of use cases for the Brightspace ePortfolio throughout the past year. Following here, you will find four such use cases.

Collect and reflect on evidence

This has probably been the most popular use case in the past year. In most instances, students were asked to upload artifacts such as images, files and course results which were then added to an ePortfolio reflection or form allowing students to reflect on the evidence. The completed reflections or forms were added to an ePortfolio presentation to display them in a visually appealing way.

Peer review

For this more niche yet highly innovative use case, students were asked to use Brightspace forms to peer review fellow students they had worked with in a group activity. The completed forms were then added to an ePortfolio presentation and submitted to the Brightspace assignment folder to allow lecturers to review them.

(Reflective) Journaling

For this simple, yet effective use case, students were asked to either create ePortfolio reflections or complete a Brightspace form with pre-configured fields to reflect on or journal about their experience in the module/unit they were enrolled on. Completed reflections or forms could then be added to a presentation to help lecturers review the entries more easily and to provide the student with a journal they can export and take with them once they leave the university.

Group work

In this collaborative use cases, the ePortfolio was used to facilitate the creation of a shared presentation with embedded project documentation and outputs. Rather than working on their own, students in a group shared one presentation and collaboratively uploaded and edited their evidence.

Watch this video to see what some of the use cases look like in the ePortfolio

Why should I use the Brightspace ePortfolio?

Using the Brightspace ePortfolio allows you to create active and engaging learning opportunities for your students. By supporting reflection, personal development aspirations and planning, most possible use case scenarios for the ePortfolio can help students gain valuable graduate attributes, such as digital literacy skills, self-management skills and interpersonal skills. In addition, using the ePortfolio can help you embed Learning and Teaching Enhancement Values such as “Learner choice and personalisation”, “Providing a connected learning experience” and “Active and creative use of technology”.

Where can I find out more?

Based on the pilot use cases outlined above, the EDU have been able to update the ePortfolio staff guidance with more specific examples and guidance. In addition, we have created a student guidance template containing step-by-step guidance as well as short how-to videos for all possible use case scenarios. This guide can be customised and shortened for any particular use case to give your students clear and concise support for using the Brightspace ePortfolio to avoid overwhelming them with too much information.

If you would like to find out more or discuss a particular use case you have in mind as well as bespoke guidance for your students, please contact edu@uhi.ac.uk.