Abstract:

E-portfolio-based learning has been attracting attention in higher education institutions. In e-portfolio-based learning, students typically collect and accumulate their own learning records during their learning process as an e-portfolio. Furthermore, students can create a showcase portfolio by selecting records from their own e-portfolios and publishing them for others to see. Then, students can monitor each other’s learning and work on activity using while interacting with many people, which elicits reflection on one’s work and promotes metacognition. By promoting metacognition, self-direction can be improved, because students can better understand the content they are studying, find interesting things, and ask questions. Moreover, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. However, in many cases of e-portfolio-based learning, students simply accumulate learning records as an e-portfolio, and do not reflect on their own learning. Therefore, to make e-portfolio-based learning more effective, students must be supported to elicit reflections from them.

One activity to elicit reflection in e-portfolio-based learning is peer-assessment, in which students assess their peers’ work. Peer-assessment is practiced in various areas, but few studies have focused on its effects in e-portfolio-based learning.

This study aims to clarify the effects of peer-assessment in e-portfolio-based learning. Specifically, we told students to practice e-portfolio-based learning with peer-assessment and then analyzed how students’ behavior changed after peer-assessment.

Peer-assessment forms are roughly divided into two types: peer grading and peer feedback. Peer grading is involves peer-assessors grading the work of peers using criteria such as rubrics. Peer feedback involves peer-assessors commenting on the work or performance of peers and giving them specific ideas on how to improve their work. Some researchers have argued that peer feedback is more effective than peer grading. In this study, peer-assessment involved peer feedback in which students commented on each other’s showcase e-portfolios.

We tested e-portfolio-based learning with peer-assessment in professional schools for teacher education. We evaluated its effects by giving students a questionnaire before and after peer-assessment

The obtained results showed that peer-assessment prompts students to:
(1) structure a learning strategy before they start studying;
(2) reflect on and self-assess their work;
(3) spend much longer learning and doing assignments in order to understand contents deeply;
(4) express their opinions and ideas when creating showcase e-portfolios;
(5) encounter new viewpoints that they would not have thought of by themselves; and
(6) become more responsible for their own learning.

In the near future, we will evaluate the effects of peer-assessment in e-portfolio-based learning in more detail by focusing on how students change their showcase e-portfolios before and after peer-assessment.

Keywords:

E-portfolio, e-portfolio-based-learning, peer-assessment.