USING ELECTRONIC TEACHING PORTFOLIOS IN US PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS: WHAT THE RESEARCH AND STUDENT EXPERIENCE SAYS AND DOES NOT SAY ABOUT THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

Electronic teaching portfolios have been in use in the US for well over ten years in pre-service programs which provide initial teaching certificates to qualified teacher candidates. In the last five years most universities in the US have begun requiring electronic portfolios, and e-portfolios are now commonplace if not the norm in the process of granting an initial teaching license, a teaching certificate, and in US National Board certification. This paper provides an extensive background regarding the use of teaching e-portfolios and highlights foundational information with the experiences of two groups of education students – six clinical students who spent one 16 week semester (Spring 2012) preparing themselves and their e-portfolios for student teaching and 12 student teachers who spent one 16 week semester (Fall 2012) teaching and finalizing their e-portfolios. The e-portfolios of these teacher candidates which include videos of actual teaching as well as extensive discussions of these teaching events will also be discussed and analyzed.

In addition, this paper also provides extensive information about the application of e-portfolios and the use of e-portfolios as an assessment method which is tied to the standards of the Association for Children’s Education International (ACEI) as well as other local and national standards used in US colleges and universities. The concept of using e-portfolios as an appropriate end of course assessment process with learning objectives derived from standards will be explored at length.

This paper will also include a conceptual framework that would enable teacher educators to clarify and analyze the conditions of e-portfolio use and the effectiveness of this process. A discussion of the conditions of e-portfolio use will provide a greater understanding of the use of such tools in preparing teacher candidates for teaching all students but in particular for teaching students who may be at risk of academic failure because of linguistic and cultural factors in both urban and rural settings. This paper will conclude with a discussion of the limitations, implications, advantages and disadvantages of using e-portfolios in preparing teacher candidates.