Introduction
This article will guide you through an overview of Portfolio - what it is, the benefits of using it with your students, and where you can find it on the FeedbackFruits Platform.
Portfolio is intrinsically linked to our Libraries and Learning Journeys - If you want more information on setting up Libraries and Portfolio, please check out the following articles:
Libraries: Quickstart Guide for Learning Designers
Libraries: Introduction to Libraries & Templates
What is Portfolio?
A student portfolio is increasingly being implemented across different facets of education and we have developed a platform especially for our partners to support this.
The developmental portfolio is intended to allow both teachers and students to collect, observe and analyse competencies over time throughout different assignments and assessments. These competencies are defined throughout certain frameworks that have to be set-up beforehand in the form of rubrics.
In correlation with the portfolio, competency-based education is also progressively being incorporated into the student/teacher interaction and learning journey. The focus here is on mastering the content rather than just completing the content.
Besides instruction, CBE focuses on meaningful assessments, feedback, and incorporation of data to drive success. After the data points are collected, all of this will become visible within your Portfolio on the FeedbackFruits platform.
The tools that can be linked to the Developmental Portfolio are: Group Member Evaluation, Peer Review, Skill Review, Assignment Review, Self Assessment on Skills, and Self Assessment of Work.
Where Can I Find More Information on Portfolio in Practice?
To read more about how to implement Portfolio in your institution/course, please check out the resources in the below link:
Setting up Portfolio Step By Step
Benefits of Using Portfolio
Track Development Over Time
Ideally, the portfolio will be a collection of all students’ work and their received feedback which they can reflect on and create a showcase of to later share with future employers. To design, facilitate, and monitor a portfolio that achieves this goal, especially in a large student cohort would require appropriate technological support.
For instructors, the portfolio generates a holistic picture of students’ learning progress that enables answers to many questions, namely: Which skills have learners accomplished? Where do they stand as compared to the learning goals? What activities do they enjoy doing? and more. With these inputs, instructors can provide timely support and make improvements to the syllabus.
Convenient Interactions (for everyone!)
When students interact with learning activities linked to their learning framework, the data is automatically gathered and transferred to Portfolio. The workflow is very similar for both teachers and students.
The feedback generated within, for example, Peer Review, is automatically transferred to the student's portfolio as long as the rubrics of certain frameworks (set-up through Shared Libraries or the Institutional Space) are used in the activity.
The set up for each learning journey can also be transformed into a template to be used again for the next year’s cohort, saving time that instructors would otherwise have to use to (re)create a new course.
Additionally, as the FeedbackFruits tool suite already integrates with most learning management systems (LMS), there’s no additional work required to master a new tool or platform. You can read more about our integration options here: FeedbackFruits and your Learning Management System.
Enables Meaningful Student Interactions
With the ability to use student initiated feedback and involve mentors who may be external to a particular course environment, the developmental portfolio enables students to reflect on their learning and progress, and at times also be guided by a mentor in this process.
The portfolio offers a place where the student can access all the feedback that they’ve received, as well as visualisations that can help them dive deeper to the information they want to know. This provides them with more agency in their learning journey.
In these reflective moments, the students and mentors can use the extensive filter options to narrow down to specific time frames or dates, as well as skills, levels or feedback givers.
Accessing the Portfolio
To access the Portfolio, you'll need to contact your partner success manager at FeedbackFruits to enable a feature flag.
Once the feature flag is switched on, you can access the Portfolio within the main menu of the FeedbackFruits Platform - you can navigate to the student portfolios by clicking on student portfolios under students.
You will then see an overview of all students - click on the student you want to check the portfolio of.
Performance Overview Visualisations
Once you’ve selected the student, you’ll be taken to their main portfolio overview. In this overview, you can see their progression in competency areas over time as a line graph, a snapshot of their current competency level as a radar plot, the distribution of ratings on their competencies as a heatmap.
The Line Graph offers a dynamic view of student performance over time. This visualization can display the average performance line, and you have the option to include all individual ratings in a scatterplot format. This graph is ideal for spotting overall development patterns and directing attention to where students might need extra support.
Image showing line graph with rating plots (in the image, one rating has been selected, showing the rating breakdown for that particular selection)
Image showing lines over time without rating plots
This graph has several possibilities, either to solely visualize the average line over time, or additionally all the ratings in the form of a scatterplot.
Image showing a single line selection
All the filters in the side bar will also work to filter the graph, allowing you to visualize more nuanced insights. The goal of this graph is to provide a general indication of student development, and help guide attention to where the student may need additional support.
Complementing this, the Radar Plot provides an at-a-glance summary of a student's strengths and areas for growth. It visually maps out performance across multiple outcomes. While it's not intended for making definitive decisions, the radar plot is a valuable tool for narrowing down which aspects of a student's feedback and development warrant a closer look.
Image showing the radar plot snapshot with 6 competencies
You can also hover over a point on the graph to see the average rating per competency.
Image showing the radar plot snapshot with 6 competencies - one competency data point has been selected to show the average rating
With the heatmap, you can see at a glance the distribution of ratings across each competency area and different levels of the competency. The heatmap functions well as a touchpoint to see where a student currently is in their competency progression, and any areas of developmental focus.
Image showing the heatmap - the collaboration competency has been expanded to show the competency rubric interaction with teammates and the criteria within the rubric
The written feedback per activity is also visible and sorted from most recent to older feedback within the Written feedback section, accompanied by information regarding the activity, course, rubric and rating. You can respond directly within the portfolio by clicking on reply or by navigating to the assignment by clicking on Open activity.
Use the filters in the right column to customise what you want to analyse in terms of the timespan, feedback giver (teacher, peers or self-assessment), skill level and skills that the student has been assessed on.
When clicking on the All Activities button at the top of the Portfolio, you can see an overview of all FeedbackFruits learning activities in which the student has been enrolled.