Show off students’ employability with e-portfolios
Lourdes Guardia and Marcelo Maina
January 26, 2023
Why and how to make e-portfolios a central part of university courses, helping students identify and exhibit skills that will appeal to employers, by Lourdes Guàrdia and Marcelo Maina
The mismatch between graduate readiness for entering the workplace and employers’ demands for a skilled workforce has been repeatedly highlighted by international surveys and reports. Embedding employability-related skills into the curriculum is core to reducing the skills gap and requires a rethink of teaching methods, technological infrastructure and stakeholder participation.
E-portfolios are collections of work in an electronic format that showcase a student’s learning achievements over time. They are a useful tool in providing support for transversal and evidence-based assessment of students’ achievements. Skills-focused e-portfolios enable students to link their learning experiences with real-world practice, demonstrate their capacities through selected evidence and build reflective metacognition. Moreover, new developments can help connect e-portfolios and microcredentials to offer flexible routes to certification and extended recognition, increasing the graduate profile’s visibility.
