HomeBlogHigh Impact Practices ePortfolios in Higher Education: A (Very) Brief Timelineby Katie BakerAugust 18, 2026 Share: Section NavigationSkip section navigationIn this sectionBlog Home AI and Engaged Learning Assessment of Learning Capstone Experiences CEL News CEL Retrospectives CEL Reviews Collaborative Projects and Assignments Community-Based Learning Data Literacy Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity ePortfolio Feedback First-Year Experiences Global Learning Health Sciences High Impact Practices Immersive Learning Internships Learning Communities Mentoring Relationships Online Education Place-Based Learning Professional and Continuing Education Publishing SoTL Reflection and Metacognition Relationships Residential Learning Communities Service-Learning Signature Work Student Leadership Student-Faculty Partnership Studying EL Supporting Neurodivergent and Physically Disabled Students Undergraduate Research Work-Integrated Learning Writing Transfer in and beyond the University Style Guide for Posts to the Center for Engaged Learning Blog This post offers a brief look at how ePortfolios became a High-Impact Practice, highlights key frameworks and resources that have shaped the field, and points to where practitioners can explore current thinking. We’re going to trace ten years in a thousand words or less—so no more intro words to spare! Definition Here’s a quick definition of the ePortfolio from the American Associations of College & Universities (AAC&U). The ePortfolio is …both a product—an archive of learning artifacts—and a process that supports student learning. Building an ePortfolio leads students to naturally make valuable connections between various courses, assignments, and cocurricular activities through reflection of their past work.” (AAC&U 2026a) A thoughtfully integrated ePortfolio can be what highlights and brings other High-Impact Practices together. The ePortfolio can be both an internal, reflective process for a learner, or the external reporting and showcase. Indeed, it could be what supports peer institutions in better collaborating through comparisons of artifacts, feedback and infrastructure. The 11th High-Impact Practice A High-Impact Practice (HIP) is a practice that has evidence of significant educational benefits for the students who participate in them. The HIPs (in order of designation as a HIP) are: First-Year Seminars and Experiences Common Intellectual Experiences Learning Communities Writing-Intensive Courses Collaborative Assignments and Projects Undergraduate Research Diversity and Global Learning (including study abroad) Service-Learning and Community-Based Learning Internships Capstone Courses and Projects ePortfolios Open Educational Resources (OER) In 2016, the ePortfolio was named the eleventh HIP. George Kuh announced the designation at the Conference On Excellent Practice in Mentoring Undergraduate Research in 2016 at Elon University, and the decision was officially documented in a now 250+ cited article (Watson et al. 2016). The Center for Engaged Learning (CEL) also shared the news soon after the conference in a blog post (Moore 2016). What makes an ePortfolio a HIP and not just a collection of documents is the iterative nature of the reflection for the learner and its spur for deep learning across time and experiences. Meaningful and timely feedback and evaluation can also elevate the ePortfolio to a HIP. For example, Integrative Learning VALUE Rubrics can be a point of investigation for programs of how they may be used for ePortfolio evaluation, especially for ePortfolios that capture across HIPs (AAC&U 2026b). High-Impact ePortfolio Practice The announcement of ePortfolio as the eleventh HIP was the prelude to Bret Eynon, Laura Gambino’s 2017 book, High-Impact ePortfolio Practice: A Catalyst for Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Eynon and Gambino outline the ePortfolio through the “Catalyst Framework” and by spotlighting cases of ePortfolios done well. The Catalyst Framework is provided in figure 1. Figure 1. The Catalyst Framework. Reproduced from Bret Eynon, Laura M. Gambino, and Judit Török, “What It Takes for ePortfolio to Make a Difference: The Catalyst Framework, Student Learning & Institutional Change” (2014), originally published in Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio Resources & Research. The Catalyst Framework visualization helps those implementing ePortfolio practices remember that at the heart of effective ePortfolio implementation is the active engagement of students, faculty, and other front line staff shaping those core student learning experiences (advisors, etc.), and that successful ePortfolio initiatives work at and across multiple levels from classroom to programmatic to institutional change. In Part 4: ePortfolio as Connector and Catalyst of Eynon and Gambino’s book, the ePortfolio is also described as a meta-HIP, and that done well it exists across a student’s experience from course to course, to professional transition endeavors. As a meta-HIP, it can connect, link, and emphasize other HIPs, and even spotlight the underused or unused HIPs. While their book was published before the designation of OERs as the twelfth HIP, one can see the potential for the ePortfolio to be the connector of this new HIP. What OER resources are being integrated across one’s learning experience? Why? What’s missing? Or, even, what components of one’s ePortfolio might be able to be composed to become an OER supportive to another’s learning? Or yet still, is the ePortfolio template or ePortfolio product an OER? The Field Guide Also in 2017, the Field Guide to ePortfolio hit the scene and detailed examples of ePortfolios in action (Batson et al. 2017). The field guide was assembled by the Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL)—a global leader in ePortfolio practice— and was a collaborative effort between AAC&U, the International Journal of ePortfolio, and the ePortfolio Action and Communication (EPAC) Community of Practice. Across twelve chapters, cases and exemplars are outlined in ePortfolio use. Chapter 3 explores ePortfolio as a means to authentic learning. That particular chapter ends with the question: “Who is the ePortfolio truly for?” and begs us to think about ePortfolio audience and purpose (Batson et al. 2017, 30). Other reflective questions offered in the field guide help practitioners think about the design versus the implementation or integration, such as those in chapter 2: Those who are new to ePortfolios tend to focus on the technology, asking such questions as “What software should we use?” and “How will we handle the technology training?” These considerations matter, but they are not the sole or even the most important questions to consider when launching an ePortfolio initiative. The most pressing questions pertain to purpose and learning design: “What do we hope to gain?” and “What difference might ePortfolios make in the growth of students, faculty, and even our institution?” (Batson et al. 2017, 15) And Now… Two sources for following recent practices and current thinking about ePortfolio as a HIP are the open access journals from AAC&U and AAEEBL. AAC&U publishes the International Journal of ePortfolio yearly, usually in September, and AAEEBL publishes the AAEEBL ePortfolio Review typically once to twice a year, with the most recent edition being the Spring 2026 ePortfolios in Times of Disruption, which will be highlighted in a future blog. For now, this overview serves as a review and reflection point, or perhaps a launch point for others in their ePortfolio journey. The Catalyst Framework can be an especially helpful tool to start using in your reflection around ePortfolio practice. The following resources offer additional opportunities to explore, refine, or imagine your ePortfolio process: AAC&U Trending Topics: ePortfolios International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP) AAEEBL ePortfolio Review References American Association of Colleges and Universities. 2026a. “ePortfolios.” AAC&U.https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/eportfolios American Association of Colleges and Universities. 2026b. “VALUE Rubrics.” AAC&U.https://www.aacu.org/value-rubrics Batson, Trent, Kathryn S. Coleman, Helen L. Chen, C. Edward Watson, Terrel L. Rhodes, and Andrew Harver, eds. 2017. Field Guide to ePortfolio. Association of American Colleges and Universities.https://www.aacu.org/publication/field-guide-to-eportfolio-why-it-matters-for-learning Eynon, Bret, Laura M. Gambino, and Judit Török. 2014. “What It Takes for ePortfolio to Make a Difference: The Catalyst Framework, Student Learning & Institutional Change.” Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio Resources & Research.CUNY Academic Works Eynon, Bret, and Laura M. Gambino. 2017. High-Impact ePortfolio Practice: A Catalyst for Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Stylus Publishing. Watson, C. Edward, George D. Kuh, Terrel Rhodes, Tracy Penny Light, and Helen L. Chen. 2016. “Editorial: ePortfolios—The Eleventh High-Impact Practice.” International Journal of ePortfolio 6 (2): 65–69. About the Author Katie Baker is Associate Professor of Education and Associate Chair of the Department of Education and Wellness at Elon University’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education. She serves as the 2026–2028 CEL Scholar, where her research focuses on ePortfolios as a high-impact educational practice. Drawing on her experience as the edTPA coordinator for Elon’s teacher preparation programs, her scholarship explores ePortfolios, teacher education, mathematics education, and performance-based assessment. How to Cite This Post Baker, Katie. 2026. “ePortfolios in Higher Education: A (Very) Brief Overview.” Center for Engaged Learning (blog). Elon University. August 18, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/eportfolios-in-higher-education-a-very-brief-timeline.
