HomeBlogePortfolio ePortfolios in Teacher Education by Katie BakerJuly 28, 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 The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teacher Education chapter on implementing ePortfolios in teacher education provides an overview on the why and how of ePortfolio usage in teacher education (Gulzar and Barrett 2019). As a teacher educator, it was a foundational read that led to other articles and historical pieces about the ePortfolio’s use in teacher education contexts. The chapter also provided a path that considers what the ePortfolio might be for teacher educators and education candidates beyond the edTPA. In a previous blog, I outlined how the edTPA is used in teacher education and how its structure can both lend and ‘unlend’ to an ePortfolio. The edTPA had faced critiques about its reliability and validity and its use in high-stakes determinations (Gitomer et. al 2021), and the edTPA is about to go through a major restructuring. So, exploring the ePortfolio in teacher education more holistically helped give thought to how we might integrate and implement a restructured edTPA in our teacher preparation program. Evolution of the ePortfolio About twenty years ago, Wray (2007) published about the characteristics, benefits, and challenges of implementing ePortfolios in a teacher education program. At the time, the ePortfolio was becoming a new option instead of the hard copy portfolios that had been embedded and commonplace in US teacher education programs. The ePortfolio was a novel alternative to the physical paper and pencil binders, and allowed for a better representation of experiences over time that didn’t need to be preserved through paper trail. It allowed for artifacts of teaching readiness beyond written or photographic, and opened options to audiovisual artifacts, along with the possibility to collect and reflect upon artifacts anywhere there was device access. An ePortfolio also allows for teacher candidates to better integrate the often overlapping nature of teaching artifacts. Teaching is not linear and a lesson plan might also be a pre-assessment artifact, and might need to be referenced and hyperlinked across areas of reflection. Wray outlined two options for ePortfolios: the commercial product where a vendor provides a framework for the artifact storage or the “homegrown” systems with a combination of storage, organization, and presentation of portfolio artifacts via a range of technologies. Reflecting on ePortfolio Practice From Wray’s initial 2007 evaluation of ePortfolio use in teacher education, Gulzar and Barrett expanded in the handbook and shared a four-level plan for reflecting on what an ePortfolio could be for a program and for its users (represented in table 1). I’ve found the four levels helpful in reflecting on our teacher education program at Elon University, and also see how they could be used as a reflective lens across any higher education use of an ePortfolio. I share it here so that higher education faculty and programs could use it as a conversation starter about where their ePortfolio practice is and where they might want it to be. If you’re implementing an ePortfolio practice, what level(s) are you currently at or moving between and why? LevelDescriptionLevel 1 (Collection): Portfolio as Storage Structuring learning activities so that they result in digital documents or reflection on experience that can be stored in digital format as ‘artefacts’ of learning. Level 2 (Collection and Reflection): Portfolio as Process or as Workspace Identifying the frequency of recording self-reflection on work/tasks/activities and achievement of goals. Level 3 (Selection, Reflection and Presentation): Portfolio as Product or Showcase Selecting the specific artefacts to demonstrate achievement of the portfolio’s goals. Creating a showcase that is organized thematically, based on curriculum outcomes, goals, or standards. Employment portfolios should be organized around specific job requirements. Level 4 (Assessment and Evaluation)Creating or adapting rubrics to evaluate the ePortfolios. Faculty may provide feedback based on learning outcomes, goals, or standards. Table 1. Four levels of ePortfolio practice. Adapted from Wray, Susan. 2007. “Electronic Portfolios in a Teacher Education Program.” E-Learning and Digital Media 4 (1): 40–51, 49. Additionally, Gulzar and Barrett’s handbook chapter shared a graphic for considering the purpose of an ePortfolio that can be another helpful tool in reflecting about one’s ePortfolio usage and implementation in a program. Their graphic was like a tree diagram, splitting the purpose for an ePortfolio into two paths, one more internal, Learning or Reflection, or one more external, Showcasing or Accountability (Gulzar and Barrett 491). We’ve adapted the graphic for our purposes at CEL, and integrated the four levels from above. Examine and reflect, and may the levels (above) and/or the graphic (figure 1, below) be helpful in your own ePortfolio journey. Figure 1. Infographic illustrating two complementary purposes of ePortfolios in teacher education: learning and reflection (workspace) and showcase and accountability (product), with four developmental levels from collection to assessment and evaluation. Adapted from Gulzar and Barrett (2019), based on Barrett’s “Balancing the Two Faces of E-Portfolios.” Conclusion Whether you’re just beginning to implement ePortfolios or refining an established practice, these frameworks can help clarify your goals and guide meaningful conversations about learning, reflection, and assessment. The value of an ePortfolio lies not simply in the artifacts it contains, but in the purpose it serves for learners, educators, and programs. References Gitomer, Drew H., José Felipe Martínez, Dan Battey, and Nora E. Hyland. 2021. “Assessing the Assessment: Evidence of Reliability and Validity in the edTPA.” American Educational Research Journal 58 (1): 3–31. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219890608. Gulzar, Nusrat, and Helen C. Barrett. 2019. “Implementing ePortfolios in Teacher Education: Issues, Research and Strategies.” In The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teacher Education, edited by Steve Walsh and Steve Mann, 488–506. Routledge. Wray, Susan. 2007. “Electronic Portfolios in a Teacher Education Program.” E-Learning and Digital Media 4 (1): 40–51. 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 Teacher Education.” Center for Engaged Learning (blog). Elon University. July 28, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/eportfolios-in-teacher-education.
