TALIC - Assessment Resource Centre (2024)

Types of Assessment Methods

Portfolio

• What is a Portfolio?
• Structure of Portfolio Assessment
• Advantages of Portfolio
• Disadvantages of Portfolio
• How to design a good Portfolio Assessment
• Marking Rubrics
• Web References and Resources

What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a collection of student's work which gives evidence to show how the student can meet the specified learning outcomes. A typical portfolio consists of work selected by the student, reasons for selecting these works and self-reflection on the learning process. Portfolio is a developmental process, thus it is not only the product that the student or teacher assess upon but also the learning process in which the student develops during the given period. Portfolio is an assessment method that monitors the growth and development of student learning.

Structure of Portfolio Assessment

Unlike most assessments, portfolio assessment can contain many different forms of assessments as it is a collection of student's work. A portfolio assessment is sometimes followed by an oral assessment.

Three Types of Assessment Portfolios: (Park University CETL, accessed on 3rd July 2008)

1. Documentation Portfolio is to highlight the development and improvement of student learning during a given period of time. It often contains a range of artefacts from brainstormed lists to rough drafts to finished products.
2. Process Portfolio is similar to documentation portfolio, in which it contains all the evidences required to prove the learning outcomes in the given time, in addition, it integrates reflection and higher-order cognitive activities. It emphasizes metacognitive functioning and encourages students to become active participants in understanding their own learning. Process portfolio often contains documentation of reflection such as learning logs, journals and diaries.
3. Product Portfolio is a portfolio to demonstrate a student's best work. This type of portfolio is typically used for interview. It is more of a summative assessment and has no reflection on the learning process.

	Declarative
Y	Functioning
	Take Time to Set
Y	Take Time to Answer
Y	Take Time to Correct
Y	Take Time to provide Feedback
	Suitable for Large Class
Y	Can substitute with Computers
	Passive
Y	Active
Y	Process Oriented Method
	Product Oriented Method
P = Possibly Y =Yes

• Portfolio is an assessment method which gives students the opportunity to be responsible for their own learning. Students often develop a proud ownership of their work.
• The self-reflection in each step allows students to improve as they see themselves progressing over time at the different stages.
• Portfolio is an authentic assessment method, it determines meaningful work and often has personal relevance.
• It promotes diversity of assessment methods.
• It encourages motivation due to the visibility of the final portfolio.
• It promotes creativity, individuality and uniqueness in the assessment of learning.
• It assesses all levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
• It shifts teacher's focus from comparative ranking to improving understanding via feedback.
• Learning should not be all about the end result, portfolio is one of those assessment methods which allow students to demonstrate more than the end result - a process orientated method.
• High validity.

• Portfolio is a very time-consuming assessment method in terms of planning, responding, correcting and providing feedback.
• Clear instructions and guidelines must be given to students, as often students take portfolio as a collection of their work only with no justification on reasoning and reflective statements. A sample or defined portfolio size should also be given.
• Plagiarism can occur.
• It is a subjective assessment method and teachers sometimes find it difficult to assess, as it is difficult to measure reliability.
• Students may overspend their time on the presentation of the portfolio, and not on the actual content. Tutor and peer assessors may also be affected by these effects and overlook the meaningful ideas behind the topic.

1. Ensure the students know what the objectives of the portfolio assessment are.
2. Provide students the time period, guidelines, requirements, assessment criteria and if there are items that are not to be included. The students should also be aware of who is going to assess them - tutor, peers and/or self? And ifpeers or themselves are going to assess, would the weightings be the same asthe tutor's assessment?
3. Prepare a structured marking sheet for all assessors.
4. Feedback is very important for a good portfolio assessment.

GRADING STANDARDS

(From Recipe for Success, accessed 03 July 2008
http://myt4l.com/index.php?v=pl&page_ac=view&type=tools&tool=rubricmaker)