Chapter 11: Blended Learning and Assessment Through Dynamic Digital Portfolios: The E-Scape Approach

Portfolios that document the outcomes of learning have been highlighted as valuable tools to support authentic, performance-based assessment. Of particular value are the insights they afford to learning that has taken place over time, including through project-based learning (PBL; Barak, 2011; Chang Barker, 2005; Mason, Pegler, & Weller, 2004). With the introduction of digital tools, e-portfolios present greatly enhanced opportunities for linking evidence to judgment. A standard view of portfolios, both paper based and digital, is that they provide a repository for work that has been done, creating a space for recording and reflecting and for presenting an ongoing archive of evidence of learning. Through research undertaken in the Technology Education Research Unit (TERU) at Goldsmiths, University of London, for the UK Assessment of Performance Unit (Kimbell, Stables, Wheeler, Wozniak, & Kelly, 1991) we explored a different type of portfolio, one that captures evidence “on task,” dynamically. Through this approach we created the concept of an “unpickled” portfolio (Stables & Kimbell, 2000; Kimbell, 2006; Kimbell & Stables, 2008): a portfolio that captures evidence of process-based performance during short, focused assessment tasks. We saw these portfolios as learners’ working documents that allowed us to see evidence of thinking, ideas, action, and reflection in real time. Originally these portfolios were paper based. More recent research (Kimbell et al., 2004, 2009) has demonstrated the value of moving to digital portfolios. In particular, we have found immense positive impact on learning and assessment through capturing assessment evidence using mobile devices and digital tools that support drawing, writing, audio recording, and still and moving image.