ePortfolio : the state of the art in Portugal (from the 1st Meeting in Braga, July)

Abstract

In the current European context, the ePortfolio emerges as an instrument that facilitates mobility, transparence and acknowledgement of the formal and informal learning developed throughout life. In Portugal, despite the fact that there is a significant tradition in terms of using portfolios in the educational context, the electronic portfolio has not been object of neither public nor academic discussion. Several questions are thus raised: What is an ePortfolio? Why build ePortfolios? What types of ePortfolios are there? In what contexts is its use justified? How would the common citizen really benefit from it? In this paper, we critically review the meeting, specifying the accomplishment/evaluation indicators and analyzing the nature of the texts presented, which, in general, reveal some difficulties both in terms of the very conceptualization of the portfolio and in the use/knowledge of specific tools for its implementation. As far as the Portuguese government’s measures are concerned, there is no public initiative concerning specifically the use of ePortfolios, despite the visible efforts of modernization that are being made in the context of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy and the Technological Plan. However, some intentions of applying the ePortfolios in what concerns the processes of acknowledgement and validation of competences are perceptive.