If you consider that Brightspace is the University's online learning environment, a learning journal/portfolio should be considered as a personal learning space for each learner. The space is personal to each learner, allowing them to use it in anyway they choose.
Usually the space is used to collect artefacts, a collection of materials or documents of personal reflections or evidence.
However, it is the learning that really matters. Creating an eportfolio involves skills essential for 21st century learning – organising and planning material, giving and receiving feedback, reflecting, selecting and arranging content to communicate with a particular audience in the most effective way.
For learning journals / portfolios to be effective in a module, the activities and outcomes for its use must be fully integrated into the module design.
A well-managed approach to e-portfolios offers students, staff and employers ways of:
Brightspace ePortfolio is divided into 4 main pages: the Dashboard, the My Items page, the Explore page, and the Sharing Groups page.
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Brightspace ePortfolio Dashboard
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The Dashboard is the main landing page for Brightspace ePortfolio. On the Dashboard page, you can add new content to your Brightspace ePortfolio, review recent activity on your items and items shared with you, and check invites from your peers. |
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The "What are you learning?" panel prompts you to record brief thoughts about a current learning experience which you can expand upon at a later date. You can also add file artifacts or a link artifact to your Brightspace ePortfolio or associate them with your brief reflection. When you post an item, it automatically shares with the default sharing group you specify in your Brightspace ePortfolio settings. |
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The Announcements feed consolidates recent activity on your items and items shared with you. Your items appear in this area if they have been recently edited, commented on, or assessed. If you contribute a comment, an edit, or an assessment to another user's item, that item also appears in the Announcements feed and you can see contributions others are making to it. Filters at the top of the Announcements feed enables you to search and view specific sets of content: recent activity by ownership, people and items you've subscribed to, and items from contacts in the Instant Messages tool via the Friends List. |
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The Unread Invites panel displays your recent invites, including the author of the invite, the message content, and the associated Brightspace ePortfolio item. |
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My Items |
The My Items page consolidates all of your artifacts, reflections, presentations, collections, and learning objectives into a single view, enabling you to view, search, and manage all of your content from one location. On the My Items page you can:
Your Brightspace ePortfolio items display in a list that you can sort and filter. |
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Explore |
The Explore page consolidates items others have shared publicly or privately with you into one view. Shared Brightspace ePortfolio items display in a list that you can sort and filter. On the Explore page you can:
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Sharing Groups |
The Sharing Groups page displays all sharing groups to which you are a member. Use a sharing group to apply and save permissions for different users and groups of users. This allows you to attach the sharing group to new and existing items rather than specifying permissions for each item you create. |
International Journal of ePortfolio:
an open access journal with a lot of interesting articles on the use of ePortfolios in different contexts
on e-portfolios:
blog post by Teresa MacKinnon on her experience with using ePortfolios
how to enhance student learning, progression and employability with e-portfolios
Jisc explores the learner’s perspective on e-portfolios