Psychology and ePortfolios Enhance Learning, Assessment, and Career Development

Abstract

The authors evaluated psychology program assessment measurements derived from self-report and electronic portfolios in the psychology undergraduate major. Their new introductory and senior laboratory courses have been specifically created to provide student-centered learning experiences that lead to ePortfolio construction. This chapter describes the initial stage of an evaluation of our assessment strategy, which centers on the new laboratories. In the lab courses, each student’s abilities were evaluated using several measures of achievement derived from national learning outcomes. ePortfolio and non-portfolio-based measures demonstrate promising reliability and validity. ePortfolio laboratories seem to enhance student learning and career planning. These early observations encourage collection of assessment data yearly, from undergraduate majors in each class, to provide longitudinal evaluation of their ePortfolio learning and career planning assessment strategy.