Their Portfolios, Our Role: Examining a Community College Teacher Education Digital Portfolio Program From the Students' Perspective

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 32, Issue 2, 2011, p. 159-175.

In this article, the authors describe an implementation of digital portfolio development for all of the preservice early childhood educators registered in the infant-toddler and preschool–early elementary programs at a large, urban community college.

Three years after implementation of the program, the authors conducted survey research to assess our students' perceptions of their preservice digital portfolio and their experience constructing it.

The data suggest several contradictions.
Students express that their digital portfolios are valuable in the present and after graduation, yet they do not spend extra time on them.

The students find their digital portfolios useful as academic reflection tools, but do not seem to take ownership of them.

Crucial for program improvement, students wish they had more faculty support and more class time to work on their digital portfolios.