Students’ perception of using ePortfolio for learning in higher education

ePortfolio is implemented in a higher education institute in Hong Kong with the objective of building the capacity of students in managing and monitoring their own learning in technology-enhanced environment, and at the same time, it is important for the institute to understand the students’ perspectives in creating the ePortfolios for the ongoing development. As a student-centered learning tool, the study aims to find out whether the ePortfolios could help students learn to document their learning process, showcase their learning outcomes and perform self-reflection on their own learning. Moreover, the purpose of this study was to gain insights from students’ perceptions of the usefulness of ePortfolios for further implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on seven students selected from different programs to understand their perceptions of learning and how they perceive the benefits of ePortfolio creation to learning. It is found that not all students could perceive the objectives of ePortfolio creation which would help them to organize, manage, and reflect on learning and that it is still a long way for freshmen to perceive the benefits of student-centered learning by creating ePortfolios. It is crucial for the institute to consider how to develop the awareness of students to become active learners with the creation of ePortfolios and with the guidance of teachers. Copyright © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.