ePortfolio - Buy it or Build it

E-portfolios are student-centred, potentially transformative and disruptive and also can be used for very different purposes within the same institution. It is important to note that e-portfolio Introduction usually requires some changes to approaches to teaching and learning and that the major benefits are for the learners who may be resistant to their use initially as this student-centred approach to learning can be seen as more effortful for them. (JISC 2008) A major strength of e-portfolios is that they can be used for a range of purposes, including formative feedback and summative assessment, application for employment, professional accreditation, transition between institutions and/or employment, and for less high-stakes purposes such as supporting and recording personal growth and learning (Thanet College, 2011). One of the main elements of DCU's strategy is to provide an ePortfolio for all of our students for life. The main aims of the DCU e-portfolio are: 1) To provide students with an online portfolio, which will help them showcase their work and experiences (curricular and extra-curricular) throughout their academic careers at DCU, and accessible by them/taken with them following graduation. 2)To provide students with an online repository, for storing relevant materials (documents, weblinks to videoclips etc, powerpoint presentations) which demonstrates the development of the student's Graduate Attributes+ To meet this strategic objective we needed to decide do we buy an ePortfolio system off the shelf or do we build one ourselves. This paper outlines our journey so far in providing an ePortfolio system for students and explains our reasoning for those institutions that face similar decisions