Abstract:
According to a study conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Teacher
Education (2002), approximately 90% of universities and colleges of education use portfolios
regarding student assessment. Forty percent of universities use electronic portfolios in teacher
certification programs for licensing. Because of the popular use of electronic portfolios (eportfolios)
as a major assessment instrument in education programs, particularly educational
leadership programs, a need exist to look at the effectiveness, validity, and reliability of eportfolios.
Educational Leadership Programs at Mississippi State University-Meridian currently
uses taskstream software (taskstream.com) as a means to collect data and create student
electronic portfolios. This presentation will look at the effectiveness of electronic portfolios and
taskstream software and will address the following themes: (1) A review of requirements for
electronic portfolio implementation, (2) the benefits of electronic portfolios, (3) models/ template
designs and the use of rubrics for research assignments in taskstream software, (4) reflections of
Mississippi State University-Meridian Educational Leadership (EDL) students on technology
integration, and (5) serving purpose of Electronic Portfolios for student and program data
collection.