You may have noticed that there is no Portfolio section in the THUAS Brightspace environment as there was in Blackboard. Brightspace does offer a Portfolio tool, but it does not (yet) meet THUAS' expectations for such a tool. However, this does not mean that you can't do anything related to Portfolios in Brightspace. There are several options to support (parts of) the Portfolio process in Brightspace. A lot depends on your goals for the use of Portfolios in your teaching.
I want to keep track of the development of my students (development portfolio)
Portfolios can be used to demonstrate the development or growth of the student. It often contains attachments to show the development of certain skills or abilities. It may contain feedback that the student has received earlier. It can also show how this feedback has been used to develop.
So, how can you use portfolios to keep track of the development of your students in Brightspace?
You can do this by using the Assignments tool. In the assignments, students can hand in files, but it is not always necessary to do so. You can use the tool for paper submissions or presentations as well. The Assignment tool is very useful to provide feedback to your students. The feedback is available to teachers and students at any time if set up correctly.
If you want to keep track of the development based on learning outcomes or competencies, you can use the Learning Outcomes tool to connect learning outcomes or competencies to assignments. This makes it possible to not only provide feedback to students but also assess their ability on the outcomes. This creates an overview of the progress which is available to both students and teachers.
To create a clear overview for students and teachers, it is possible to categorize assignments and grades within Brightspace. In this way, students have a better understanding of what they are working on and it makes it easier to find back feedback.
I want to assess my students based on a portfolio (assessment portfolio)
The assessment portfolio can be used to exhibit ones abilities or skills. It may contain attachments to show this.
As with the development portfolio, you can use the Assignment tool to support this type of portfolio. This makes it possible for students to upload multiple files at once. Students can hand in a text file as a basis, supported by images, videos, and other files to support their story. The files are easily accessible to teachers, often without having to download anything (depending on the file types).
A downside to this solution for students is that it does not provide a place for them to easily work on their portfolio. In the Blackboard portfolio tool, a student was able to easily work on the portfolio and save it to continue later. That is not the case with this solution. Students have to manage their files and attachments before uploading them all at once in the assignment in Brightspace.
I want my students to create a showcase portfolio
The showcase portfolio is often used to show your abilities and skills, for instance to a future employer or to apply for an internship. It should be easily accessible to people both inside and outside of the THUAS Brightspace environment.
This type of portfolio is not yet supported in our THUAS Brightspace environment. We are however looking at a solution for this. D2L, the supplier of Brightspace, is working on expanding and developing their Portfolio tool. It is possible that at some point this will also be available as it is starting to meet more of our requirements for portfolios.
There also is a SURF project to set up a tender for a portfolio tool. THUAS is following this closely. The expectation is that this project will be finished in November 2022. This could lead to buying an external portfolio tool by THUAS eventually.