E-portfolios as a vehicle for teachers’ professional learning

Expressions of interest should be no more than 2,000 words, provide evidence of their knowledge and interest in the area and how their experience to date would benefit the project.

E-portfolios are emerging as a vehicle for lifelong learning and this project will develop and measure effective strategies for embedding their use in the professional development of teachers from their initial training to their first three years of teaching. Building on the growing theoretical base and the new Northern Ireland policy agenda, the project will examine how creating, storing, organising and presenting multimedia-based evidence of learning changes the current culture of teacher development supports reflective practice, professional dialogue and action plans. Using qualitative and content analysis techniques to determine patterns of use; diaries, blogs, interviews and work-based observation will be used to comment on current theories of professional learning, and form new ways of thinking about professional development in a multimedia age.