What is a UW-Stout School of Education ePortfolio?
An ePortfolio is a tool that you will develop to assist in self-assessment and documenting your personal and professional growth throughout your professional education program. The UW-Stout School of Education ePortfolio is a web-based portfolio system supported through an external vendor, Chalk & Wire. Your ePorfolio should contain text, audio, and video evidences (artifacts) of your knowledge and skills. These evidences of your teaching abilities and performance will be used to assess your development as you proceed through the benchmark levels in teacher education. Carefully chosen artifacts and reflections will demonstrate your understanding of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for initial teacher licensure.
Why do I need an ePortfolio?
An ePortfolio is a requirement of Wisconsin’s PI 34 for all students graduating after August 31, 2004 who are seeking initial teacher licensure. The ePortfolio contains evidences of teaching abilities and performances that will be used as one assessment measure as you proceed through your program in teacher education. Your reflections will demonstrate how your artifacts relate to the Wisconsin Teacher Standards and domains of professional practice as adopted by the School of Education. Throughout your academic coursework, instructors will be making suggestions about which artifacts may be good evidences in your ePortfolio. It is recommended that you insert these evidence items/artifacts and related reflections as you complete your courses! That way, your ePortfolio will be ready when you schedule your benchmark interviews.
Your ePortfolio is available to you and paid for by the School of Education for four years after you complete Benchmark I. If you would like to use your ePortfolio as a job searching tool, you’ll need to removed evidences of your growth and provide a showcase of evidences of your best work. In addition, your ePortfolio may serve as the beginning point in developing a professional development plan that is required for teachers in Wisconsin in the initial licensing stage.