Comprehensive Assessment of Student Collaboration in Electronic Portfolio Construction: An Evaluation Research

Abstract: Research Questions and Rationale
Two major research questions guided this study: 1) What are the effects of student collaboration in electronic portfolio construction? and 2) Since portfolio construction is usually an individual process, is it appropriate to have students construct their portfolios through collaboration? To answer these two questions, answers to the following questions were needed: (1) Did the collaboration produce better portfolios than those constructed individually? (2) Did the portfolio collaboration impact student course work? (3) Did the portfolio collaboration impact students’ technology proficiency? (4) What were student perceptions of their collaboration? (5) What was the experience like for students to collaborate in their electronic portfolio construction? This study took an evaluation research approach (Krathwohl, 1998; McMillan & Schumacher, 1997) to assess student collaboration in constructing electronic portfolios in a technology integration course for pre-service teachers.