Using ePortfolios as an Authentic Assessment Tool for Integrated STEM Professional Development

Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are used in collegiate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and in preservice teacher education, yet there is a dearth of research on the use of ePortfolios for in-service teacher professional development (PD). This article presents the results of using ePortfolios as both a model for teachers to incorporate in their classes and an evaluation tool for an integrated STEM PD. Participants for this study were K-16 faculty members who participated in the National Science Foundation-funded STEM Guitar Faculty PD Institutes. Data were obtained from three sources: faculty participants' ePortfolios, alumni retrospective survey responses, and focus group data. Emergent themes included the importance of being willing to try new things, new skills learned, students' ability to build guitars, and identifying curricular connections to the guitar. Quantitative survey responses are reported using descriptive statistics. Two thirds (67.65%) of faculty members referred to their portfolios as they implemented the program. Over half showed their ePortfolios to their students (56%) or other teachers or administration (59%). Over a quarter (27%) of teachers used ePortfolios in their classroom. These results have implications for PD providers. ePortfolios an informative and useful evaluation tool for PD providers. They are useful for faculty members beyond the PD.