Improving student engagement with self-assessment through ePortfolios

Abstract: Self-assessment is an integral component of learning from experience and a core skill for engineers to continue their professional development. Programs that accredit engineers need to provide course assessment and learning activities that develop these essential skills. One tool that has been identified as important for supporting development of self-assessment is the ePortfolio. A three year longitudinal study of first-year engineering student engagement with and success in self-assessment using ePortfolios has been conducted. The self-assessment task was embedded within students’ ePortfolios that they compiled to display and reflect upon their CAD modelling and engineering drawings. In each of the three years, students were introduced and supported in self-assessment through ePortfolios with similar orientation experiences, focused computer practical sessions, mentor support and developmental feedback from teaching staff and helpdesks. The proportion of students that participated in the self-assessment activity, the depth of their reflection and their ability to predict their final grade compared to the actual grade, were used to evaluate student’s self-assessment skill development. A significant positive shift in these measures of self-assessment wa