At present, most universities can only offer a letter grade or degree via an official transcript to demonstrate achievement.

"If I were an employer or student advisor, seeing a "B" in a speech class and an "A-" in something called "K201" wouldn’t really tell me much about a student’s abilities," says Brad Wheeler, IU’s associate vice president for research and academic computing and the project’s principal investigator. "Using a student’s portfolio, however, I could view a student-selected video clip of her giving a speech or see one of her completed spreadsheets from K201 to better understand her abilities." The larger educational vision is that learners will own and manage their personal portfolio information from childhood through career as a tool for reflective life-long learning.

William Plater, IUPUI’s executive vice chancellor and dean of the faculties, views portfolios as an essential element of effective assessment.

"Portfolios will enable students, faculty, advisers, potential employers and graduate schools to better assess student achievement. Professor Sharon Hamilton and many other faculty have been leading academic preparations for the use of portfolios in conjunction with IUPUI’s Principles of Undergraduate Learning and specific degree requirements. We are delighted to partner in the design and development of this important educational software."

Sarah Lawrence College, located in Bronxville, N.Y., also is participating in the design of the ePortfolio software. Dean Barbara Kaplan noted that "the use of digital portfolios for assessing student learning is entirely consistent with the educational philosophy of Sarah Lawrence College. This software will help our students, advisers and faculty to collaborate more easily while delivering a personalized education experience."

IU is developing the software in partnership with the Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) and the r-smart group. It builds upon the University of Minnesota’s extensive experience with ePortfolio software and the combined requirements of many OSPI institutions. r-smart is an OSPI co-founder and provides development and support services for open source software used by colleges and universities.

"This project further illustrates a national trend in higher education towards the collaborative development of open-source application software, said Wheeler. It is being designed using standards from the Open Knowledge Initiative and the Sakai Project to ensure portability for use at other universities. IU and r-smart are jointly investing matching resources in the development costs.