Ramirez, K. (2011). ePerformance: Crafting, Rehearsing, and Presenting the ePortfolio Persona. International Journal of ePortfolio, 1 (1), 1-9.
ePerformance: Crafting, Rehearsing, and Presenting the ePortfolio Persona
This essay looks at ePerformance as the act of students creating, rehearsing, and presenting themselves to various audiences using ePortfolios. The author describes ePortfolios as a performance space and examines the comparisons to live theatre.
Through this reading, I see that the idea of ePerformance is well discussed in regards to ePortfolios, but this is the first time that I’ve considered the perspective of viewing and interacting with an ePortfolio as a live performance.
When the author focuses on the process of reflecting, rehearsing, and presenting an ePortfolio, she discusses the importance of defining the audience. Not only can ePortfolios support real-time exchanges with chatrooms, blogs, and social networking, but also asynchronous interactions that expand the size and variation of the audience. Asynchronous interactions promote richer reflections, which result in more informed and thought-provoking exchanges. In a sense, students are able to perform and reflect on their performance at the same time.
ePortfolios have created an audience for students and knowing that others may view, evaluate, or use their work motivates them to create a higher quality performance. The interactive capabilities also remind students that we all perceive as many performances as we give in everyday life.
The author finds the power of ePortfolios in the ability to function as a rehearsal and presentation space which “facilitates a process of making learning visible” (3).
Current electronic portfolio software offers many tools for users to display (and demonstrate) their experience in an ePerformance. The technology offered through eFolioMinnesota includes text, photos, videos, hyperlinks, documents, feedback, and web-based sharing tools.
