Assessing graduate engineering programs with eportfolios: A comprehensive design process

ePortfolios (EPs) have been used in a variety of applications ranging from undergraduate assessment to graduate student work showcases. We hypothesize that the flexible, individualized nature of EPs makes them suitable assessment tools for graduate engineering programs, which are likewise flexible and individualized. Our investigation resulted in a systematic design process that can be used to create EP systems for graduate programmatic assessment. The process was used to develop EP assessment systems for three different engineering graduate programs. Results indicate that (1) the end products, the EP assessment systems, were directly affected by the graduate programs' culture and vision of graduate engineering assessment, and that (2) EPs are flexible based on departmental or program needs. Therefore, we conclude that EPs are appropriate for assessment in graduate engineering programs and that a systematic process of development can be used.