Student Online Portfolio Website

Student Online Portfolio Website

A student profile is an excellent way to track a student’s growth. It’s both a teaching and a learning tool, and it’s a great way for students to document their best works, talents, and abilities.

Students can create professional, customizable, and sharable portfolios using Format’s easy-to-use website builder. Signup and get a free trial for 14 days, no credit card required.

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While visual artists have long been using digital portfolios to display their work online, students of all ages and concentrations can also benefit from one. For a student, a digital portfolio can stand as an easily accessible collection of their performance, and in turn, documentation of their academic progress over time.

Learn more about the benefits of a student portfolio and find examples of what an elegant online portfolio website can look like below.

The Importance of Online Portfolio Websites for Students

Maintaining a portfolio gives a student the opportunity to document and assess their progress in school. In doing so, a folio becomes a learning tool to help students understand the importance of what they’re studying and see their own progress unfold in real time. Oftentimes, students don’t recognize the progress they’re making at school, and get frustrated when they hit stumbling blocks. Seeing the trajectory of one’s schoolwork can serve as positive reinforcement for a student.

Portfolios also help teachers and parents assess students’ progress. Aside from being a student learning tool, a folio can also stand as a measure of a teacher’s effectiveness. Meanwhile, for parents, a folio gives a better understanding of how well their child is coping in school and what they need to improve. In essence, a digital folio is both a way of facilitating learning and assessing what works and what doesn’t for both students and teachers.

On the other hand, portfolios are also useful tools for graduating students interested in the visual arts. Many visual arts colleges require some kind of documentation of an applicant’s skills, and with a decent portfolio, a student boosts their chances of getting into the college of their choice.

Three Reasons Why You Should Create Digital Student Portfolios

To sum it up, a digital portfolio can help with the following:

Help Parents and Teachers Assess Student Performance

Think of a student folio as a window into a student’s mind. Grades may be a clear indication of student performance, but they don’t show where, when, and how a student improved over time. By collating student work into a website, teachers and parents can easily identify areas where the student struggled and continues to struggle, as well as where they’re excelling.

Encourage Learning by Giving Concrete Evidence of Student Progress

All teachers want their students to become self-reliant when it comes to learning. Teachers can facilitate independent learning by giving students the right tools to help them document, assess, and improve their work. When students can visualize their progress, they are more likely to see the use in what they’re learning.

Equip Graduating Students in the College Application Process

Students pursuing a concentration in visual arts, fashion, architecture, and music will most likely need to put together a portfolio they can easily share with colleges. A decent portfolio website not only showcases a student’s talents but also gives them the opportunity to hone their personal style and creative voice.

Even if a student won’t use a portfolio in the application process, they will likely need to use one when they begin their career in the real world. All professional photographers, videographers, and designers rely on a portfolio to showcase their best work.

How Should an Online Portfolio Website Be Organized?

When you create a portfolio, you want to make sure you’re featuring the very best of your work. You’re documenting your progress, whether as a student or an artist, so you need to make sure you create a “highlight reel” of your achievements. Aim to showcase works that marked some kind of growth in your academic performance or your artistic skill.

However, you must also remember that a portfolio is more than just a place to dump work. It’s a learning opportunity. Thus, each sample should come with a written reflection. Try to share as much as you can, including how you conceived your project, your creative process, and suggestions for improvement.

Students can organize their portfolios by creating pages dedicated to each subject and galleries for each project. They can choose templates that let them caption their work and create and link to blogs where they can further reflect on their progress.

Should a Student Create a Portfolio Website?

Yes! As you’ve gathered, online folios can be excellent learning tools for students.

As for which platform to use, there is a myriad of options. Many teachers like to use Google apps such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, since it’s easy to upload and share files with these. Other teachers prefer education-focused tools like the now defunct Three Ring and GoEnnounce.

Aside from Google apps, Three Ring, and GoEnnounce, students can also make use of website builders such as Format. The main advantage of using a site builder like Format is that it allows students to familiarize themselves with what it takes to build professional digital portfolios. Rather than settling for student accounts, students have free rein to personalize their folios and transform them into professional websites later on.

Student Online Portfolio FAQs

Want to know more about what it takes to create a student portfolio? Here, we answer six frequently asked questions:

Like we mentioned, an online portfolio website is a website where a student can showcase their best works and reflect on their progress.

A portfolio’s importance lies in its ability to provide a student with an easily accessible, customizable, and shareable space for all their projects. Learners can look instantly back on past works to assess their growth, add more works and insights whenever they please, and share their websites with teachers and parents at any time.

Creating an electronic student folio is easy. To make one, you first need to build a collection of your best academic or artistic works. Narrow down your options to around 10 to 15 projects, then begin making reflections on each of your chosen works. Once you establish which projects to include, you can start finding an educational folio hosting platform or a website building service.

Afterwards, you pick a theme that allows you to caption your works, upload your projects and reflections online, and customize your creation!

Students can take many different approaches to writing their reflections. Often, teachers who require portfolios will give out rubrics or clear criteria that students must follow during their reflection writing. Make sure to consult with your teacher before writing your reflections.

Maintaining a student’s folio requires updating it periodically with new content and inputting new reflections on recent and past works. Like we said, portfolios are records of student progress, so the point of keeping a site maintained is to track that progress and map out your growth. To keep one up to date, consider uploading something new on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. And remember to stay on track with your deadlines!

If you need a sample of what a student’s portfolio can look like, just check out the three folios featured above.

student art portfolio
Image credit: Rozie Whillans OCADU Graduate 2020

Why Make a Student Online Portfolio Website?

Students can gain a lot from maintaining an online portfolio website, whether it’s to have an accessible repository for past work or a tool for their teachers to assess their progress. Read on to discover the benefits of a student portfolio.

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