Much of the evidence and research available on the use of e-portfolios focuses on faculty and institutional perspectives and/or consists mainly of anecdotes about how useful the e-portfolio has been to learners. While it is generally agreed that e-portfolios have great potential to engage students and promote deep learning, the research that has been conducted to date focuses very little on student perceptions of value of the e-portfolio for their learning. If students do not accept the e-portfolio as a holistic means with which to document their learning in different contexts and more importantly, agree or wish to use the e-portfolio as an integral part of their educational experience, then the potential impact the e-portfolio will have on learning will not be realized. This paper introduces four emerging themes that need to be addressed in order to make using an e-portfolio a more rewarding experience for many students: buy-in, motivation, assessment and e-portfolio technology. This research was a multidisciplinary collaboration among the University of Edinburgh, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Waterloo.

Editor's Note: Since this article was published in 2005, the body of research into use of e-portfolios in college classroom settings has broadened.