Web-based portfolio (webfolio) application in elementary schools

Today, educational institutions have to keep up with the increasing technological developments because educational activities can be carried out faster, more easily and with better quality thanks to technology. Therefore, it is necessary to follow technological developments and make them available for use in educational environments so that students can be provided with an effective educational opportunity and the effectiveness of institutions can be increased. One of the areas in educational environments in which technology can be used is evaluation. Today, with respect to evaluation of students, there is an increasing tendency towards the evaluation of the process. Thus, process evaluation includes such methods as portfolio assessment. Developed faster and more easily, portfolios were first applied in electronic settings. Then, by transferring these portfolios into the web environment in the course of time, they were transformed into web-based portfolios; in other words, webfolios.The purpose of the present study was to examine the functionality of the webfolio application in elementary schools. The study was conducted in such elementary school fourth-grade courses as Science and Technology, Mathematics, Social Studies and Turkish Language in MAT-FKB Private Gelişim Schools - a private school in Eskişehir belonging to the Provincial Directorate for National Education - in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2008-2009. In the study, the natural examination approach, one of qualitative research methods, was applied. In the study, the research data were collected via semi-structured interviews held with the teacher and students, the students? webfolios found in the webfolio system, the assignments of the teacher and via the digital data demonstrating the teacher and students? levels of use of the system. The data were analyzed with the methods of content analysis and document analysis.As a result of the study, it was revealed that both the teacher and the students found the webfolio system beneficial. A majority of the students and the teacher believed that the webfolio system to be more effective than traditional portfolios. The students? webfolios were found good in general with respect to their qualities. The students were able to benefit from most of the features of the webfolio system, while the teacher used fewer.The teacher held the belief that the webfolio system facilitated sharing, use, peer evaluation and access to webfolios and that the webfolio system was safe and permanent. The teacher reported that the webfolio system was better than the traditional portfolio system with respect to such advantages of the webfolio system as critical thinking, safety, sharing, accessibility, permanency and physical advantages.All the students generally reported positive views about the webfolio system. The students believed that the webfolio system provided some facilities in terms of sharing, communication, peer evaluation and carrying the files and that webfolios increased cooperation between the students. In addition, the students also found the webfolio system beneficial since it increased the quality of their products.A majority of the students? webfolios were in good quality with respect to such criteria as legibility, originality, up-to-dateness and use of media sources; however, most of the students? webfolios were not systematic at all. The assignments of the teacher were found legible, clear and free of misspelling. It was also revealed that the teacher expected the students to complete the webfolio assignments in time and that the teacher suggested the students to use the course book and the Internet at most as a source.In their webfolios, the students used such features of the webfolio editor as changing the text features and adding a picture and a table, while did not use such features as adding a video. Most of the students received peer feedback regarding their webfolios by using the peer-feedback system effectively.