INTEGRATING E-PORTFOLIOS INTO ENGINEERING DESIGN COURSES

The paper will discuss the importance of discipline-related e-portfolios as building blocks for the engineering programs' e-portfolios, in the context of the outcome based curriculum. The implementation of e-portfolios in engineering design courses at the University of Windsor was used as a pilot project regarding the methodology and the tools to be employed by the engineering students in this type of learning record that provides not only actual evidence of their achievements but also students' reflection on their own learning. For the purpose of this study, a hybrid portfolio was designed, a combination of developmental and showcase portfolio. The purpose of this portfolio is to achieve three goals: to demonstrate the advancement of certain skills and discipline specific graduates attributes over a period of time, to showcase the best engineering design related work to be shown to potential employers to gain co-op placement, and to be used as a building block for the engineering program e-portfolio.