Portfolios in education have been used for centuries to provide a record of accomplishments, for both students and educators. ePortfolios are virtual archives on the Internet where students and faculty can collect, store and manage all of their lifelong learning and career development information in a single location.  At many institutions ePortfolios have become a vital part of student's permanent records, and used by faculty as part of accreditation review. 

ePortfolios for faculty enable educators to easily manage teaching web portfolios, publish research, and to document their academic and professional growth. ePortfolios for students give them the ability to create their own "digital briefcase" encouraging them to become more actively involved in planning, and more responsible for achieving their own educational goals.

What are ePortfolios?
ePortfolios are virtual archives on the Internet where students and faculty can collect, store and manage all of their lifelong learning and career development information in a single location.  While traditional "physical" student and faculty portfolios have been used for centuries, ePortfolios enable a much richer experience to their owners.  ePortfolios can include a far wider variety of media types and tools, including scanned or digital photos, video and sound clips, animations, recordings, text, traditional writings and drawings.  Additionally, this helps create a stronger relationship between your institution and your students and faculty as ePortfolios are edited and stored within the domain of the college.

ePortfolios for Faculty
ePortfolios for faculty enable educators to easily manage teaching web portfolios, publish research, and to document their academic and professional growth.

ePortfolios for Students
ePortfolios for students give them the ability to create their own web pages encouraging them to become more actively involved in planning, and more responsible for achieving their own educational goals.  ePortfolios help students become a more autonomous learners, understand and articulate their educational experiences, and communicate with their peers and potential employers.  Incorporating ePortfolios into the student curriculum fosters collaborative efforts and multiple learning relationships among students and faculty, as they exchange feedback and share ideas and resources.

Challenges & Solutions
One challenge is that e-portfolios are time consuming to create, and maintain, particularly for students and faculty without Web publishing experience. These are obstacles that can be overcome with the effective use of technology. The solution needed is one that utilizes skills that faculty and students already possess.

OmniUpdate has helped solve the challenge of creating and maintaining student and faculty ePortfolio systems with its products OU Educate and OU Student. As a supplement to OmniUpdate's OU Campus product, these add-on solutions are a cost-effective solution to empowering faculty and students without extensive Web publishing skills with the ability to create and maintain e-portfolios directly from an intuitive web-based WYSIWYG editing tool.