Developing Codebooks as a New Tool to Analyze Students’ ePortfolios

This paper describes a three-step method for the construction of codebooks meant for analyzing ePortfolio content. The first step produces a prototype based on qualitative analysis of very different ePortfolios from the same course. During the second step, the initial version of the codebook is tested on a larger sample and subsequently revised. Finally, during the third phase the codebook is applied to analyze ePortfolios’ contents and to chart trends of usage. We tested the codebook on the ePortfolios of 16 students attending a university blended course. This codebook and the method for building it enabled us to follow the ePortfolios’ evolution over the course, to observe students’ individual differences, to understand and guide students’ self-assessment, and to customize teachers’ and/or tutors’ interventions. Our method produces a tailored codebook for the examination of ePortfolio contents.