Our students have different backgrounds, interests, levels of motivation and approaching to studying, therefore we considered that open learning is adequate to them. To improve the teaching-learning relations, we included electronic portfolios in our e-learning technologies. The Java framework provides the infrastructure for preparing e-learning scenarios based on practice and real world experiences, as practice is essential in learning activities. Our e-learning scenarios promote active learning, forcing the students to take part in real world activities, simulated on computer.
To better the human contact between students and instructor, we approached new strategies labelled as blended learning, combining e-learning and traditional face-to-face classroom instruction, with a focus on active learning. We implement e-learning scenarios relying on learner centred paradigm, where learners are encouraged to develop skills and strategies in their own way. Learning is not considered simply as an outcome of teaching, because it is an activity having as input the results of teaching and training. Blended learning should be viewed as a fundamental redesign of the instructional model. A blended learning context can provide the independence and increased control essential to developing critical thinking. Along with the increased control that a blended learning context encourages is a scaffolded acceptance of responsibility for constructing meaning and understanding (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004). To be a critical thinker is to take control of one's thought processes and gain a metacognitive understanding of these processes, i.e., learn to learn.
In education, portfolios are described as a meaningful collection of students' work stored in a traditional folder (Farr, 1990). There are various types of portfolios, organized according to the purpose they are used for:
- Learning portfolios – used for supporting the learning processes and the on-going professional development;
- Teaching portfolios – used for supporting the teaching processes;
- Assessment portfolios – used in evaluation processes;
- Employment portfolios – used in seeking jobs.
The electronic portfolio was introduced later and represents the same collection of students' work, only this time the storage is not the traditional folder, but an electronic storage environment, such as web pages, files organized in folders and stored on a CD or on a dedicated server, etc (Barret, 2001). An electronic portfolio simply means that the portfolio is technology based. There are many benefits of electronic portfolios, versus traditional portfolios. Electronic portfolios take up little physical space, can hold a great deal of information and may be accessed with minimal effort. A learning portfolio is a collection of student work over a period of time, resulted from activities in the e-learning environment. Electronic portfolios may improve the teaching-learning relations (Rusu & Prodan, 2006). The students have a constant project to work on being actively involved in the learning process, and their motivation has increased visibly. Both the teachers and the students agreed that portfolios provide a better assessment than the traditional testing: learners can have their learning process assessed and are offered the chance to reflect on their own work. Portfolios allow constructive feedback from tutors, increasing cooperative learning and students’ motivation. Portfolio assessment helps students enjoy the assignments, while enabling them to learn more easily and take an active part in their development.
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