The impact of collaborative ePortfolios on academic learning in a university setting

Abstract

This study is focused on promoting self-reflection and self-regulation of learning through the use of digital tools to improve the academic performance of university students. Specifically, the main objective is to evaluate the impact of the use of collaborative ePortfolios on facilitating the comprehension of the concepts being studied. During the 2021/2022 academic term, a voluntary survey was administered to 60 students in the Adaptation Course of the Primary Education Degree Program. Through a structural equation analysis, a theoretical model was analyzed in which the intensity of participation in the ePortfolio appears as a mediating variable between the different independent variables and the improvement in academic learning. The results of the study confirm this mediating function for some variables, while at the same time they show a direct positive relationship between the intensity of participation in the ePortfolio and comprehension of the course concepts. The findings of this study can have important implications for the promotion of digital tools, such as ePortfolios, to improve learning in the university context. In addition, the work offers methodological alternatives to the recurring problem of analyzing complex relationships (both direct and indirect effects) with small samples.