A review on opinions of preservice teachers on the electronic portfolio: the example of weebly

Abstract

The study aimed at reviewing opinions of preservice teachers on electronic portfolio and Weebly. In line with the purpose of the study, answers were sought for the questions "how did preservice teachers define electronic portfolio?", "what are the opinions of preservice teachers on the electronic portfolio activity performed?" and “what are the opinions of preservice teachers on Weebly which is used as an electronic portfolio system?” . Case study was employed as a qualitative research method under the study. The study group was selected through convenience sampling method. In this frame, the study was carried out for one semester in scope of the course titled Computer II in spring semester of the academic year 2013-2014 with 86 preservice teachers studying at undergraduate Science and Social Sciences Teaching Programs. In scope of the course, preservice teachers prepared electronic portfolio by using Weebly platform, which is a Web 2.0 technology. At the end of the course, data were collected through a survey consisting of 15 open-ended and multiple-choice items developed by the researchers. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data obtained. The results of analysis on the survey data were compared to observations and experiments of the researchers during the semester, whereupon the conclusion and discussion part was created. As a result of the research, it was found out that all preservice teachers had positive opinions on electronic portfolio, that they used the features of electronic portfolio in a functional manner and that Weebly is practical, user-friendly, handy and entertaining as an electronic portfolio system. Keywords: electronic portfolio, e-portfolio, web 2.0, Weebly, perservice teacher