One may use an ePortfolio to encourage and promote reflection, to capture and map adaptations and innovations, to gather insights on practice and learning, to provoke review and to appraise ones’ own development. This invokes a state of meta-cognitive awareness, as the learner begins to rationalise their own choices and agency in the creation of this work, culminating in a presentation of their own digital identity (Andrus et al 2017, Bass and Eynon 2009). In essence it is a means to demonstrate and evaluate core competencies that lie within a module or programme.

By their very nature, ePortfolios are based on the theory of constructivism, as they enable  students to create and manage their own knowledge base. The ability to leverage feedback in a number of modes embraces the social constructivist approach through peers, instructors, mentors and external facilitators. These factors often prompt deeper engagement with the process of learning in collating an ePortfolio.