Analysis of Teacher Candidates and Faculty Evaluations of the Utility of a Single Digital Portfolio System

The Virtual Anthology Shell, a digital portfolio shell, was piloted tested in four programs in the University of Tennessee’s College Education, Health and Human Sciences. The University of Tennessee teacher education program is a five year program in which pre-service teachers enter into their internship year already having completed their undergraduate degrees in other disciplines. The sample of participants for the research was taken from the intern teacher population and faculty at the University of Tennessee for the 2003-2004 academic year. There were eight faculty members using the VAS with their interns during the 2003-2004 academic year. From these eight faculty members were from the areas of Special Education, Secondary English Education, Reading and Literacy, and the urban Multicultural program. The pre-service teachers who participated in the study were those enrolled in the aforementioned program areas. Each of the four programs received different types and levels of support. The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the VAS as perceived by both the faculty and student users, 2) to determine types and levels of support needed by students completing an electronic portfolio, and 3) to investigate the technology skills needed by students to use the VAS.