Creative Portfolio

A creative e-portfolio involves the systematic documentation of a student’s work. Each entry should show what was done, why particular decisions were made, and what consequences they had. The key element of the method is the shift from describing activities to analysing the thinking behind them. In this way, the portfolio becomes a tool for organising the learning process. Good entries include not only the final outcome, but also intermediate versions and evidence of work, such as sketches, extracts from analyses, feedback, and a short reflection on what should be changed.
The method is often used superficially, as a collection of materials or an activity log. In this form, it does little to develop reflection or support learning. Its value emerges when students are required to justify their decisions, document change over time and make their progress visible. By comparing successive versions, flawed assumptions and corrections, students can clearly see how their competences develop.
An e-portfolio may include different types of materials, depending on the aim of the course. These may include short reflective entries, photos of notes, sketches, mind maps, project extracts, draft versions of texts, recordings of short presentations, links to source materials, screenshots, analysis results, teacher comments, peer feedback and summaries of successive stages of work. Technically, the collection should have a simple and repeatable structure. It can be kept as a cloud folder, Google Doc, OneNote notebook, Padlet, Notion page, blog, presentation or website. More important than the tool itself is that students know what they are expected to document and according to which structure. A useful solution is to prepare an entry template, for example: date, stage of work, action taken, evidence of work, decision made, justification, feedback received, changes introduced and conclusion for future work.

Course: Product and Service Marketing
Topic: Designing a Promotional Campaign for a New Service
Students work individually on the analysis of a selected dataset, such as sales data, customer behaviour data, or survey results. Each student creates their own e-portfolio using a tool of their choice, such as Notion, OneNote, or Google Docs. The e-portfolio serves as the central place for documenting work throughout the module. The aim is to show how students’ interpretation of data and decision-making evolve over time.

Stage 1 – Inspiration (45–60 min)
Students collect inspiration, examples of similar campaigns, observations about the target audience, and initial information about the service. In their portfolio, they add a short note explaining what inspired them, which ideas or solutions they found interesting, and what they would like to avoid in their own campaign.

Stage 2 – Initial Ideas (45–60 min)

Students develop several possible campaign directions. These may include different slo-
gans, communication styles, target groups, visual themes, or promotional channels. In their portfolio, they document each option, briefly explain how the ideas differ, and identify the direction that seems the most promising.

Stage 3 – Choosing the Direction (60–90 min)
Students choose one campaign direction and develop it into a more coherent concept.
They prepare a mood board, a main slogan, a description of the target audience, suggested
communication channels, and first sketches of campaign materials. In their portfolio, they
explain why they selected this direction and which ideas they decided not to pursue.

Stage 4 – Feedback and Revisions (45–60 min)
Students present a draft version of the campaign to the tutor or to other teams. They receive
feedback on the clarity of the message, its suitability for the target audience, coherence, and
originality. They then update their portfolio by noting what feedback they received, what
they found useful, and what changes they made as a result.

Stage 5 – Finalising the Work (60–90 min)
Students prepare the final campaign materials, such as a poster, a social media post, a short reel script, a landing page, a concept presentation, or a set of key messages. In their portfolio, they compare the initial and final versions and highlight the most significant changes.

Portfolio Presentation (5–7 min per student or team)
Students present not only the final outcome but also the process that led to it. They show their inspiration, early ideas, creative decisions, feedback, and revisions. In this way, the presentation becomes more than a display of finished work; it becomes a story about learning, decision-making, and creative development.

Final Reflection (20–30 min)
Students review their complete portfolio and answer the following questions:
What changed between the initial and final version?
Which creative decision was the most important?
Which piece of feedback had the greatest impact on the project?
What did they learn about their own way of working?
What would they do differently in their next project?

• In creative, design, or communication projects where the development process is as important as the final outcome.
• When students create original texts, campaigns, designs, prototypes, educational materials, service concepts, visual analyses, or other creative solutions.
• When you want students to document not only what they produce, but also how they developed it: their inspiration, alternatives, decisions, revisions, and reflections.
• When the project runs over several weeks, allowing students’ progress and development to be clearly seen over time.

• When the task has a single correct answer and does not involve creative decision-making, alternative approaches, or revision.
• When the activity is too short to allow meaningful documentation of the process.
• When the primary goal is simply to assess factual knowledge.
• When the portfolio functions only as a space for submitting files, without commentary, reflection, or evidence of development.
• When students are not provided with a clear structure for entries and transparent assessment criteria.

• The portfolio may become a collection of disconnected files → require a short commentary or reflection to accompany every entry.
• Students may present only polished final outcomes → encourage them to include drafts, sketches, unsuccessful attempts, and revisions to demonstrate the development process.
• Entries may remain descriptive rather than reflective → ask students to explain what they did, why they made particular decisions, what they changed, and what they learned from the experience.
• Work may lack consistency over time → introduce a regular submission schedule, such as one entry per week or one entry after each major project stage.
• The portfolio may appear visually attractive but lack intellectual depth → assess the quality of the process, critical thinking, and reflection rather than the aesthetics of the platform or layout.
• Students may be unsure what kinds of materials to document → provide examples of possible evidence, such as sketches, photographs, screenshots, draft versions, notes, feedback, and revised materials.

Easier → Provide a ready-made entry template: aim, action, decision, evidence, next step.
More Challenging → Introduce peer review, require students to revise entries after feedback,
and ask them to link their decisions to data or literature.

• Decide from the outset whether the portfolio will be individual, collaborative, or a combination of both.
• In collaborative portfolios, require students to clearly identify their roles and individual contributions.
• Provide students with a simple template for their first portfolio entry to help them get started.
• Ask students to include evidence of their work together with a short reflection, rather than submitting only the final product or file.
• Encourage students to document draft versions, sketches, experiments, and mistakes as an essential part of the learning and creative process.

Formative Assessment
Monitor the regularity of portfolio entries and the quality of reflection, paying particular attention to whether students can justify their decisions and draw meaningful conclusions from each stage of the process.

Summative Assessment
Assessment focuses on the final portfolio as a structured record of the work process and the development of the idea. The portfolio should include selected artefacts, successive versions of solutions, justification of decisions made, sources or data used, and brief reflective commentaries.