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Figure 10. Screen captures from the video
At a deeper level the video showed that the student was able to observe and pick out significant events during the
presentation of the lesson. There was also evidence that she was able to tell a story visually, and had mastered the
elements of video making. It was clear that she knew about establishing shots, mid shots and close-ups and when to
use which. She had also mastered the elementary computer-based video editor and special effects generator and used
those cleverly to emphasize certain events.
Over all, the case of the constructivist lesson shows a number of important aspects of portfolio assessment. Firstly,
the assessment was initially formative. No grade was assigned and students were allowed to refine their work all the
time to the final presentation. The aim of the assessment was to improve the quality of the students’ work, not to
assign a grade. The assessment also attempted to be holistic in that the whole design cycle was assessed, and multiple
instruments were used, ranging from authentic documentation in the form of the learning event protocol, through
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