When students graduate, they have the degree but often struggle to articulate the skills they’ve developed along the way. When faced with a question in a job interview about the capabilities they gained at university, many draw a blank. Digital badges on LinkedIn and a transcript may provide confidence but not the narrative required. With employers expecting candidates to be able to articulate their skills confidently – and the job market increasingly competitive – how do graduates prove the skills behind their degree certificate?

Universities’ response has been to redesign their undergraduate modules. Part of that is encouraging programmes to recognise the graduate skills developed within them and then mapping them to a set of university-wide graduate outcomes. To record these skills, institutions discovered they needed a digital tool that provided a place for reflection and evidence of skills growth across a programme – not just for assessment but for life beyond university.

This article is for educators, learning technologists and curriculum designers who want to understand how digital skills portfolios can support the shift towards a more skills-based education.

What is a longitudinal skills portfolio?

A longitudinal skills portfolio is a personal, digital space where students can track and reflect on their skills development over time. Unlike a polished CV or showcase portfolio, this is a living document of the learning journey. 

The portfolio contains target graduate skills. It may be embedded in a virtual learning environment (VLE) or exist independently, but the core idea is the same: a place for regular, guided reflection on how skills are built and applied.

A longitudinal skills portfolio will usually include these features: portability, self-assessment tools, and collaboration and feedback areas.

  • Portability: The portfolio should be able to accompany a learner on their journey through higher education and beyond without being tied to their institutional account.
  • Self-assessment: It should allow for learners to evaluate their own skill level. Clear evidence of growth, using graphs or charts, is useful.
  • Collaboration and feedback: It should record feedback and reflection from peers, mentors and tutors to support skills development and proficiency.

As students start to apply for jobs or attend interviews, they can export relevant aspects of their skills development from their portfolio into application letters or interview notes. 

Setting up a longitudinal skills portfolio: key steps

A whole-institution or programme-wide approach is required to successfully implement a longitudinal skills portfolio. It’s vital to have established a clear set of graduate skills that all students should have achieved when completing a programme. These skills should be decided as a collaboration between programme and module leaders, careers teams, students and, preferably, employers. Modules across a programme should be mapped to ensure students can develop the skills, and the skills should be fully integrated into module and programme learning outcomes. 

Students should also understand clearly where skills are being developed. When students are made aware that an activity or assignment is designed to build specific skills, they are more likely to recognise and reflect on their progress. This awareness can enhance their perception of their own abilities and increase their confidence in applying those skills – a concept supported by research into metacognition and self-efficacy. 

Building in formative assessment of skills throughout modules is also vital as well as ensuring skills are being scaffolded throughout a student’s undergraduate years. This should be supported by peers, personal tutors, careers teams and programme leaders.

Once these steps have been taken, a suitable digital tool can be developed or procured. 

Who is responsible for these portfolios?

The responsibility for these tools may vary, but student ownership remains key. A digital learning team or similar will likely be responsible for the maintenance and development of a tool and will work alongside tutors, module leaders and programme leaders to embed them within curricula. A good relationship with careers teams will also play a huge part in helping students develop skills and also how to translate these into requirements for graduate roles. 

Why is it important now?

The graduate employment market is more competitive than ever, so students need a comprehensive grasp of their skill set. Employers increasingly value skills over grades – but they also want candidates to articulate those skills clearly. Reflection helps students develop the language and confidence to do that.

Also, the UK government recently introduced the lifelong learning entitlement. The fund gives access to higher education funding throughout an adult’s life. This supports a more modular, flexible approach that means being able to record skills across years, through different institutions and over multiple experiences will become more desirable.

What is the future for longitudinal skills portfolios?

With Arizona State University in the US experimenting with Blockchain-based credentials, which could eventually create more portable solutions for skills development, and the Skipper Passport App being developed by a group of European universities, there are promising developments on the horizon for longitudinal skills portfolios. 

Meanwhile, tools such as Mahara, PebblePad, Portflow and the slightly more careers-focused GTI My Skills are being used for this purpose. Portflow, for example, positions itself as a “student-owned learning experience portfolio”, reflecting a broader movement towards learner autonomy. In-house solutions using Office 365 tools or similar have also been developed.

For universities, adopting longitudinal skills portfolios into their digital estate is about more than adding a new tool. It’s about embedding a culture of reflection, making skills visible and giving students ownership and awareness of their growth. In doing so, institutions can prepare students for not only their first job after graduation, but for a lifetime of learning, career changes and personal development.

Cat Bailey is a subject specialist in learning technologies at Jisc.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.

Source link