Brief or new: student learning portfolios: balancing tradition with innovation

SUMMARY For decades, educators have used traditional assessment measures to evaluate student learning and performance. Though these measures may have been successful in the past, the shifting culture of universities requires educators to seek more innovative methods which not only assess student learning but also elicit professional development and higher thinking skills. To keep pace with a rapidly changing health care market, educators not only need to teach better, but also evaluate smarter. Student learning portfolios are one way educators can assess a student's performance based on a learning paradigm which encourages active learning, enhances professional development, and integrates cumulative knowledge.