E-Portfolios as Assessment Tools

In my opinion, the idea of using an e-portfolio as an assessment cannot simply be deemed a good or bad idea-- there are many elements that would have to factor into that decision. The biggest issue I can foresee with using an e-portfolio for assessment is how seriously it is taken by the students. Often, with assignments being digital they don't seem as "serious" and, as a result, the students don't take them as seriously. For example, of the 14 listed blogs for the Tuesday night class, one had each entry completed, one was unavailable to be viewed, and the other 12 were at least one week behind in their postings. This seems to be a dismal result for teachers; how can we expect our students to take the initiative and complete assignments like creating and maintaining an e-portfolio if we ourselves aren't willing to?

However, I believe that if the legitimacy/seriousness (for lack of a better term) can be conveyed to the students from the beginning and there is a system of perhaps formative assessment along to way to ensure that students are working on their e-portfolio that something like this could certainly be an effective assessment tool in the classroom. Mediums like this allow for a bit more freedom from the students because of what seems to be a presumed anonymity (even though we know whose it is) that comes from not directly writing on a paper that is handed directly to the teacher... maybe this is a good thing, maybe we could get products filled with free-thought and creativity.... that always sounds like a good idea to me.