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Digital ethics in ePortfolios: Protecting student data

18 Feb 2026, 4:30 PM Authored by: Courtney Rose Brown | Marketing Executive at Catalyst

Kristina Hoeppner, Mahara Project Lead, shares practical ways to continue creating portfolio environments that protect student data.

Portfolios are not there for knowledge regurgitation. They're there to show what you've learned, that you can apply what you have learned, and that you can transfer what you've learned into a new context," says Kristina Hoeppner, Mahara Project Lead.

Portfolios are a digital home for learning. Not a test. Not an assignment. They are a space where learners collect evidence of growth, reflect on what they've learned, and make connections across different subjects or experiences over time. They are personal, which is why it matters who controls and has access to them.

For over 15 years, Kristina has woven digital ethics into her work with portfolios, and since 2019 has been a member of the Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Task Force for the Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL), having served as co-chair for three years. Kristina also works at Catalyst as the Mahara project lead. We interviewed Kristina to capture her insights about data in portfolios. In this guide, we share practical ways to continue creating portfolio environments that protect learner data while empowering them to make decisions around their work.

The power of portfolios

Unlike a learning management system, where students submit work for marking, portfolios are where students curate and reflect on their learning. They choose what to include in a portfolio. They explain why it matters. They connect the dots between what they have learned in one context and how it applies somewhere else.

That makes portfolios powerful for learning in education, professional development, and for personal use.  Because portfolios often hold personal thoughts and reflections besides learning artefacts, protecting the portfolio space is paramount.

AABEL’s Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios

In 2019, at the AAEEBL Annual Meeting, the idea of the AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force was formed. The Task Force supports research into digital ethics relating to portfolio work and helps organisations make sound decisions when asking their learners and staff to share personal content. One way to support organisations was to create 10 principles to guide ethical portfolio work in the digital space. The Task Force's focus is on higher education, but its principles are also applicable in other contexts.

AAEEBL’s Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios(external link) create a shared understanding between students, educators, and platform providers on a range of topics that arise when working digitally. They are built from conversations with portfolio practitioners, researchers, and educators, and are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to meet community needs. You can use them as a benchmark for your own portfolio practice and to engage in conversations with others.

Image: Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios, version 3 from 2022, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

AABBELDigitalEthics Diagram v3

We need to ensure that we protect the data entrusted to us to help organisations, to ensure that their data is not unexpectedly discovered.

- Kristina Hoeppner, Mahara Project Lead, Catalyst

Why portfolios are a powerful pedagogical tool

In 2016, ePortfolios were added as a high-impact practice by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). High-impact practices mean they improve student learning and retention more than most other teaching methods.

Portfolios make learning portable and visible

Students don't just complete assignments and move on. They collect evidence. They reflect on what worked, what didn't, and why. They see patterns. They make connections between different courses or experiences, such as work placements and internships. They look back at where they started and see how far they've come since.

This matters beyond education. Increasingly, professionals use portfolios to demonstrate competency - not just that they completed a course, but that they can apply what they learned in real situations and engage with their colleagues in feedback cycles. Such professions include nursing, teaching, engineers: Anyone in a field where demonstrating ongoing competence matters can benefit from a portfolio to track and visualise their learning progress.

Learn how Athabasca University uses reflection to support life long learning.

Data privacy questions to help evaluate portfolio platform

Let's start with some fundamental questions around data privacy when considering a portfolio platform to ensure that you follow your organisation's data protection guidelines.

You likely already consider privacy when selecting educational tools, and so you may already be familiar with some of the following questions. If you cannot answer one or more questions, you could consult your legal and information security teams for clarity.

Ownership and control
  • Who owns the data stored in the portfolio platform?
  • Can students delete their data at any time, including after graduation?
  • What happens to data when students leave your institution?
  • Can you write your own privacy policy and terms of use to incorporate specific terms from your institution, or do you need to accept the platform's terms?   
  • Can you choose where the data is hosted, e.g. on your institution's server infrastructure or elsewhere?

Storage and access
  • Where is the data physically located, including in which country?
  • Who accesses it beyond students and their designated educators?
  • Which jurisdiction's laws govern this data?

Usage and transparency
  • Does the platform use student data for AI training or share it with third parties?
  • How does the provider communicate changes to terms and conditions?
  • When policies change, can students decline their acceptance and remove their data from the site?
  • What security measures protect the data?

An ePortfolio platform with digital ethics built-in

Portfolios make learning visible, therefore help students become better learners. It's not just an archive. With the element of reflection, students can also look forward into the future.
- Kristina Hoeppner, Mahara Project Lead, Catalyst

Mahara, the portfolio platform for which Catalyst is the core maintainer, gives your institution full control over the tool. You determine privacy and usage policies. Data stays where you decide it stays. It also aligns with the NZ Privacy Act 2020 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) best practices in the European Union, like the right to be forgotten.

What this means practically:

  • You control the policies. Decide how to collect, use, and remove data based on your institutional guidelines. Write your own privacy and terms of use policies.
  • You control where data lives. Self-host on your own servers or host on the Catalyst Cloud to keep data fully under New Zealand law.
  • Students control their work. They can delete or export it whenever they like, in line with the institution’s policy.
  • You choose the support you need. Whether you need technical, administrative, or hosting support, choose what works for your team, either in-house or supported by our expert team.
  • Students collect learning evidence anywhere. Mahara enables students to collect learning evidence on their mobile devices,  so they can make timely reflections no matter their connectivity.
  • You create diverse learning opportunities. Mahara is one tool with many different portfolio activities that you can shape to fit your learning strategy and learners.

Additionally, Mahara is an open source platform, meaning you can customise it to suit your institution's local requirements better. Learn more about a Mahara subscription.

Additional digital ethics resources

Join the Mahara community

Do you want to learn more? Here are three ways to connect with portfolio enthusiasts.

Have questions? We're here to help. Talk to our Mahara team.

Additional credits: Kristina Hoeppner | Mahara Project Lead at Catalyst Return to Catalyst blog

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