While Hawisher and Selfe (1997) see the electronic portfolio as linking portfolio assessment and computers in the classroom, electronic portfolios are not substantially different from hardcopy portfolios in terms of association with the pedagogical implications of computer accessible classrooms except that they must be compiled digitally on a computer. Utilizing an electronic portfolio is not the only way to bring portfolio assessment and teaching with technology to a harmonious balance.

In order to identify consistent and inconsistent trends between portfolio assessment and multimodal composition practices, I first demonstrate a theoretical rationale for portfolio assessment before moving to a theoretical rationale for the place of multimodal writing in a composition classroom. Next, I identify aspects of these theoretical rationales that demonstrate both the similarities and differences that allow these practices to be brought together successfully in contemporary composition classrooms. By identifying and discussing these rationales in detail, I allow researchers and instructors to see portfolios and multimodal composition as parallel pedagogical tools with perpendicular offshoots that intersect in classroom spaces to students’ and teachers’ benefit. I argue portfolio usage in the classroom has parallel and perpendicular rationales with assignments and practices that are multimodal in nature.

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