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Portfolios can be valuable tools for development and are in this respect informative evaluation devices for gaining understanding about individual accomplishments. The portfolio's strongest benefit is probably the insight it provides into performance as well as the way it helps track progress in learning. This study investigates how the portfolio's attribute to proliferate can show acquired competence in a concrete, visible and tangible way. Differences between three types of portfolio were studied. These are the reflective portfolio, the dossier, and the course learning portfolio. It was hypothesised that a developmental use of portfolio would support the portfolio collector best through the functional feedback it provides. The results of the study indicate that the reflective portfolio is an especially effective assessment tool for bringing about performance and learning-related change. The reflective portfolio is particularly suitable for focusing directly on self-determined levels of performance as well as showing recommendations from feedback provided by the portfolio instrument.