An introduction to the use of eportfolios in professional practice

Abstract

In this article the potential for use of electronic portfolios by healthcare practitioners and students is considered in the context of work currently being undertaken in the School of Health at the University of Wolverhampton. We write at a time when knowledge of, and interest in, eportfolios is expanding beyond a relatively small number of projects and into the consciousness of a wider audience of academics and institutions. In the last 2 years interest in eportfolios has grown rapidly, particularly within a Higher Education sector keen to meet the Higher Education Funding Council for England/Quality Assurance Agency progress file deadline in 2005, but also spurred by the reports of Burgess (Universities UK. Measuring and recording student achievement, 2004 [Online report] [Accessed: 01 March 2006]. Available from: http://bookshop.universitiesuk.ac.uk/downloads/ measuringachievement.pdf) and of Tomlinson (DfES. Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and children's services, 2005. [Online Report]. Published 15 March 2005 [Accessed: 01 Mar 2006]. Available from: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/e-strategy/index.shtml). Examples of the use of eportfolio as a means of recording achievement and, in particular, facilitating reflective practice are discussed. The potential of an eportfolio system incorporating asynchronous communication features to resolve the tensions between academic and clinical practitioner roles is explored.