E-portfolio Development Research Articles

E-Portfolios in Medical Education: A Reflective Exploration of Learning Experiences from Faculty Perspective

E-portfolios are electronic collections of evidence that the students gather over some time during their educational journey. The learner has the flexibility of incorporating not only written notes but also videos, audio and pictures in an e-portfolio. Objectives: To explore the perception of the mentors regarding the benefits and challenges of implementing an e-portfolio. Methods: It was a qualitative cross-sectional study. The mentors involved in mentoring the student's e-portfolio development process were invited for semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze the data and provide an understanding of the perception of the mentors regarding e-portfolios. Results: The -e-portfolio not only enhances digital literacy among the students but also promotes reflective practices through which they reflect on their learning experience and self-assess their areas of improvement while at the same time promoting lifelong learning. Implementation of e-portfolios is also associated with challenges which include technological hurdles, lack of digital infrastructure, internet connectivity, effective time management and content selection. Conclusions: It was concluded that despite the challenges, the ability to enhance skills through e-portfolios remains evident. The provision of digital structure and training can help the institutes achieve the full benefits of an e-portfolio.

WhatsApp Support for School Experience e-Portfolio Development: A Conversational Approach

This paper reflects on the different ways of learning fostered by Whatsapp in the development of school experience e-Portfolios. Student teachers in one institution went through their school experience and practice teaching with an expectation to submit portfolios in an electronic format as evidence of their engagement with the theory and practice of teaching. WhatsApp interactions between student teachers, the school experience co-ordinator, and the practitioners in the Academic Development Centre, supporting the development of e-Portfolios, had to be relied on during the process of developing e-Portfolios. Informed by Laurillard's conversational framework on the six ways of learning, this study analysed the possibilities of WhatsApp support in the development of e-Portfolios by student teachers in one university. First and fourth-year education students on school experience provided qualitative data on the ways of learning that are best and least served by WhatsApp. Their accounts and evaluations of their interactions and support through WhatsApp were expressed narratively. Meaning units were extracted through content analysis and allotted to themes and categories suggested by the conversational framework. This study reports on the usefulness of the framework to evaluate WhatsApp support as well as the ways of learning that are most and least served by WhatsApp support on the development of e-Portfolios of evidence on practice teaching. Recommendations on the efficacious use of WhatsApp support for e-Portfolio development, the practices that would foster the realisation of all the six ways of learning, and enhancement of e-Portfolio development for the school experience are furnished. Suggestions are also proffered on further research about purposive use of WhatsApp and the conversational framework on e-Portfolio development.

Enabling computing students to recognize acquired competencies with ePortfolios

ABSTRACT Background and Context While higher education in Norway intends to ensure students can translate academic learning to real-world settings, a gap persists in computing students’ perceptions of their acquired competencies. Objective This study aims to understand the gap and explore how formative assessment with ePortfolios can help students recognize acquired competencies. Method This study investigates data from a national student survey, summative reflections from 67 computing students’ exams at the end of a course, and observations of their ePortfolio development during the course. Findings The ePortfolio emerges as a powerful tool, enabling students to actively record their learning journey, recognize acquired competencies, and gain a holistic understanding of the total learning outcomes, thus bridging the identified gap. Implications This study offers insights into how ePortfolios can help computing students recognize acquired competencies and present implications and recommendations for higher education institutions and teachers.

The Impact of E-Portfolio Assessment Implementation on Polytechnic Students’ Speaking Proficiency and Self-Reflection on Learning Business English

As an effective learning and assessment tool, E-portfolio has enjoyed great popularity with its great benefits in improving academic performances. However, few empirical studies have focused on integrating e-portfolio assessment into ESP courses by adopting blended learning mode. This study aims to investigate the effect of e-portfolio on students’ speaking proficiency in an ESP course within the context of blended learning and the learners’ use of self-reflection strategies. Data on students’ performance on the final speaking test, teacher observation and semi-structured interview were collected from second-year Business English students in Ningbo Polytechnics in China. The data were both qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. The findings revealed that the use of e-portfolio had a significant effect on improving students’ speaking proficiency in discourse and interactive communication. Evidence from the study also indicate that guided reflection has enabled students’ active engagement in e-portfolio development and thus their new understanding on the basis of reflection could be integrated into personal practices to help achieve learning outcomes.

Student Perspectives on WhatsApp Support for Developing School Experience e-Portfolios on Google Sites

This paper sought to reflect on the task of putting together an e-Portfolio of evidence under conditions of imposed emergency remote online teaching and learning with WhatsApp support. Student teachers in one institution had to undergo their school experience and practice teaching under emergency remote online teaching and learning. Further, these students had to produce and submit portfolios of evidence in an electronic format. Given that there were no contact lectures and tutorials during this period, WhatsApp support had to be relied on to assist these students with the development of their school experience portfolios. Informed by the e-learning ecologies framework, this study analysed the affordances of WhatsApp support in the development of e-Portfolios by student teachers in one university. First and fourth-year education students on school experience provided data through a qualitative survey in which their accounts and evaluations of interactions and support through WhatsApp were expressed narratively. Meaning units were extracted through content analysis and allotted to themes and categories suggested by the affordances framework. This study reports on the usefulness of the framework to evaluate WhatsApp support as well as the affordances that are most and least served by WhatsApp support on the development of an e-Portfolio of evidence on practice teaching. Recommendations on the efficacious use of WhatsApp support for e-Portfolio development, the practices that would foster the realisation of all the affordances, and enhancement of e-Portfolio development for the school experience are furnished.

The use of ePortfolio in health profession education to demonstrate competency and enhance employability: A scoping review

The use of an ePortfolio to support the education of health and social care professionals is increasing in higher education. ePortfolios support the educational journey of students; however, it is unclear how they are used to demonstrate competency or enhance employability. The aims of this study were to explore the literature to identify the use of ePortfolios in health and social care higher education curricula to demonstrate competency or improve employability. Three electronic databases were searched to identify papers using scoping review methodology. Studies that were published between 2001 and 2019 were included. A total of 1530 articles were initially identified after duplicates were removed. Nine studies were included in the final qualitative synthesis following a robust review. Data were synthesised into themes that describe the role of ePortfolios in demonstrating competencies in higher education or improving employability they were (1) Self-Directed Learning, (2) Deeper Learning, (3) Expanding Literacies, (4) Successful Implementation. These studies highlight that ePortfolio is both a product and a process. ePortfolios support students to gather artefacts that demonstrate professional competency which can be applied in the job-seeking process. The ePortfolio development process applies social constructionist approaches to learning which support lifelong learning and enhance employability. The findings also highlight the importance of providing students with clear expectations of the role of an ePortfolio in their professional learning journey.

A Narrative Biographical Study of Faculty Collaboration in E-Portfolio Development

Since an e-portfolio system was adapted at the authors' college, the faculty has been encouraged to use e-portfolios in various areas from professional development to instructional purposes. In this paper, they describe two cases of faculty to discuss how they became collaborative partners who support each other in conceptualizing e-portfolios as an instructional tool, designing learning activities for graduate courses, and they reflect on their own practices for enhancing teaching and learning based on the results from interviews, reflective essays, questionnaires and participation in broader learning communities, and a review of their signature e-portfolio assignments. Additionally, they argue how broader teamwork at the college level helped them as faculty to continue their efforts, often supported by the administration. In conclusion, the importance of faculty partnership as well as a continuous support system for faculty in adapting a new technology will be discussed.

EPortfolio Pedagogy: Stimulating a Shift in Mindset

As digital pedagogy and instructional strategy, electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) help educators organize instruction, facilitate teaching, and enhance learning. When students develop their ePortfolio projects in online spaces, they build a community where they learn to overcome challenges with the technology and to embrace the pedagogy that promotes learning. Decades-old research shows that the ePortfolio development process enhances knowledge production, makes visible knowledge application, and capacitates knowledge mobilization. ePortfolio technology promotes interaction, fosters reflection, and encourages both analytical thinking and the questioning of assumptions related to learning online. As multipurpose tools (assessment, accountability, collaboration, curriculum), ePortfolios are part of a movement that aims to reimagine the way we teach and learn in internet spaces. ePortfolio pedagogy, undergirded by interaction and reflection, integrates authentic learning episodes in digital spaces and enables practitioners to engage in democratizing and mobilizing knowledge. ePortfolio pedagogy is inclusive, embraces equity, and encourages the sharing of stories, beliefs, and ideas that result in appreciation of self and others. As students engage in idea generation in terms of choice of platform, layout, content, and artefacts, they experience a shift in mindset that capacitates a can-do attitude toward learning potential and project completion in online spaces.

A Higher Education Action Research Study on the Effectiveness of an ePortfolio as a Learning Tool to Promote Reflective Professional Development

Within higher education, ePortfolios have been demonstrated to enhance professional development and to promote critical thinking. In this context, one higher education level nine module, namely, the Professional Development Framework Portfolio module, was analysed. The module was piloted during the 2019-2020 academic year in one Irish Institute of Technology. It was intentionally designed to align with the Professional Development Framework promoted by the Irish National Forum for the Enhancement for Teaching and Learning. The primary aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of an ePortfolio as a learning tool for professional development, in the context of the module’s delivery. An action research methodology was employed. Data collection tools and processes included a learner-questionnaire, an ePortfolio mapping analysis, and a dialogical reflection on the part of two lecturer-researchers. Salient findings were that the use of ePortfolios for the purpose of professional development in higher education was evidenced, and the effectiveness of ePortfolios to facilitate the mapping of professional development was established. The main recommendations to enhance this module for future action research iterations included: 1) to facilitate deeper reflection on personal professional development goals, 2) to support reflective practice and reflective writing skills, and 3) to provide a pre-module workshop on ePortfolio web development prior to module commencement. More broadly, it was also recommended to revisit the time demands of the module and to research the extent to which the module might effectively promote a sustainable professional development community of practice framed around ePortfolio development.

Assessment of E-Portfolio in Higher Education

The e-portfolio development and introduction are based on the fact that the reflective practice of its creation allows students to document and track learning, develop a coherent picture of experience, and improve self-understanding. The study took place at Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia); an assessment tool to design and develop electronic portfolios in the higher education system has been developed and tested in the study. A survey focused on the value of an electronic portfolio, which was positively assessed by the respondents, was conducted. The students participating in the study developed e-portfolios that described their reflections on the learning process and backed the arguments made with proof. The assessment showed that 60% of students should improve their cooperation skills while skills related to conceptualization and implementation, critical thinking and decision-making, assessment and modification, meta-cognition and progress should be developed in 44%, 33%, 52%, and 64% of students, respectively. The research results confirm that e-portfolios provide an appropriate platform for integrative learning that allows students to visualize the relationship between various concepts learned throughout the course and beyond.

The Power of ePortfolio Development to Foster Reflective and Deeper Learning in an Online Graduate Adult Education Program

The current study addressed two problems in adult education: the lack of published research on the use of ePortfolios in graduate adult education, and more specifically, how can graduate adult educators utilize ePortfolios to foster reflective and deeper learning in a graduate adult education program? This was a 3-year qualitative study of 36 master’s students in their final capstone course in an online graduate adult education program. The primary research question was Can developing ePortfolios foster reflective and deeper learning in an online graduate adult education program? Researchers analyzed student responses to three guideline questions for the development of their ePortfolios: (a) What story did your ePortfolio tell?, (b) What surprised you?, and (c) What did you learn about yourself? These questions were designed to stimulate students’ thinking about their learning from the ePortfolio process, artifacts, and experience in the degree program. Through thematic analysis of student responses to these questions, three predominant themes emerged that provided evidence for reflective and deeper learning. The three themes were as follows: (a) Students became more reflective learners who frequently experienced deeper transformative learning, (b) Students were surprised by greater self-discovery and significant personal growth exceeding their expectations, and (c) Students found new personal strengths. Specific recommendations were provided about how to use ePortfolios in graduate adult education programs to foster reflective and deeper learning.

Development of e-portfolio in undergraduate clinical dentistry: How trainees select and reflect on evidence.

Self-reflection is a fundamental part of health professional development, especially in the unstructured clinical stage of dentistry, medical and health profession education, since it plays important role in experiential learning. A portfolio-both conventional and digital-records various aspects of knowledge, skills and attitudes over a long period of time to help students develop their professionalism by conducting self-reflection. This study aims to explore the process of selecting and reflecting on professionalism evidence recorded in e-portfolios during undergraduate clinical dentistry training. This pilot study is a qualitative study with a phenomenological design. The selection of respondents was conducted using a maximum variety sampling method. Following a 6-week pilot programme, a total of six in-depth interviews and five focus group discussions were conducted with undergraduate students representing different clinical rotations to explore the process conducted by undergraduate clinical dentistry students in e-portfolio development. The study of documents was also conducted on the respondents' reflective writing from the e-portfolio back-end data to explore their self-reflection skills. The results of the present study highlighted two different approaches used amongst trainees in developing a reflective e-portfolio: selective and non-selective. The observed reflective e-portfolio utilisation frequency and trainees' self-reflection skills were low, with several affecting factors identified. These identified factors consisted of external factors, such as the undergraduate clinical dentistry programme curriculum, the hidden curriculum, the availability of feedback, the availability of role models, and features of the e-portfolio and internal factors, such as understanding the self-reflection concept, the availability of time and mood, cultural factors, and understanding the content reflected. Through the process of independently selecting and recording learning activities in e-portfolios as well as repeatedly conducting self-reflection, trainees can improve their overall reflective abilities. However, producing a systematic approach to forming a reflective learning environment is necessary to aid the implementation of reflective e-portfolios, especially at the early stage of e-portfolio implementation.

ENHANCEMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING THROUGH SELF-REFLECTION

Recent accreditation requirements by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) have forced engineering educators to focus on the outcomes of their teaching efforts. Faculty members are rapidly gaining expertise in the assessment of the 12 graduate attributes, and it is envisioned that emphasis on outcomes-based assessment will improve both the quality of the overall curriculum and individual course instruction. 
 Nevertheless, the ultimate goal of any educational activity is to foster student learning. It is anticipated that students will gain a better understanding of the graduate attributes being covered in their courses if they are given the opportunity to self-reflect upon their educational experiences and achievements.
 The portfolio is the tool most often used to achieve this goal of self-reflection. A project has been undertaken in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba to assess the impact of self-reflection on student learning. During the fall of 2018, a series of voluntary workshops were organized
 i) to introduce Biosystems Engineering students to the purpose and art of self-reflection,
 ii) to describe self-reflection in the context of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board graduate attributes,
 iii) to introduce the e-portfolio tool,
 iv) to develop the skill of self-reflective writing, and
 v) to demonstrate the link between e-portfolio development and career success.
 The purpose of the paper is to describe the workshop series, the focus groups that followed the workshop series, and the theoretical framework within which the work is positioned.
 

Electronic portfolio development and narrative reflections in higher education: Part and parcel of the culture?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effective use of the electronic portfolios in the educational context of graduate students in a major research university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The use of electronic portfolios with university students has many benefits including advancing learning, assessment and evaluation. The electronic portfolio is considered an innovative instructional approach that has not widely been used in the UAE. Forty electronic portfolios were included in the careful analysis of the e-portfolio development, rubric and reflective narratives. Description of best methods on how to develop the e-portfolio in university teaching and learning, along with areas of attainment is presented. A major result indicates a high reliability of the e-portfolio rubric (0.77) with UAE graduate students. Another result indicated that university student effective use of electronic portfolios leads to successful learning and reflective experiences. A key recommendation is that instructors and institutions can effectively utilize e-portfolios to improve learning and assessment, course delivery, and program outcomes. In addition, personalizing learning indicated by several authentic narrative reflections can be another implication of the e-portfolio use at the higher education level to improve self or online learning and project-based learning.

The Different Roles of Help-Seeking Personalities in Social Support Group Activity on E-Portfolio for Career Development

Social Support plays a crucial role between recipients and service providers. It is a strong contributor in reducing the level of uncertainty in a situation, in both relationships with one’s own self, as well as relationships on other levels. It can also be used within a group activity system such as E-Portfolio development. One example of this being the support provided to learners who have reflected on their own experience during a period of transition. However, it is possible that some of the learners who participated in the social support group activity may not have been familiar with the community and may have acted differently, changing their help-seeking style within the group. This research used Activity theory as a tool to define the activity structure and aimed to focus on the working behavior among members of a social support group with different help-seeking personalities. The experiment also revealed the effects of E-portfolio development on self-efficacy skills in career-based decision-making, based on different help-seeking personalities using Pretest–Posttest Nonequivalent Control Group design. Upper secondary school students in Thailand were used as the population in the research. Participants in this study were also students under Royal patronage in grade 11 (n = 80) and there were students from each region of Thailand. These participants attended the guidance and preparation summer camp in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University. It is revealed by the findings that the statistically significant difference is at the level of .05 in Autonomous help-seeking learners and within the subgroup 3, which included Autonomous and Dependent help-seeking learners. The help-seeking personality working styles in the support group are discussed.

“I am trying to practice good teaching”: Reconceptualizing eportfolios for professional development in vocational higher education

AbstractTeaching portfolios have become increasingly important to university teachers. Portfolio requirements for the appointment or promotion of academic staff recognize that the assessment of teaching practice requires more depth and detail than a candidate's academic CV generally affords. The focus of this study is the electronic teaching portfolios, developed for purposes of promotion, in a vocational higher education context. Data were obtained from candidates' eportfolios, from precourse and end‐of‐course surveys, as well as from eportfolio assessors' formative and summative feedback. The analysis of the data reveals tensions arising from portfolio building in the particular context of vocational higher education. The nature of the vocational field impacts not only on teaching and learning practice, but on how academic staff choose to present their practice in an eportfolio. The paper argues that the constraints and enablements of context, including the disciplinary context, as well as the possibilities and limitations of agency, will strongly influence the purposes of eportfolio development and the extent to which university teachers can exercise agency in the creation of an eportfolio in a “high stakes” context. The findings can help university appointments and promotions committees, as well as educational developers, to better understand these enablements and constraints in order to inform policy and implementation.

A learning-oriented framework for e-portfolio development in distance education

George Kuh’s (2008) list of 10 high-impact practices, supported by the American Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), was amended early 2016 to include eportfolios. It is important, since it was the first amendment of the list. In this paper, the author reported on the usefulness of a learning-oriented framework for facilitating e-portfolio development in tertiary distance education. The framework integrates the three principles of a learning-oriented approach to assessment, namely that assessment tasks should be learning-oriented, that the student should be actively involved in self and peer assessment, and that quick, frequent feedback should be given to promote current and future learning. The learning tasks were designed to simultaneously provide opportunities to demonstrate the key competencies that ought to be developed during higher education. A variety of technologies were integrated to promote informal, accidental, selfdirected, selfregulated, cooperative, networked, experiential and transformative learning and the development of a community of practice. An investigation into one of the eportfolios, developed within this framework, shows that the student demonstrated achievement towards learning outcomes, while the level of development of key competencies could simultaneously be demonstrated and traced. After being exposed to a demanding, challenging, and frequently solo journey, the student states that the degree is valuable since she was not required to ‘merely regurgitate[d] the text book in parrot fashion in the exam’, she had to demonstrate the ‘ability to do something practical’. Based on this statement, eportfolios can be regarded as a high-impact educational practice.

Students’ perspectives on e-portfolio development and implementation: A case study in Taiwanese higher education

<p class="abstract">This study explores students’ perceptions related to the implementation of e-portfolios in the context of Taiwanese higher education. Thirty Taiwanese university students were interviewed, and data analysis includes 14 interviewees’ e-portfolios and responses to 281 valid surveys from non-interviewed students. The study presents students’ perspectives using textual descriptions and visual presentations related to developing e-portfolios. A three-stage model developed by the first author links five critical success factors for implementing e-portfolios in Taiwan. Overall, the students’ perceived usefulness, university support, and e-portfolio audiences (i.e., educators, employers, and friends) as well as intentions to visit e-portfolios are the major components used to promote e-portfolios in Taiwanese higher education. The findings of the study indicate that the value of developing an e-portfolio can be enhanced by using incentives such as design contests or encouragement through various other activities (e.g., class activities, team projects, and extracurricular activities). Accessibility, interactivity, and ownership are university students’ concerns when they are deciding to develop e-portfolios. For implementing a system of e-portfolios, the study suggests guidelines that can become important references for countries with similar cultural backgrounds in higher education. New insights relevant for scholars from Western countries also appear at the end.</p>

Deeper than a Collection of Artifacts: Recognition of Experiential Learning for Adults within the Academy

This study examines the e-portfolio development process of one cohort of adult applicants to a graduate school in one Canadian province relative to Kolb’s theory of how adults learn from experience. The study examines the participants’ views of their learning processes when preparing the digital portfolios through their written and video-recorded reflections and work logs. Data also include the transcripts from interviews with the e-portfolios authors during the graduate studies program in order to explore how eportfolio learning processes might be predictive of the skills and knowledge required for study in education and technology at the graduate level. Findings indicate that participants’ accounts of their experience can be understood through the lens of Kolb’s model. The participants recalled key learning activities aligned with Kolb’s model that facilitated their e-portfolio development such as: understanding criteria for the assessment of prior learning (PLAR); the establishment of organizing categories for concepts in the portfolio which led to concept development; and support in reconceptualising adult work experience and community service as learning.

Exploring the relationship between students' self-regulated learning ability and their ePortfolio achievement

Exploring the relationship between students' self-regulated learning ability and their ePortfolio achievement