Implementing%20ePortfolios:

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Implementing ePortfolios adapting technology to
suit pedagogy and not vice versa !
Simon Cotterill Paul Horner Geoff Hammond School
of Medical Education Development University of
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Acknowledgements Dr Jim Aiton Dr Philip Bradley Mr Paul Drummond Mrs Lesley Heseltine Dr Bruce Ingraham Dr Trevor Jowet Dr Tony McDonald Dr Graham Orr Dr Kathlean Scougall

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Overview
1. Introduction the need for flexible
ePortfolios 2. The ePET portfolio 3. Case
Summaries 4. Discussion
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Introduction the need for flexible ePortfolios

• ePortfolios may be used for a diverse range of
  purposes (formative, summative, presentational
  etc.).
• Requirements vary greatly between different
  contexts (e.g. subject areas within a single
  institution)
• Pedagogic and Policy requirements change over
  time.

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Introduction aims of this presentation

• Describe the experience of implementing and
  embedding a component-based portfolio (ePET) in a
  range of contexts
• Show 7 case summaries
• 3 from undergraduate HE
• 2 from postgraduate HE
• 2 from CPD

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Overview
1. Introduction the need for flexible
ePortfolios 2. The ePET portfolio 3. Case
Summaries 4. Discussion
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Background Personal Development Planning (PDP)
SST (Student Support Tutoring)
1st Newcastle-Nottingham PARs project, 1998-2000

• Internet-PARs
• 2 DfES funded projects
• PDP focus
• Based on the
• personal tutor model

• ePortfolios
• FDTL-4 project
• Supports the tutor model
• PDP in curriculum context
• Evidencing outcomes

2nd Newcastle-Nottingham PARs project, 2000-02
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Managed Environments for Portfolio-based
Reflective Learning. Integrated Support for
Evidencing Outcomes. 

• An FDTL-4 project
• Newcastle University (lead site)
• Leeds University
• Sheffield University
• Dundee University (for consultancy)
• Developing Web based portfolios to support
  reflective approaches for evidencing the
  attainment of programme outcomes in undergraduate
  Medicine.
• Closely integrated with on-line curricula and
  study guides to become an integral component of
  managed learning environments for Medicine.

Project funded by
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A flexible component-based ePortfolio (software
to match your pedagogy)
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Selecting tools by course / year groups
Course Admin view
Student view

• create context-specific
• tools via simple Web forms

• install from a set of generic tools

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Configuring learning outcomes / skills sets
Course Admin view
Student view
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Overview
1. Introduction the need for flexible
ePortfolios 2. The ePET portfolio 3. Case
Summaries 4. Discussion
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Case 1 Undergraduate Medicine (Newcastle)
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Year 4 SSC Portfolio
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Building the ePortfolio was a useful learning
experience
n 157
80 thought it was a useful learning experience
83 felt they had recorded good evidence
Having clearly defined intended learning outcomes
influenced the way in which I approached the
option
72 felt that the LOs influenced their approach
93 reflected on their learning after the option
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Evaluation - positive (SSC portfolio)
Planning and approach to learning
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Case 2 Undergraduate Bioscience (Newcastle)
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Case 3 Undergraduate Medicine (St Andrews
University)
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Case 4 Vocational Dental training (Northern
Deanery)
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Case 5 Postgraduate Researchers (Newcastle
University)
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Case 6 Contract Research Staff (Newcastle
University)
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Case 7 MSc Environmental Health (Teesside
University)
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Overview
1. Introduction the need for flexible
ePortfolios 2. The ePET portfolio 3. Case
Summaries 4. Discussion
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Software to match pedagogy (and not vice-versa !)

• Use or develop flexible solutions aiming to
  meet
• Institutional requirements
• Subject-specific requirements
• Learners needs (control access, unstructured
  areas, attach files, links etc).
• Foster local expertise (pedagogic technical)
• requires resourcing !
• component-based systems such as the ePET
  ePortfolio
• create structured tools using simple Web forms
• develop tools using Open Source products. Share
  and contribute back to the ePortfolio community.

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Integration with the curriculum

• Build on existing good practice and tie into the
  existing curricula
• eg. most curricula already include elements of
  reflective learning / planning
• eg. many curricula have already addressed the
  employability agenda
• More meaningful than PDP as a separate /
  peripheral topic ?
• Support programme level learning outcomes
• eg. Common set of Key skills across a modular
  programme
• eg. Terminal learning outcomes in Medicine, Law
  etc.

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Structured vs. Unstructured Portfolios

• Level of structured relates to purpose /
  pedagogical requirements (at the course/programme
  level)
• Benefits of structures approach
• providing a more direct relationship to the
  course / context,
• the structure compliments and indeed provides
  part of the pedagogy,
• easier monitoring and anonymised QA statistics.
• But dont forget Learner-centric features
• Learners should also have some control over
  structure
• (in ePET users can create folders, add files,
  Web pages, structure action plans etc.)
• and also control over access to their portfolio
  content.

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Getting the right balance
Assessed Necessary for motivation / engagement ?
Non-assessed Necessary for open-honest reflection
Either increase its importance or bin it -
sitting on the fence is utterly pointless First
year Medical student talking about a newly
introduced non-assessed paper log-book
portfolio (2004)
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Related projects

• FDTL Transferability (ePortfolios _at_ St Georges)
• Dental ePortfolios
• Postgraduate CRS (University-wide, Newcastle)
• Speech Therapy (Newcastle)

JISC Projects

• ePortfolio Extensions Toolkit (ePET)
• Involvement in 3 Regional ePortfolio pilots (FE
  HE)
• EPICS (North East)
• Shibboleth single sign-on project

Centre for Excellence in Healthcare Professional
Education (CETL4HealthNE) ePortfolio support
for a number of strands in a HEFCE funded CETL
in Health (North East)
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Further information http//www.eportfolios.ac.uk
S.J.Cotterill_at_ncl.ac.uk
Cotterill SJ., McDonald AM., Drummond P., Hammond
GR. Design, implementation and evaluation of a
generic e-portfolio the Newcastle experience
(ePortfolios 2004, La Rochelle)
Paper available at http//www.eportfolios.ac.uk/F
DTL4/docs
Centre for Excellence in Healthcare Professional
Education (CETL4HealthNE)
http//www.cetl4healthne.ac.uk Director Prof.
Geoff Hammond G.R.Hammond_at_ncl.ac.uk
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Portfolios are defined by their purpose (may be
multiple)
Learners repository
Institutional Data
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Flexible component-based architecture
ePortfolio framework
Developed with Open Source products Zope, MySQL