1. Implementing a mobile
e-Portfolio system – Lessons learned
a year on
Luke Woodham
St. George’s, University of London

2. Medicine and Healthcare at
St.George’s, University of London
• Specialist health sciences university
– joint site with hospital
• Joint faculty with Kingston
University
• Range of courses in medicine and
healthcare
• e-Learning Unit
– Provide and manage electronic
educational resources for the
curriculum
– Coordinate overall project for
Myprogress implementation

3. WPBAs at SGUL
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Basic Science Transition Pre-Clinical Practice
Foundation
MBBS5
Year 1
Transitional
(T) Year
MBBS5
Year 2
MBBS4
Year 1
Penultimate
(P) Year
Final
(F) Year
Workplace-based
assessments (WPBAs)• Key element in both learning
(formative) and summative
assessment of clinical competency

4. • Complex, hard to read
• Difficult to analyse
– No validation – “spoilt” assessments
– Illegible
• Large number of forms to manage
– Lost and damaged forms
– Difficulties in storage
• Submission difficulties when off-site
• Difficult for students to monitor progress
Paper WPBAs

5. E-Portfolio – Aims
• Key Aims
– Students should “own” their own data - provide
learners with real-time access to their progress
– Improving feedback to students
– Reduced administration load

6. e-Portfolio - ‘state of the art’ issues
Mature web-based systems for desktop data entry, were
available, but heavily criticised: Why?
• Student/clinician encounters don’t take place at a
computer
• The responsibility for completing assessments lies with the
student not the teacher
Potential solution? - a mobile solution that does not require
network access - wifi is not reliably available.

7. Meeting Expected Challenges - Key
System Requirements
• Flexibility
– able to apply to range of courses
– able to adapt to future changes
• Robust
– Meeting support challenges across several courses and
many geographically disparate sites
• Appropriate to clinical environment
– Lack of access to traditional PC workstations
– Variable access to Wifi
– Differing working practices across sites
– Usability – varying ability of assessors to embrace new
technology

8. MyProgress
• Web-based
– Hosted solution –
Commercially developed
by MyKnowledgeMap
– All data stored centrally
• Allows data input from
both the web and mobile
devices
– Cross-platform
• Works offline
– Downloads new
assessments for use
offline
– Uploads completed
assessments back to
system
www.myknowledgemap.com

9. 2013-14 - Pilots
• Series of pilots – Medicine and Radiography
– Iterative improvements based upon feedback
– Expanding scope
• Multiple attachments and sites, increased participant
numbers
• Feedback
– Improved feedback from using tablets rather than
phones
– Increase in number of assessments completed –
or at least submitted

10. 2014-15 Academic Year
Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Transition Pre-Clinical Practice
Transitional
(T) Year
Penultimate
(P) Year
Final
(F) Year
• Following a series of pilots to establish feasibility, introduced
Myprogress for completion of WPBAs
– Gradual rollout in Medicine
– Rollout in Diagnostic Radiography, Therapeutic Radiography and Co-
curricular award
Electronic WPBAs Paper WPBAs2014-15
Electronic WPBAs Paper WPBAs2015-16
Electronic WPBAs
2016-17

11. Technical Setup
• Students provided with
7” Android tablets
• Set up with institutional
account for installing
Myprogress
• Students able to use for
other aspects of studies

12. An opportunity for WPBA
is identified
The student begins to
enter assessment details
onto their mobile device
The device is passed to
the assessor
The assessor completes
and locks the assessment
and hands the device back
to the student
who then submits the
assessment when they
next have network access

13. Key Lesson - Students need to “own”
their portfolio
• How can students be encouraged to feel they
“own” their portfolio?
– If students have responsibility, they need to have
power to ensure all their WPBAs are complete

14. RESPONSIBILITY
POWER
Academic Registry
Standard WPBAs

15. If students have responsibility, they need
to have power to ensure all their WPBAs
are complete
Unfortunately, in one aspect, we broke this
rule.

16. RESPONSIBILITY
POWER
Clinical sign-off
Face-to-Face Meeting
Academic Registry

17. Other considerations
• Wireless provision
– Particularly for initial download of assessments
• Bring your own device
– Initial cost savings, but significant implications for
support
• Training and Acceptance
– “I was not sure whether my WBAs went through the
system even after synchronizing”
– Disseminating information effectively to both students
and staff

18. Current and Future challenges
Changing the culture
– “I've forgotten to charge/bring in the tablet a few
times meaning I can't get forms done” - requires
shift in student behaviour
– Increasing acceptance amongst clinical staff
– Ensuring a consistent approach to aligning power
and responsibility for completion of assessments
opportunities!

19. Thank you and Questions
lwoodham@sgul.ac.uk
www.elu.sgul.ac.uk