As presented at the BETT Technology in Higher Education conference, 30th January 2013

1. E-portfolios: evaluating the benefits of a
reflective pedagogy
Kirstie Coolin
BETT 2013 Technology in Higher Education, Learn
Live
Centre for International ePortfolio Development, (CIePD)
Libraries, Research & Learning Resources
www.nottingham.ac.uk/ciepd
Official @ciepd
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 ALT-C 2012 1
Personal @kirstie_c

2. Disclaimer!
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3. Part 1
Overview and Context
• What are e-portfolios?
• What learning do they support?
• The E-portfolio Implementation project
• Are they still relevant?
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4. Part 2
Practical implementations and examples
A. Reflection
B. Employability: work-based learning, placements
C. Personal/Professional Development Planning (PDP)
D. Skills development for researchers
E: Community learning
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6. What is an e-portfolio?
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http://www.passengerterminaltoday.com/viewnews.php?NewsID=38006

8. The Official definition
“An e-portfolio is a purposeful aggregation of digital
items – ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback
etc, which „presents‟ a selected audience with
evidence of a person‟s learning and/or ability.”
Sutherland and Powell 2007
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9. Digital items Select + contextualise Presentation for a purpose
Feedback Assessment
evidence
Photos
Evidence
Work
Placement
Video report
Achievements
Blog/journal
E.g.
Qualifications Application to Evidence for assessment
employment / Application to
promotion employment/CV
CV Action plan
PDP
Skills Work placement report
Skills / APeL
Reflection Progress review
CPD overview
Presentation / website
Notes
PDP

10. E-portfolio is about learning processes
where the learner is at the centre and
„owns‟ the content.
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Kirstie Coolin, Adele Cushing 2009

11. Currently supported in Nottingham
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12. “The Blind Men and the Elephant”
These slides are from a presentation by Dr. Gordon
Joyes, University of Nottingham
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13. ePI – ePortfolio Implementation Study
• Led by Gordon Joyes and Angela
Smallwood at the University of Nottingham
• August 2010 – May 2011
• Aim
– to identify a range of large-scale
e-portfolio implementations
– Gather a range of case-studies
– Develop models and guidance for
the wider community (ePI Toolkit)
epip.pbworks.com

14. e-Portfolio
confusion
Is there one definition?
The blind men and
the elephant
(wall relief in
Northeast Thailand)
source Wikipedia
Dr. Gordon Joyes 2012

15. e-Portfolio
confusion
Is there one definition?
It‟s for
The blind men and demonstrating
the elephant employability (CV
etc. )
It‟s for
(wall relief in work
Northeast Thailand) based
learning It‟s for It‟s for personal
improving development planning
source Wikipedia (reflection and goal
feedback
setting)
It‟s for
professional
It‟s for course development/
assessment accreditation
Dr. Gordon Joyes 2012

16. Ask the questions
What do you want to use e-Portfolio for?
What is it solving?
What learning activity can I design?
Focus initially on one part of the elephant “start
where you are at” but maintain an awareness of
the „whole elephant‟ and the bigger picture
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17. Are e-portfolios still relevant?
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18. ePortfolios can help meet HE challenges
• employability
• student experience
• efficiency
• internationalisation
• more flexibility in teaching and learning
• need to provide an overarching place to capture
develop and showcase transferable skills
• continuing engagement with alumni and to
provide a lifelong learning service.
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19. The JISC ePortfolio Infokit states:
“Definitions of an e-portfolio tend to
include the concepts of learners drawing
from both informal and formal learning
activities to create their e-portfolios, which
are personally managed and owned by
the learner, and where items can be
selectively shared with other parties such
as peers, teachers, assessors and
employers.
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20. E-portfolio processes
• Reflective practice
• Demonstrating understanding through
synthesis and narrative; engagement with the
learning process, not just the product
• Preparation and selection of evidence
• Planning and goal setting
• Holistic - cutting across subject/modules
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21. Learning Community
Employers
Academics
Tutors
Peers
Careers
Societies
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22. Interlude…
Interlude...
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Happisburgh 2012 Kirstie Coolin

23. Questions?
• How are you using e-portfolios in your
institutions?
• Where has the initiative come from? E.g.
Careers, Teaching and Learning..
• How do you think e-portfolios fit within the wider
e-learning tools?
• How mainstream is e-portfolio use and learning
in your institution?
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24. A. Reflection
A model of e-portfolio-based learning, adapted from Kolb (1984)
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25. English – Contemporary Performance
Module
“What is emphasised here is the idea of the
portfolio as a learning tool which enables you
both to capture and store evidence from each of
the practitioner sessions and to reflect on that
evidence.. remember that you can put each
critical reflection alongside the evidence (notes,
images, etc) which can be cross-referenced to
your reflection. In such a case you might want to
create a rich individual page for each individual
reflection.”
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29. B. Employability: work-based learning,
placements
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30. Example 1: Placement learning in
Nottingham School of Biosciences
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31. Student-centred e-Portfolio: Placement lifecycle information and
activity in one place
Placement journey
During
Before Recording skills/
relation of placement to After
Researching employers
course, journal, Reflection, showcase,
and sectors,
feedback resume, career
application, letters,
(staff/employers), information
support
communication, support
and encouragement
Careers/employability learning embedded throughout the lifecycle
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32. Support and information pages
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34. Student placement page. She has also created a page about the social side of student
life with other interns in the company.
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35. Placement page – about – used to communication with learning community about
placement and research
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36. During placement – weekly reports shared with supervisor, placements coordinator and
in some cases, employer
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37. Threaded feedback on student ‘placement ‘page’
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38. Removing barriers
Relationships – employer/HEI/student
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39. Challenge space
“The relationship between universities and
Relationship
colleges, students and employers is crucial to
ensuring that students experience the higher
education they want while studying and leave
their course equipped to embark on a rewarding
career”(HE White Paper, Students at the Heart of
the System, BIS, 2011, p45).
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40. What are professional skills?
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University of Kent www.kent.ac.uk/careers

41. Using ePortfolio processes for:-
• Personal Development Planning (PDP) alongside
practical employability concerns for students.
• „Marketing‟ for students to match their skills to
employer interest
• Communication and networking for career
learning
• Differentiation in the job market
Self-motivation
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42. “We come to University and
“(ePortfolios) a tool for
assume that employability marketing to differentiate
is getting the degree but ourselves to employers”
are starting to learn that it‟s (Construction students at Derby
College)
the degree plus other stuff”
(student participant in
“Students would be
SHED project workshop)
motivated to use their e-
Portfolio if they could
have it when they leave
to help them find a job”
(Student, Nottingham)
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43. C. Personal/Professional Development
Planning (PDP)
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44. Collecting PDP and CPD
• <pharmacy examples>
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45. C. Skills Development for Researchers
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VITAE‟s Researcher Development Framework

46. Example 2: Doctoral Training Programme (BBSRC)
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47. Analysing Research competences
• “The Researcher Development Framework
(RDF) is a major new approach to researcher
development, to enhance our capacity to build
the UK workforce, develop world-class
researchers and build our research base.”
(Vitae 2010)”
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48. Using e-Portfolio to:
• Integrate core researcher skill development into
the self-directed/professional development aims
of the programme – Analysis and action planning
• Placement journal
• Student-centred supervisor groups
• Plus - technical developments to pull in relevant
University training courses linked to RDF
competences for dynamic presentation into
student portfolios according to their self-
assessed skills gaps.
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49. Example of student DTP page. We are seeking feedback from students on their
suggestions for analysing and reflecting on their skills needs
• <screen shots – student page, supervisor group
etc.>
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50. E. Community Learning
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http://info.p2pu.org/about/how-we-learn/

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52. #edcmooc e-portfolio supporting a distributive and rhizomic learning process
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53. I‟d like to leave you with...
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54. E-portfolio implementation model
– a management focus

55. Other stuff
• E-portfolios for MOOCs
• E-Portfolios to display open badges
• Skills matching repositories for employers
• Learning Journals and Logs - by Jennifer Moon
(PDF)
• Critical Reflections in ePortfolio - an aggregation
from Lee Ballantyne (web)
• Lots of good ePortfolio folks to follow – Helen
Barrett, Simon Grant, Alison Miller...
• EPIC 2013 8/9/10 July, London – e-Portfolio and
Identity International Conference
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56. Thank you
Kirstie.Coolin @ nottingham.ac.uk
@kirstie_c
University of Nottingham
www.nottingham.ac.uk/ciepd