Starting to think about
ePortfolios
Prepared for School of Nursing
Bronwyn Hegarty and Sarah Stewart 2012

Summary of what was covered in
last session
1. Round of discussion and brainstorm about:
•existing experience with portfolios
•how to use electronic portfolios
•what you want to know more about
2. Overview of difference between learning, assessment and
professional (presentation) portfolios.
3. Design of activities for learning portfolios and assessment
portfolios (template).
4. Examples of ePortfolios
5. Where to from here.

Goals for the School – summary
from last time
1. Further session on 16 July – recap and planning.
2. Discussion about ePortfolios – where to use, e.g., across the
three years.
For example – curriculum re-jig may be required.
• Learning portfolio – year 1.
• Assessment portfolio – year 2.
• Professional (presentation) portfolio – year 3.
8. Group to look at ePortfolio platforms.
9. Setting up your professional portfolio – regular workshops.

Student portfolios
Types of portfolios
• Learning - evidence of learning, personal growth, planning and
monitoring learning
• Assessment – collection of work which is assessed
• Showcase (Professional) - competencies for practice and APC,
and presentation to employers

The Learning Portfolio – what is it?
• A record of the learning process - reflections, goals
• A personalised learning space which the student controls
• An evidence repository – achievements, learning
• A medium for encouraging:
– Engagement and deeper learning – active, experiential
– Critical thinking and reflective learning
– Metacognition – awareness of knowledge and
experiences, goals, actions, monitoring or self-regulation
(Flavell, 1998)
– Formative feedback
– Development of community of practice

Source: Zubizarreta, J. (2004)

Benefits for learning
A learning portfolio can encourage deep learning through
reflection, reflective learning and critical thinking, and provide
evidence of professional learning and reflective practice.
Example: http://sarahstewart-eportfolio.wikispaces.com/

Assessment ePortfolio
• Present specific pieces of work for assessment, maybe at the
end of a course , year or program.
• What do you want to assess – the process of learning or
outcomes of learning?
• Need to think about how you will assess ie marking rubric

Benefits of an Assessment
ePortfolio
• Easily stored, accessible and edited
• Facilitates different modes of technology and assessment
• Facilitates group work
• Increases student motivation
Example:
http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/scholars/doc_fa07/marie.jim

Showcase (Professional)
• Student/professional may pick and choose
what she displays according to the purpose of
the ePortfolio

Benefits
• Facilitates different approach to presentation
• Easily accessible and stored
• Supports use of different media
Example:
http://cml.weebly.com/index.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cheem/index.html
http://www.nzno.org.nz/membership/member_tools/professional_portfolio
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmargaretstewart

What goes in the ePortfolio?
• Collection of artefacts (evidence)
• Reflections
• Assignments
• Cases
• Articles – annotations
• Goals for learning
• Achievements in subjects

Examples
• http://midwifepam.wikispaces.com/
• http://juliemcelhatton.efolioworld.com/clinicalexpertise
• http://christinajoy-nursingschool.blogspot.co.nz/
• http://anne-mariepaulin.blogspot.co.nz/

More Examples
http://www.epsilen.com/MyPortal/Public/Home.aspx?prefix
Virginia Tech gallery :
http://eportfolio.vt.edu/gallery.html
https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/group/97b91a99-725
(Work Showcase link)
http://sites.helenbarrett.net/portfolio/

Designing activities for an
ePortfolio
• What type of activities are you already using which could
transfer to an ePortfolio?
• What are you expecting students’ to demonstrate?
• Categorise the learning you would like them to engage in -
mastery, engagement, deeper learning, experiential learning,
critical thinking, reflective learning, metacognition,
achievement etc.

Factors to consider
• Purpose
• Audience – feedback, community of practice
• Content – evidence, reflection
• Location – open web (blog and wiki), Google Sites, platform
(Mahara, Pebblepad.
• Formats – text, images, video, audio
• Security and professionalism
• Portability
• Digital literacy – students and teachers

Summary
Ideally, portfolios are student-centred, student-owned and
located on accessible platforms that the students can continue
to use long after their course of study is completed.

Summary of what was covered in
last session
1. Round of discussion and brainstorm about:
•existing experience with portfolios
•how to use electronic portfolios
•what you want to know more about
2. Overview of difference between learning, assessment and
professional (presentation) portfolios.
3. Design of activities for learning portfolios and assessment
portfolios (template).
4. Examples of ePortfolios
5. Where to from here.

Goals for the School – summary
from last time
1. Further session on 16 July – recap and planning.
2. Discussion about ePortfolios – where to use, e.g., across the
three years.
For example – curriculum re-jig may be required.
• Learning portfolio – year 1.
• Assessment portfolio – year 2.
• Professional (presentation) portfolio – year 3.
8. Group to look at ePortfolio platforms.
9. Setting up own professional portfolio – regular workshops.

Where to from here?
1. What is your thinking about using ePortfolios in the nursing
programme:
•purely as a repository of evidence?
•through the whole programme or just for specific courses?
•for assessment - how and where?
2. Do you want students to graduate with a professional
ePortfolio?
3. What is your thinking about having a professional ePortfolio?
•Who is interested in regular workshops to develop one?