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

Overview of what is covered
What do you want to get out of this session?
What are the different types of ePortfolio
Examples
Definitions – reflection, reflective learning, etc.
Critical thinking overview
Designing tasks for a portfolio
Barrett’s Five-stage model
Where to from here?

Why use ePortfolios?
• Increases engagement – “the engaged learner,
one who records and interprets and evaluates his
or her own learning, is the best learner” (Yancey
2001b, p. 83).
• Provides constructivist learning and active
learning, develops metacognition and deeper
learning (Dibiase, 2002).
• Develops digital information literacy skills
(Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005).
• Prepares student for professional practice

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markusallenweb/3427003419/

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

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/

Definition of reflection
Reflection is deliberate and mindful thinking about one’s
experiences and the self-evaluation of feelings, decisions,
understandings and actions, which may lead to development of
professional learning for professional practice (based on: Boud &
Walker, 1990; Boud et al., 1985; Rodgers, 2002b; Tremmel,
1993). (Hegarty, 2011.)

Reflective learning
Used as a process for understanding new material while also
making connections to existing knowledge (Boud, Keogh &
Walker, 1985; Moon, 2004).
Reflective questions to stimulate inquiry about learning.
•What did I learn?
•How did I learn?
•Why did I learn?
•What will I do with my learning?
•What are my goals and actions for learning?

Core Critical Thinking Skills
To use CT as a tool of inquiry, the following skills are needed:
•Interpretation
•Analysis
•Inference
•Evaluation
•Explanation
•Self-regulation
(Facione, 2011)

Facione, P.A. (2011)

Definitions
Professional learning: Learning which has relevance to
professional practice and occurs when new knowledge and
understanding, skills and insights are gained and may lead to the
achievement of professional goals
Reflective Practice: A process associated with professional
learning, which includes effective reflection and the
development of metacognition, and leads to decisions for
action, learning, achievement of goals and changes to
immediate and future practice.
(Hegarty, 2011.)

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.

Designing new tasks for a portfolio
• What will they look like?
Reflection Documentation/ Collaboration/
Evidence Mentoring
5. What kinds of reflective questions would you ask students to
address?
6. What kinds of evidence would be most useful?
7. How would you engage students in collaboration and
mentoring in the process?

Designing ePortfolio assessments
• What type of assessments are you already
using which could transfer to an ePortfolio?
• How would you develop assessment criteria?
• How would you support the student?

Thinking about Showcase
(Professional) ePortfolio
• How would you scaffold students into this?
• What are the professional issues in relation to
APC?
• What is the thinking at a professional level
about portfolio, competency demonstration
and moving into an electronic (online)
environment?

Barrett’s Five-stage model
1. Define portfolio context and goals;
2. Working portfolio - content and evidence,
standards to be demonstrated;
3. Reflective portfolio - record of self-reflection,
goal-setting;
4. Connected portfolio - organization of digital
content using hypertext links;
5. Presentation portfolio - storage and
presentation medium e.g. server, CDRom
(Barrett, 2000).

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

Portfolio platforms
Google sites template for building eportfolios:
https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/sample-student-eportfolio/Home
https://sites.google.com/site/bronlearningportfolio/
Mahara - http://mahara.org/about/eportfolios
Mahara Otago Polytechnic - https://mahara.op.ac.nz/
Pebblepad - http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/
Blogger – http://www.blogger.com
Wiki – http://www.wikispaces.com
Moodle

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.

Where to from here?
Teachers who keep a professional portfolio of their learning and
practice experiences have an advantage. They are better placed
to support students with their portfolios.
Teachers who develop skills in creating an electronic portfolio
can guide students more confidently.

Examples and references we used can be found in the Flexible
Learning Guidebook References section located at:
http://tinyurl.com/74x5p67
Authentic assessment Toolbox –
http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm

Resources
• Sarah Stewart’s ePortfolio “musings”:
http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/ePortfo
• Eportfolio Community of Practice:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!f
• More ePortfolio examples:
http://www.scoop.it/t/eportfolios-examples

References
• Barrett, H. (2000). Electronic Teaching Portfolios: Multimedia Skills + Portfolio Development = Powerful
Professional Development. In D. Willis, J. Price & J. Willis (Eds), Proceedings of Society for Information
Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2000 (pp. 1111-1116). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/15787
• Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Promoting reflection in learning: a model. In D. Boud, R. Keogh,
& D. Walker (Eds.), Reflection: turning experience into learning (pp. 18-40). London: Kogan Page.
• DiBiase, D. et al. (2002) . Using e-Portfolios at Penn State to Enhance Student Learning Status, Prospects,
and Strategies. Penn State University. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/files/e-port_report.pdf
• Facione, P.A. (2011). Critical thinking: What is it and why it counts. California:Insight Assessment – a
Division of California Press. Retrieved from http://www.insightassessment.com/
• Hegarty, B. (2011). A Framework to Guide Professional Learning and Reflective Practice. Doctoral thesis.
NSW: University of Wollongong.
• Lorenzo, G. & Ittelson, J. (2005). An overview of e-Portfolios. ELI Paper 1, Educause. Retrieved from
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf
• Moon, J. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: theory and practice. New York:
RoutledgeFalmer.
• Yancey, Kathleen Blake (2001) General Patterns and the Future. In Barbara Cambridge and others (Eds),
Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices in Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Washington, DC:
American Association of Higher Education, 83-87.
• Zubizarreta, J. (2005). The learning portfolio: Reflective practice for improving student learning. South
Carolina, USA: Columbia College.