Rowena Yeats r'yeats1aston'ac'uk 0121 204 5226

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RSC East and West MidlandsEportfolio Piloteers
Event Work-based Learning and ePortfolios a
practitioners perspective

• Rowena Yeats r.yeats1_at_aston.ac.uk 0121 204
  5226

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A range of our WBL use ePortfolios

• Pharmacy
• Audiology
• Engineering
• Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice
  (PGCPP)
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
  Languages (TESOL)

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• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

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Two themes arose

• Practical
• Logistical aspects of being a teacher and running
  a module
• Pedagogy
• Benefits to the learning experience of the
  student either explicit or implicit

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Strengths

• Pedagogy
• Private space to develop personal reflections
• Sharing function
• Webfolios facilitate flexible integration of
  different pieces of work
• Flexible platform
• Use with lecturers has helped the integration
  into the learning culture as they use it in their
  modules
• Additional work was submitted

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Strengths

• Practical
• External examiner access
• Online help tutorials
• Ease of use, facilities and layout
• Particularly suitable for part time distant
  learners
• Submission of coursework to a designated gateway
• Archiving of coursework within gateway
• Real time formative feedback
• Summative feedback can be released all together
  on completion
• No restrictions in the number of users

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Weaknesses

• Practical
• Printing is not always consistent with screen
  view
• Limited number of generic profiles
• Students require additional training and support

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Opportunities

• Practical
• Complements the VLE
• Pedagogy
• Encourages student/staff engagement with CPD/PDP
• Sharing best practice events
• Experimentation
• Staff can obtain feedback during the course of a
  module

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Threats

• Practical
• Access to workshops and training for staff and
  students
• Problems submitting to gateway
• Pedagogy
• When used as a bolt-on tool
• Lack of appropriate assessment methods
• Not suitable for all disciplines

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What we have learnt from Practitioners

• Practitioners have had to think carefully about
  how they use ePortfolios
• Need to encourage greater uptake and
  involvement by more staff e.g. through
  dissemination of pilots
• If used, ePortfolios should be embedded into
  modules
• Lifelong learning tool

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Will practitioners use e-Portfolios again?