Using ePortfolios as a reflective teaching tool - Case study Video Lecture | Teach Online: A Comprehensive Approach for Teaching Online - Professional Skills

an e-portfolio is an online space where
students can catalog evidence of their
learning
Julie Hughes from the University of
Wolverhampton uses e-portfolios as a way
to encourage more reflective learning in
her postgraduate education students this
case study examines the benefits of
using blogs together with the portfolios
to improve students communication and
collaboration skills and to help prepare
them for professional practice the
students were from a PGCE group of 100
students who are undertaking a
postgraduate teaching qualification for
the lifelong learning sector in the UK
you're particularly looking at the way
in which students have used a portfolios
and blogs for the development of
critical reflective practice and
collaborative learning the blog is the
space where you are encouraging
conversation the e-portfolio is the
space where you are presenting yourself
for assessment the method of teaching
these courses for years has been that
the student creates a file of of written
information and and and resources
students would write paper journals
which they would exchange with each
other and with me and we would write
back to each other and so what I was
really really keen to test out was if
the technology could support that sort
of dialogue writing you're creating that
document online the hope all the way
through the year so that includes the
resources assess lesson plans your
assignments and also reflective blogging
so this is the interface this is
pebblepad the reflective blog is the
spine and so in the first semester they
everything they do they'll put onto that
blog and share with their personal tutor
then in the second semester we introduce
a web folio template to them I created a
template which mirrored exactly the
paper portfolio and then what I said to
my students was now it's yours to
personalize so what you'll see here then
is that the students will copy this
template there's a link here to their
call modules into their subject specific
module and you'll see this this is quite
linear these are the components that
they're required to fulfill but also
importantly
these new teachers are going to export
this portfolio they're going to take it
out with them into the workplace and so
here this is us giving them indication
when they apply for professional
formation and the CPD requirements this
is what they'll be required to do so
what we're trying to do is to map for
them if you like a career trajectory
that's about reflective practice and
engaging in personal professional audit
and reflection
what teachers say is that it allows them
to have an ongoing monitoring
relationship with a student over time
for me the benefit was was actually in
the quality of the interaction I got
from my personal tutor you get
availability particularly from the
mentor you get FaceTime virtual FaceTime
that you couldn't juggle any other way
once you start to get a lecturers
feedback for your reflection you start
to think a bit deeper about it and then
you've got that constant communication
once you've set up the expectations and
the practices the collaborative learning
is phenomenal and the opportunities for
peer learning colleagues staff and
students have said that's been one of
them the main benefits it was really
useful because you you didn't just get
your lecturers point of view on it on
her professional level but you also got
advice and ideas from other students
I could see learning was different was
there was something very tangible
happening here that hadn't been
happening in the paper journals
we looked at where we have
naturally-occurring activities that
asked for reflection and action planning
and we used this there we support the
member of staff to develop the skills
the technical skills and then we support
them to develop the pedagogy and that
happens at the same time so staff aren't
expected to be experts I'm very keen
that if colleagues come into these
spaces they think about the teaching
practices and so that's been my approach
when I've mented staff is to walk
alongside them team teach with them
model the practices and in that way it
shows them a way to be if they want to
that they can then develop their own
style what I tried to do was to create
something that mirrored the paper
portfolio so that it felt the same and
it was important that it felt the same
so that I had an understanding of what
bits went where and so I think when
you've come from a portfolio way of
working colleagues have worked in health
or in social work who were used to
portfolio ways of being the move to
online portfolios has been much much
easier
this is a very very intense 9-month of
course we don't want it to be that the
technology is the cracking point we
wanted to be that the technology is
enhancing and making the experience
better we have sessions built in to the
core modules so they will come around
once every six weeks to an IT suite with
their tutor and they will practice we
were helped to start an account we were
told what this what this pebblepad
functionality was for the reflection
that you could do how you could share
blogs with other people how you can work
with feedback how you can upload music
pictures video clips we also establish
and like very clear about the netiquette
of the space and I talked about this
space as being thinking through your
fingers I've seen staff be overly formal
and completely shut down conversations
and students feel they've been shouted
at or they've been that the theory is
driving the conversation more than the
conversation one of the things we've
also done is to use we call them the
pebble pals and the blog buddies because
they are training to be teachers we can
say to them well if you'd like to be a
sort of peer support a board a then we
can use that towards your teaching hours
we're the only pgc in the country
preparing them for the next stage where
they'll be required to interact with the
technology not in a supportive
environment they'll be on their own as
teachers we've already transferred what
we've done in our blog to a different
site anyway so that we can use that
through our teaching practice because
I've enjoyed and learnt so much from the
reflection and the blog in I think it'd
be a real shame to not continue with it
I think it's critical to to remind a
reflective practitioner in order to
develop as things move on
if the discipline is interested and
engaged in an individual's development
and wants to monitor that and track that
and support that give feedback on that
it portfolio wise have been it's great
way to do it I think if it's used the
right way and people are shown and learn
how to use it properly it's a great
resource to have it's like a little
little bag with everything in it
you