Jumping from a great height into a Mandatory ePortfolio:A top down approach.Debbie Holmes - Lecturer in

Midwifery

Becci Salt - Student Midwife

Thoughts at the retreat May 2006

• Posted by: Debra Holmes on 16 May 2006 17:08 The idea for students to submit a portfolio on pebble pad, is very feasible. I think we should write it into the new curriculum with a mandatory instruction for all students to submit an ePortfolio.

• Posted by: Ann Cysewski on 23 May 2006 16:16

Would you see this all coming together in a web-folio?

Subject: Re: My feelings       Posted by: *********on 21 February 2007 19:45 Well i can see the potential with pebblepad for building your portfolio and keeping track of experiences, just not sure my skills are quite up to using it yet! I have had a play and have after much trial and error managed to set up a blog for our poster presentation group to share. It took several attempts but I got there in the end! I'm not a natural diary keeper so I will have to work hard to try to make it a habit to visit pebblepad most days and put something down.Reply | Remove

Subject: Re: Re: My feelings       Posted by: ******** on 21 February 2007 16:05 Hi I have had a play around with pebble pad but like the others it is very alien and feel the need for more help with it. I can see that it has great potential, and will be very useful to our work, so I will be very glad of any support. I started a diary but when I went to view at a later date and it had disappeared, so I don't feel too confident with it.

September 2007 – Thoughts on ePortfolio now

• 15 responses

• 5 very positive

• 4 mixed

• 5 very negative

Positive

• “A really useful tool to log thoughts and random bits of information that I would otherwise lose, however I get frustrated by the lack of editing facility”

• “It provides a really easy means of communication with the rest of the cohort”

• “Takes a while to get to grips with it, it’s not something you can really be taught, you just have to play”

Positive

• “Like submitting assignments via the gateway”

• “Good for keeping e-portfolio, easy to share thought with others”

• “Good that it can be accessed at home”

• “You do not need an IT degree to use it”

• “ Like the use of ‘Blogs’”

Negative

• “Editing facilities poor”

• “Extra work”

• “Like to see my work in front of me”

• “Slow, freezes, does not work on hospital computer, just get ‘bubbles’ and won’t go any further”

• “Prefer word”

Negative

• “Too stressful”

• “Feel e-portfolio has been forced on us”

• “I would prefer to present a paper portfolio”

• “Need time”

• It’s probably better than I think it is; I just haven’t taken the time to explore it properly”

End of year evaluation

• 78% of students found it easy to use

• 78% found the support good

• All students produced an ePortfolio & submitted it electronically

• Electronical engagement with clinical mentors was poor

Student choice

• Not all able to access freely from home

• Clinical placement access problematic

• Some students preferred to work in familiar programmes e.g. WORD

Mentor issues

• Placement providers internet capabilities

• Reluctance to engage with technology

• Should mentors be expected to use personal home computers & email to support students outside of working hours?

Mentor issues affecting students

• My mentor is not comfortable with email”

• “Not all mentors happy to use email”

• “Mentor unable to use computer”

• “My mentor has no internet access”

• “My mentor is too busy to access the computer”