e-Portfolio to support reflection in a human biology course Exemplar 1

Institution: Massey University, College of Science, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health

e-Portfolio context: The first year course on normal body function is a foundation for health professional degrees. This is a distance course.

Dates of provision:  2008 to 2011.

Reason for implementation: support student reflection on assignments and provide tools for building on feedback.

Purpose: Reflective learning

Learning processes involved: Reflection.

Practice: fully developed

Key staff involved: Dr Isabelle Lys and Jim Clarke (Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health), John Milne (Centre for Teaching and Learning)

Overview of e-portfolio use:

Students get online and paper instructions on how to use e-portfolios. The e-portfolio activity was assessed and counted for 5% of the final mark. The focus was for students to reflect on their assignment feedback. The students described the feedback, identified what they learnt from it, outline a goal and list the steps needed to achieve the goal. Students used the e-portfolio Mahara, http://mahara.org, accessed via the MyPortfolio portal, http://myportfolio.ac.nz/).

The lecturers want to introduce students to an e-portfolio with the aim that some students would make use of it beyond the course and apply the ideas in this activity to other parts of their learning. Feedback from the students shows that many students judged the reflection activity as beneficial to their learning. A considerable number of students have been exposed to a reflective approach and to the e-portfolio system.

This example of e-portfolio use is a starting point that provided experience and built confidence required by course academics and developers to further intervene in courses so as to create more impact. The next step would be to involve all lecturers of the course and develop an integrated approach where students use the e-portfolio across a programme. This will give students the opportunity to develop their e-portfolio over time and reinforce the value of the approach.

Link to example Integrating ePortfolios guiding questions and experiences (Milne J., Heinrich, E. and Hoong, I., 2008)  Paper Describing the use of ePortfolios in a Human Biology distance course