Pharmacy,  University of Nottingham, UK and Malaysia

e-Portfolio context:  Pharmacy undergraduates at the University of Nottingham in the UK and Malaysia maintain an e-portfolio as a  professional accreditation requirement. 160 Nottingham and up to 80 Malaysia students are involved together with 40 tutors (Nottingham campuses) and 10 tutors (Malaysian campus) tutors. 

Dates of provision: Since September 2012 replacing a paper based portfolio.

Reason for implementation:  There is a drive by pharmacists for professionalism in the sector and maintaining an e-portfolio is a professional requirement for all qualified pharmacists and this is also a requirement at undergraduate level.  Accreditation has been reinforced this 2013.

Purpose/s: To demonstrate continuing professional development (CPD). Employability skills, supporting placements, personal development planning, building a CV.

Learning processes involved: Information handling, presentation, reflection, feedback 

Practice: A zero credit module is completed in year one and self completion is then continued throughout the 4 year course. There are around around 40 tutors for the whole Nottingham cohort. Students are organised into 40 tutor groups of 4 – 6 students and assigned a tutor and a group in Mahara. Students complete 6 CPD records and 6 reflective accounts per year and a Personal Development Plan (PDP).  They create the pages in Word and then upload them to their tutor group in Mahara so that this can be assessed by their tutor. These are compulsory activities and they are given 2 submission deadlines per year but can submit at any time up to this date. A video has been made to support students in the process.

The use of Mahara for CPD submission and review was not continued. Whilst it is desirable to have an electronic store for CPD records, Moodle is better suited for the required assessment and feedback of tutors. If Mahara can be integrated with Moodle, it can be envisaged that Mahara will provide an electronic CPD store in the future. 

Key staff involved: Sebastiaan Winkler and Stephanie Bridges