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

Subject: Re: My feelings Posted by: *********on 21 February :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 :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 & to support students outside of working hours?

Mentor issues affecting students My mentor is not comfortable with ” “Not all mentors happy to use ” “Mentor unable to use computer” “My mentor has no internet access” “My mentor is too busy to access the computer”