CA 2.3 – E-Portfolio Case Studies Report

For the purposes of this report I have chosen to review the JISC case study conducted at the University of Wolverhampton ‘Learning Through Reflection’ as my wife is a community nurse and has an interest in using e-portfolios. This case study follows nursing and midwifery students who started to use PeeblePad e-portfolio to ‘support their learning on professional and vocational courses’ (JISC, 2008, p.14).

What were the anticipated outcomes of using an e-portfolio in this case?

A pilot course introduced the use of an e-portfolio system ‘to develop a community of learners and later a community of practice of teachers, practitioners and learners in a group of non-traditional nursing students undertaking a Diploma in Nursing’ (Duncan-Pitt, 2009). It was anticipated that an e-portfolio would provide the channel to collect evidence managed off-site study time activity to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) 'theory hours requirement'. This aligns with the findings identified in the core activity 2.1 work where one of the key drivers in the JISC paper is ‘supporting reflective practice (evidenced as being important from a learner or practitioner perspective)’ (Frauke et al., 2010).

What were the limitations to its implementation?

Prior to this pilot course the University had not adopted the use of e-portfolio but had planned to do so across the entire institution. The main limitation to its use was the lack of experience in adopting a technology based portfolio system for gathering evidence based practice; this is highlighted in the potential risk category as ‘the lack of staff and learner skills to make effective use of e-portfolios’ (Beetham, 2003, p.21). To make best use of this service the University developed and gave access through their VLE to sample webfolios to give students example e-portfolios to work from; these included suggested points to include hyperlinks to evidence. In the early stages tutors experience of using e-portfolio and collaborative tools was limited. Staff attended a 2 hr training session and were supported via a mentoring scheme. Students had 4 sessions programmed into the first 4 weeks of the course. Skills required were basic: work with e-portfolio templates, upload documents and create hyperlinks.

How is the e-portfolio in this case supposed to help the user to identify and manage their learning?

When students were on clinical placements the e-portfolio managed to create a community of learners away from the confines of the university. This enabled learners to manage off-site learning activities held in the module guide located on the VLE via Internet. Evidence gained at various distributed locations was centrally uploaded to an individual’s e-portfolio and shared with university lecturers and fellow students. Duncan-Pitt (2009) identified that students were highly positive about the use of the e-portfolio to share experiences and gain feedback; sharing ideas and being engaged with group problem solving away from the university. In summary the learners created a community of learning when dispersed; sharing views, keeping in touch with each other, getting support and help from peers and staff.

The question that remains is where does this potential evidence fit into the framework for personal and professional development on H808?

References:

Beetham, H. (2003) ‘E-portfolios in post-16 learning in the UK: developments, issues and opportunities’ (online), JISC. Available from:http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/e-portfolio_ped.doc (accessed 25 Sep 2010).

Constable, F. et al (2010) H808 Wiki Core Activity 2.1 - Group 1 ‘Key Drivers’, 24 September, 21:56, http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/ouwiki/view.php?id=423119&page=Group+1 (accessed 26 Sep 10)

Duncan-Pitt, L. (2009) Tangible Benefits of E-learning – University of Wolverhampton, available online http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/wolverhampton/index_html (accessed 26 Sep 2010)

JISC (2008) Effective Practice with e-Portfolios: Supporting 21st Century Learning, JISC. Available online: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/effectivepracticeeportfolios.pdf (accessed 25 May 2010).

CA 2.4 - Smoke and Mirrors vs Reflection and Learning

I guess for those that regularly keep a written diary or blog the art of reflective writing may appear easy but for me it is something that I do as part of my studies. The first time I had to write a reflective summary for each piece of evidence for my NVQ level 4 in Management portfolio it felt alien and false. Despite the support framework suggested by Moon (2001) to give a starting exercise that eliminates the blank page my initial experience meant I was following and answering a set of questions just to meet the assessment criteria. Although this enabled me to reflect on my experiences this pre-scripted approach stifled my true understanding and limited the identification of areas that could be improved upon and actions to be taken should I choose to complete a similar task.

Moon (2001, p.3) asserts that ‘Kolb considered reflection as a mental activity that has a role in learning from experience’. Although I have only been an occasional blogger over the last year my motivation to start making blog posts was just to provide evidence to meet OU assessment requirements. It taken me some time to realize that I should be writing blog posts just for me; in my H807 Blog I expressed a concern that no one was commenting on my efforts so what was the point in bearing my soul in a public space. Perhaps I should be writing in a less formal, more personalised manner (Crème, 2005) to improve my skills whilst using the posts in H808 as a means to attain an academic grade? Knowing that this entry might form part of my final assessment inevitably affects the style and tone and, as questioned in Phyllis Crème’s core reading text, when she makes the comparison with formal assessment. Perhaps working towards a formal test may cause a student to take a more careful approach to ‘getting it right’!

As for blogs, they can be seen as a collaborative means to share personal reflective thoughts with many people globally dispersed or within a limited audience (ie OU blog community). This is a valuable communication channel to self publish own thoughts and experiences on the web and receive feedback from others. In their work on characterising the different blogging behaviours in an online distance course Kerawalla et al. (2008, p.31) identify that ‘many of the students enjoyed blogging and found it to be beneficial from both educational and social perspectives’.

Despite the positive elements blogs offer tutors may like to consider why some learners do not engage with this technology. Moon (2005, p.2) might suggest that ‘reflection is a fundamental feature if deeper approach to learner’ but this is challenged by how uncomfortable a learner might feel. Crème (2005. P.4) explains that ‘this new form of writing that was designed to get them to be ‘open’ and to ‘take risks’, and a good number were quite intimated by the whole process’. Blogs used for learning and teaching rely on a self revealing form of reflection which some students may not be comfortable displaying in the public domain. Despite making reasonable attempts to blog, my own experience tends to agree with this statement and is also supported with Kerawalla et al (2008, p.31) findings about how problematic some students found blogging, ‘they were concerned about revealing their personally perceived academic inadequacies to others’.

References:

Crème, P. (2005) ‘Should student learning journals be assessed?’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 287–96. Available from: http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602930500063850 (accessed 25 Sep 2010).

Kerawalla, L., Minocha, S., Kirkup, G. and Conole, G. (2008) ‘Characterising the different blogging behaviours of students on an online distance learning course’, Learning, Media and Technology, vol.33, no.1, pp.21–33; also available online at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ login?url=http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/ 17439880701868838 (accessed 27 Sep 2010).

Moon, J. (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ (online), The Higher Education Academy. Available from:http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf(accessed 25 Sep 2010).

Moon, J. (2005) ‘Guide for busy academics no. 4: learning through reflection’ (online), The Higher Education Academy. Available from:http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id69_guide_for_busy_academics_no4.doc(accessed 25 Sep 2010).

CA 2.2 – Reflection on E-portfolio Drivers Activity

I initialing thought this activity would be fairly straight forward, read some papers, tease out the key drivers and then discuss in the forum before populating a table in the course wiki. How wrong was I? Although I had reserved more than 15 hours to study this past week I had too many other distracting events which reduced my study time and hence did not engage until late. I was really impressed with Frauke’s proactive approach to get this collaborative activity under way by helping to organise and provide a focus to both groups.

Some frustration crept in when I printed all ten papers and released how much reading had to be done. Being dyslexic I struggle to maintain concentration whilst reading and find myself having to re-read many sections to extract the main drivers and issues with the use of e-portfolios. Whilst reading the text I found it hard to distinguish between a driver and an advantage. I had to remind myself that a driver should reflect a reason for the introduction of an e-portfolio whereas I sometimes found myself looking at the benefits after they had been introduced.

The core reading papers were lengthy documents and as a result much of my time was taken up delving into these than contributing to the forum or wiki. By the time I had constructed my own thoughts and comments others had already made a contribution and my efforts would not have added any value. Should I have made some comments in the forums to show some activity or sit back and watch others do a better job? I did not want to de-value their efforts and opted to make a small and probably insignificant contribution.

For our first collaborative activity in H808 perhaps the OU might have chosen a smaller range of information to discuss and work on within a group. This might have enabled greater inclusion and dialogue between students rather than the polite acceptance that most of us have made a contribution. Although I made the suggestion a little late in a forum post, perhaps I would have been more comfortable working in a pair on a specific set of papers rather than trying to scan all the papers. That said it is commendable that some members in our group have made a significant effort to complete this activity; thank you very much for taking this activity to its conclusion, I take my hat off to you all.

In an attempt to map my efforts of this activity to the framework for personal and professional development in the course handbook, I can identify that I have been mildly pro-active in the communication-related competencies due to my limited contributions to the group forum and, to a much lesser extent, in the research-related competency. Here I identify that I will need to up my study routine by making more time to be pro-active and improve my efforts to contribute in collaborative activities. In a strange way I guess this reflection is a positive step towards improving my personal and professional development profile.

CA1.1 follow up – So what does it mean to be labelled an E-learning Professional?

Until completing this activity I have never really considered what being an e-learning professional is all about, my initial thoughts lean towards someone who has completed a formal training programme which is accredited with an institution perhaps very similar to my registration with the Engineering Council for being an Incorporate Engineer. I had to have a recognised academic qualification, pass specific entry criteria and be interviewed by an Institution to valid my registration. Is this the right route to take for e-learning?

In the context of my day job I work for the Defence Centre of Training Support (DCTS) and am viewed as a technology based training (TBT) professional solely based on the post I hold and work I do within this position. So perhaps it all depends who is calling you an e-learning professional?

On reflection probably favour Robin Goodfellow’s view about the big P little p notion as I do collaborate with other training managers about my own experience and what works best for different training solution as well as being able to do my job to the best of my ability. This compliments Robin Mason’s comments on e-learning professional = research and practice.

So if you are labelled an e-learning professional is it a profession in its own right? Some people who only work in developing e-learning content may have a case to say yes. Looking back into my work environment it is only one element of my job, my primary role is a Training Manager with additional skill sets as an educator, a training consultant and general duties of a Naval officer.

Hopefully completing the MAODE programme will add weight to being an e-learning (or Technology Enhanced Learning) professional but i think the professional part does not stop there; being an e-learning professional means researching, innovating, implementing and sharing best practice which I believe will be continual cycle. It is more than just a label it is all about what you do and how you share it with others!

CA1.1 – Initial Thoughts on E-learning Professional

As I listened to the audio file in this first activity of week 1 on H808 I made a few notes and offer a few questions about my thoughts to each speaker:

Robin Mason: e-learning professional = research and practice. Has e-learning has matured as a sideline of distance education or is it now fully incorporated into HE residential learning?

Gill Kirkup: suggests students are looking for authority to practice in e-learning, professional = ethical standards and professional values. Does membership of a community of learners through qualifications such as MAODE offer the right academic qualification?

Robin Goodfellow: educational technology elearning is primarily about teaching! Professional little p is about doing and knowing ones job well, big P is about joining in with a community of practice to further explore and contribute to others learning. Is being an e-learning (Technology Enhanced Learning) professional just one part of the overall job of being an educator or training designer?

Chris Jones: Am I an e-learning professional? Roles of e-learning have evolved over last 15 years. Has the context radically changed? Is there a big gap been amateur enthusiast and e-learning professional? Should I be advertising my job as an e-learning professional?

Please feel free to comment and assist me building my understanding of this activity.