Eportfolios as Reflective Assessment of Social Justice

Abstract

This article explores the potential for eportfolios to contribute to the development of student critical awareness of social justice, including the role of the university as a social justice actor, through module assessment. It will critically address how eportfolios were introduced in 2019-20 to assess student reflection on social justice in a first year law module ‘Critical Approaches to Law’ at DCU. To date, there has been a slow adoption of eportfolios in Irish higher education (Farrell 2018). Although there is some evidence of reflective assessment in comparative legal education, especially in schools with an emphasis on socio-legal approaches to law, and in clinical legal education, there is limited analysis of eportfolio assessment in classroom-based or blended legal education, (Waye and Faulkner 2012) and none in the Irish context.
 
 The article will discuss the motivation to use eportfolios; the benefits, challenges and lessons learned in the design of the assessment, and the first time experience for the educator of marking and student experience of eportfolios. It assesses eportfolios as a mechanism for prompting student reflection and the development of critical thinking, (Farrell 2019) with a particular reflective focus on social justice and university education as a social justice experience. (Connell 2019). It queries the extent to which eportfolios enable students to incorporate prior learning experiences to their reflection, (Chen and Black 2010) and for students self-determine the parameters of their personal interaction with social justice questions raised by the experience in the module and their lived experience. (Brooman and Stirk 2020)

Eportfolio in Ireland: A landscape snapshot of current practice

“…The research suggests that eportfolio assessment enables students to integrate their learning and make connections between modules in an authentic way (Buente et al 2015;Eynon & Gambino 2017;Morreale et al 2017). Studies indicate that eportfolio can support the development of critical thinking, self-regulation and reflective practice in students (Farrell & Seery, 2019;McManus, 2021;Gallen, 2021;Ziegelbauer & D'Errico, 2021). A recognition of the improved evidence base for eportfolio practice was the inclusion by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) of eportfolio as a high impact practice which "denote institutionally-structured student experiences inside or outside of the classroom that are associated with elevated performance across multiple engagement activities and desired outcomes" (Watson et al 2016, p. 65).…”

Editorial: Good bye exams, hello eportfolio

“…He shared how they contributed to the development of student critical awareness of social justice and supported links between course content and social justice issues. Gallen highlights the 'joy' of reviewing students' personal reflections with the creative inclusion of multimedia (Gallen, 2021). Reflection is also a key theme in the article by Ruth McManus, also from Dublin City University.…”