Improving Portfolio Assessment: Addressing Challenges in Transition to Eportfolio

Abstract

Background: As health care education programs adopt electronic portfolios (eportfolios), a midwestern university baccalaureate nursing program faces challenges in transitioning from a 25-year-old paper-based system to eportfolio. Method: Process improvements and faculty development were implemented through collaboration with the information technology (IT) department and the involvement of students as ambassadors. Pre- and posttransition surveys and portfolio benchmarks were used to evaluate the efficacy of the new eportfolio system. Results: Results of faculty and student surveys revealed improved positive experiences regarding the value, clarity, and ease of use of the eportfolio system. Benchmark deficits decreased from six of eight portfolio criteria in Fall 2017 to none in Fall 2019. Conclusion: Buy-in through faculty and student involvement, along with a user-centered design, are essential for a successful eportfolio transition. Student and faculty engagement would be secured when they are well-informed in the transition process. [ J Nurs Educ . 2020;59(12):705–708.]

The Role of High Impact Practices in an Online Graduate Program: Leveraging the Success

“…Many students saw how the ePortfolio process helped them connect with different contents and think critically about how the learning has prepared them for the future, as evidenced in prior empirical studies (Abad-Jorge & Kronenburg, 2020; Anderson et al, 2017;Sabio et al, 2020). Below are some typical responses from students.…”

“…Students will be able to transfer their learned knowledge and skills to other contexts in the future (Campbell & Tran, 2021). Sabio et al (2020) affirmed that ePortfolio offers an analytical and reflective way of obtaining knowledge and helps students build their professional identities. While reflecting on their learning in the program, students think critically and become independent and self-directed learners (Anderson et al, 2017;Campbell & Tran, 2021).…”

The Needs of Active Learning and High-Impact Educational Practices in Online Programs

“…An ePortfolio is a collection of a student's electronic representations of his or her learning and experiences to demonstrate the student's competencies developed at an educational institution (Slade & Downer, 2020;Sabio et al, 2020). Students can upload relevant digital examples of their work to their ePortfolios as evidence of achievements, learning, and skills.…”

“…ePortfolio application is an active learning process in which students collect, evaluate, organize, and synthesize meaningful artifacts that reflect evidence of academic progress and achievement (Abad-Jorge & Kronenburg, 2020;Schmidt-King, 2020). Sabio et al (2020) asserted that ePortfolio offers an analytical, interactive, and reflective way of acquiring knowledge and helps students build their professional identities.…”

“…The ePortfolio platform serves a multitude of purposes, for instance, appraisal, documentation, employability, and evidence of professional competency (Slade & Downer, 2020). Healthcare-related programs such as nursing have adopted ePortfolio as a part of program assessment since the 2000s (Sabio et al, 2020). Collecting the evidence of the learning and reflecting on the learning over time is a vital aspect of the ePortfolio process.…”