E-portfolios in Nursing and Midwifery programs - University of Wolverhampton

At the Univesity of Wolverhampton eportfolios were introduced for the "family-friendly" nursing program. This program is designed for students who have school-aged children and take the program over an extended time period (4 years and 4 months instead of 3 years).



Reasons for adopting the eportfolio included:

• the need to be able to evidence off-site study time


• encouraging online communities of practice


• students could create personal learning spaces

As in the previous case study, the eportfolio system was created in-house (PebblePad which has since become a commercial company) and designed to meet the learners need. The eportfolio seems to be particularly appropriate in healthcare settings where it allows for reflective practice and the sharing of ideas with other practitioners.

Once again training and support for both faculty and students play a key role in the successful adoption of the technology. Sample portfolios were provided to students and they were helped in a step by step manner to learn how to use the software.

There was concern about students IT skills but even those students who were new to using computers seem to have become advocates of online communities of practice.

No measurable benefits have been demonstarted but student feedback was positive and faculty reported feeling that they knew their students better through the eportfolios and were able to recognize problems and difficulties in clinical placements more quickly and respond accordingly.

One of the comments I fouund most interesting was that the eportfolios allowed students a continuity of learning because they could continue to work on their eportfolios whilst they were being evaluated. This in contrast with the finite nature of paper-based assignments and evaluations and the wait for them to be returned.