Transcript Master of Midwifery: A Postgraduate Program*s

Master of Midwifery:
A postgraduate
program’s first use of
ePortfolios
Christine Slade & Keith Murfin
Centre for Support and Advancement of
Learning and Teaching (C~SALT)
Michelle Gray & Kendall George
Lecturers Midwifery & Nursing
University of the Sunshine Coast (USC)
The USC ePortfolio Journey
Early Adoption 2013
 First
postgraduate program to use ePortfolios
 Theory
of Midwifery Practice (14 students) &
Midwifery Practicum (11 students)
 Short
implementation phase - staff & students
learning together
 Timeframes did
assessment
not allow embedding into
Reasons for Change
 Master
of Midwifery was reaccredited in 2013
 Graduate Requirements
 Standard for registration requires documentation of 20
continuity-of-care follow journeys, 40 births
 Additional 100 antenatal and postnatal examinations
 This is a significant burden of
data collection and
storage
 PebblePad offered
suitable e-alternative
The Approach
 Created templates
 Assets
submitted to ATLAS for formative feedback
 Initially this
approach encouraged engagement but
became time consuming for the lecturer
 Webfolios
 Using
introduced to drastically reduce volume
ePortfolios avoided duplication required in
paper based version – academic view
Semester 2
However, it did not go smoothly…
 Other students
did not engage, preferring to
submit hard copies.
 The ePortfolio
was not an assessment item and
therefore not seen as essential
 Four
students chose to use PebblePad option
What were the Problems?
 Premature
introduction
 Short time frame for training of staff
 No time to embed into the course learning outcomes
 Variance in
 Different
 Student
IT literacy of staff and students
expectations
resistance
 Seen as additional work because not assessed
 Students did not see
benefits
Lessons Learned
 Embed ePortfolios
 Workshop
 Increased
in assessment and course outline
student introduction in tutorial time
familiarity of teaching staff with the
platform improves preparation for these workshops
 Consider
length of program and workloads
 Importance
of having support
How is it now?
 2014 cohort
- PebblePad embedded into program via
 Assessments
 Staggered learning activities
 E-portfolios
introduced positively e.g. video before
semester starts and flipped classroom approach
 Confident staff able to support students
 Ongoing support by C~SALT
Michelle Gray
Master of Midwifery ePortfolio Coordinator
(click on image to play video)