Transcript Introducing ePortfolios into the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT) Program Christine Slade & Keith Murfin Centre for Support and Advancement of Learning and Teaching.

Introducing ePortfolios into the
Bachelor of Occupational
Therapy (OT) Program
Christine Slade & Keith Murfin
Centre for Support and Advancement of Learning and Teaching (C-SALT)
Anita Hamilton
Program Leader Occupational Therapy/OT ePortfolio Coordinator
University of the Sunshine Coast
Early Adoption 2013
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT)
program were early adopters of PebblePad at
USC
Initial cohort was 140 first-year students
The PLS was seen as the best place for
developing reflective practice, storing evidence
of meeting external standards, practitioner
registration and career opportunities
Mapping Implementation
Year
Personal
Statement
Fieldwork Evidence of Graduate
Reflection Learning Attributes
OTAust
Competencies
CV
CPD Plan
CPD
Review
Reasons for Changing the
Curriculum
Previously reflections were seen as one-off
assignments and not kept for further use or
review
Work was lost and therefore growth &
development could not be tracked
When having to prepare a paper portfolio as
fourth years, students regretted not keeping
evidence towards competencies
The Approach
A collaborative approach was taken in order to
embed ePortfolios into the course curriculum
The OT course coordinators worked with the
C~SALT team to design the implementation
and build teaching staff awareness
The end goal being that the OT teaching staff
would be the ones to up skill students
Stakeholder - C~SALT Staff
Timeframe
Activities
Stakeholder - OT Portfolio/course coordinator
Timeframe
Activities
Stakeholder - Students
Timeframe
Activities
Tasks for Students
‘The Desk’ Template
Student Response (used with permission)
Tasks for Students
Fieldwork Template - used to guide student reflection of the experience
How did it go?
By the end of the early adopter phase students had been
introduced to the main features and had submitted a reflective
task to ATLAS.
“At this point I don’t feel that I have many ideas about where to improve what we have done
in our first year. I feel that by only taking on a small challenge we were successful. If we
had tried to achieve anything more I doubt that it would have gone as smoothly as I think it
did.” (OT ePortfolio coordinator)
A similar gentle approach will be used in 2014 however with the
addition of an assessment task to the curriculum.
Second-year students (2013 cohort) will regularly add further
evidence of learning, graduate attribute attainment and
competency development.
The Benefits
Reinforcing the importance of developing
critical reflective practice
Students being engaged in self-learning
through pedagogical tools
The slow-start approach was easily adopted
by both C~SALT and academic teaching staff
Lessons Learned
It is vital to plan early the embedding of ePortfolios into the
course curriculum, particularly assessment tasks
Be mindful that staff and students may struggle initially with
learning the software within a context of multiple demands
on time, energy and resources
Having training workshops engages some students early.
Others will rely on later helps such as the ‘how to’ videos
The importance of all members of the ePortfolio
implementation ‘team’ communicating and planning
together regularly so support will be available when needed
Anita Hamilton
Occupational Therapy ePortfolio Coordinator
(click image to play video)
How is it now?
First and second-year cohorts in Semester 1
2014
Student training sessions built into tutorial time
Assessment using ePortfolios is embedded in the
curriculum
Program Mapping
* theory
+ fieldwork
In Summary…
It is difficult to “retrofit” a course with an ePortfolio,
it needs to be slowly integrated into the course, the
training needs to be part of the learning activities in
the course and the students need to be continually
reminded why it is being done.
[OT ePortfolio coordinator]