Getting started with e-portfolios: University of Cumbria

UKCLE funded project

Project latest: paper presented at BILETA 2009 and LILAC10 and published in JILT 2009 (3) - Using e-portfolios to support PDP and reflective learning within the law curriculum | slides from LILAC10 embedded below

UKCLE awarded funding to the law school at the University of Cumbria for a pilot project aimed at embedding e-portfolios within the new degree programme to support personal development planning (PDP) and reflective learning. The project complemented the three mini-projects undertaken as part of UKCLE's Using e-portfolios in legal education project.

The project aimed to:

• develop expertise in personal tutoring to support PDP within the law programme
• evaluate the student experience of e-portfolios
• disseminate research findings, linked to institutional and national initiatives

The PDP programme is delivered through designated modules at each level of study. The team redesigned the PDP framework within a first year module (Legal skills and method) to accommodate the use of e-portfolios and held staff development sessions to explain the rationale of the project and give hands-on training with PebblePad, the chosen e-portfolio software.

Findings

Key issues which emerged from the project include:

• staff development needs in respect of both IT and personal tutoring skills
• IT challenges relating to the development of the e-portfolio templates
• student access to the software and student ownership
• assessment issues

Evaluation of the project was carried out through a series of questionnaires and focus groups, which identified that e-portfolios:

• played a significant role in supporting and enhancing the process of reflection on learning
• supported the development of students' employability skills by providing a vehicle for reflection on work experience opportunities and CV writing
• provided a vehicle for recording academic acheivements and skills development

Students indicated that further support was required in a number of areas:

• more detailed guidance on the use of the different 'assets' in PebblePad
• more structured diet of tasks for reflection
• support from personal tutor could be variable