12909_2014_Article_265.pdf (196.67 kB)
Qualitative study of the impact of an authentic electronic portfolio in undergraduate medical education
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 20:19 authored by Rosie Belcher, Anna Jones, Laura-Jane Smith, Tim Vincent, Sindhu Bhaarrati Naidu, Julia Montgomery, Inam Haq, Deborah GillBackground Portfolios are increasingly used in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Four medical schools have collaborated with an established NHS electronic portfolio provider to develop and implement an authentic professional electronic portfolio for undergraduate students. We hypothesized that using an authentic portfolio would have significant advantages for students, particularly in familiarizing them with the tool many will continue to use for years after graduation. This paper describes the early evaluation of this undergraduate portfolio at two participating medical schools. Methods To gather data, a questionnaire survey with extensive free text comments was used at School 1, and three focus groups were held at School 2. This paper reports thematic analysis of students’ opinions expressed in the free text comments and focus groups. Results Five main themes, common across both schools were identified. These concerned the purpose, use and acceptability of the portfolio, advantages of and barriers to the use of the portfolio, and the impacts on both learning and professional identity. Conclusions An authentic portfolio mitigated some of the negative aspects of using a portfolio, and had a positive effect on students’ perception of themselves as becoming past of the profession. However, significant barriers to portfolio use remained, including a lack of understanding of the purpose of a portfolio and a perceived damaging effect on feedback.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
BMC Medical EducationISSN
1472-6920Publisher
BioMed CentralExternal DOI
Volume
14Article number
a265Department affiliated with
- Division of Medical Education Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2015-03-13First Open Access (FOA) Date
2015-03-13First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2015-03-13Usage metrics
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