Assessment issues and new technologies: ePortfolio possibilities

The emergence of new information and communication technologies(ICTs) call for new ways of learning and teaching, and integral to this call is new ways of assessing. This chapter provides insights into how ICT offers educators valuable assessment tools with which to more appropriately assess 21st-century lifelong learnerswho increasingly experience learning in digital, networked learning contexts in which learning involves collaboration and constructing new knowledge. This chapter explores how the interests of learning improvement and accountability can be served using online resources, particularly ePortfolios, and how they can be enhanced by the use of Web 2.0 technologies. Issues and insights are provided through an exploration into how ICT can provide valuable assessment tools for diverse stakeholders, including students, parents, administrators and policy officers

Making portfolios work in practice

Background. A portfolio captures learning from experience, enables an assessor to measure student learning, acts as a tool for reflective thinking, illustrates critical analytical skills and evidence of self-directed learning and provides a collection of detailed evidence of a person’s competence.Aims. This paper reports data on how assessors and nursing students match learning outcomes and/or competencies to their practice and then reconstruct those experiences into the format required by the portfolio documentation. The data were gathered as part of a larger study to evaluate the use of portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence in England.Methods. This three phase stakeholder evaluation was designed to gain the views of those involved in designing, implementing and using portfolios in nurse education.In phase 2, 122 students and 58 nurse teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of portfolio use, and a further 32 students and 26 assessors were interviewedafter they had been observed taking part in an assessment process. Thematic data analysis was used.Findings. Assessors and students underwent a complex process of deconstructing learning outcomes/competences to fit these to their practice. These then had to be reconstructed through the written medium to fit the structure of the portfolio. Confirmation that this met teachers’ expectations was essential to allay feelings ofinsecurity.Conclusions. To achieve maximum benefit from the portfolio as a learning tool to link theory and practice, there needs to be a clear fit between the model of portfolioand the professional practice that is to be assessed. Outcomes and competences, as well as the type of evidence required to demonstrate their achievement, and integrationof the whole experience should match the students’ stage of professional and academic development. Over-complex approaches to practice assessment, particularly in the early stages of students’ careers, can detract from clinical learning in favour of learning how to complete the portfolio successfully