E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation
Nahid Zarifsanaiey1, 2, Samieh Etemadi3, Rita Rezaee4*
1
Department of e-learning, virtual school, center of excellence for e-learning in medical sciences, Shiraz University of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 2 virtual university of
medical Science, Tehran, Iran. 3 Student research committee, Shiraz University of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 4 Clinical education research center, health human resources
research center, Shiraz university of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Correspondence: Rita Rezaee, clinical education research center, health human resources research center, Shiraz university of medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Email:
rita_rezaee@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Across the various study programs, portfolios serve many functions and purposes. A customizable electronic portfolio (e-portfolio)
that facilitates sharing different parts of e-portfolio and provides across-referencing capabilities was developed at the Shiraz University
of Medical Sciences (SUMS) in 2015. This paper describes the design of the e-portfolio and its effects on the learning outcomes and
attitude of the students towards evaluation by e-portfolio. Material and Method This was a single-group quasi-experimental study with
pretest-post-test. The sample size was 33 students of the postgraduate Medical students. A pretest was done to evaluate the students’
knowledge level. The students were evaluated for two months during the semester by the electronic portfolio. At the end of the
semester, post-test was performed and their attitudes toward the evaluation by electronic portfolio were assessed. Validation of the
electronic portfolio was assessed by 10 experts on technical, functional and educational criteria’s by a questionnaire. Responses from
the experts indicated that the quality of electronic portfolio was acceptable. The obtained results of analysis of pair t-test revealed that
the post-test scores were significantly more than the pretest (p=0.027). Results showed that the student's had a positive attitude
towards evaluation through electronic portfolio. There was no significant linear relationship between the level of knowledge and
attitude of research samples. The correlation between the students’ reflection on learning and post-test scores was significant, but in
other areas (pre-test and attitude), there were no significant correlation (p<0.001). Conclusion Use of e-portfolio can have a
significant impact in improving the education system and e-learning courses.
Keywords: E-Portfolio, Evaluation, Design, Knowledge, Attitude.
Introduction
In the 21st century, new and innovative teaching approaches are
crucial and vital elements in developing high quality human
capital[1, 2]. The use of portfolio as a potential tool could help to
develop higher order thinking skills and revolutionizes the
process of teaching[3, 4]. McGraw-Hill higher education webpage
defines portfolio as: "Objects and methods of assessment ". As
objects, they are a place for holding materials such as; papers,
photographs, or drawings that are representative of students'
work and progress. As methods of assessment, portfolios
provide ways for teachers to continuously collect and assess
student work[5].
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How to cite this article: Nahid Zarifsanaiey, Samieh Etemadi, Rita Rezaee.
E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation. J Adv Pharm Edu
Res 2018;8(S2):170-175.
Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.
In most traditional classes students are asked to work and learn
within a very limited time frame[6]. This provides little or no
opportunity to think deeply and reflect on what they have
learned. Students are forced to submit their assignments
without any reflective practices. Thus, a portfolio provides the
opportunity to reflect on what has been learned, and both
students and teachers can evaluate the progress during a course.
Paulson and Meyer view portfolio as an laboratory experiment
to construct meaning[7], which engage students in selfreflection[8].
Cooper and Love described two types of portfolios: formative
portfolio (focus on the process of learning for each student),
and summative portfolio (focus on learning outcomes)[9]. The
first one demonstrates changes over a period of time and the
second one contains proof of a student’s skills.
In the past decade application of e-portfolio in higher education
has increased, especially in the area of education with emphasis
on learning and assessment[10].
Electronic portfolio is a learning and assessment tool. It is a
personalized web based collections of content and reflection[11].
Using e-portfolio in health care education as a learning and
assessment method, help students to reflect on their
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Nahid Zarifsanaiey and et al.: E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation
experiences and could be used as an administrative tool to
organize their work[12].
Reflection is a cyclic process of self-regulation that students
revise and think about their work and actions[13]. Stimulating
reflection needs some certain conditions such as good
introduction, clear purpose and appropriate structure, it means
students learn from their own experiences[14]. In general, the
purpose of educational portfolio is to systematically organize
and manage evidences at three levels or domains: curriculum of
the program, instruction and assessment, and students’
reflection on learning.
Like any other institution, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
is faced with several challenges due to increasing enrollment
and need to support student’s learning. As Batson has argued eportfolio has great potential to alter higher education[15]. In this
study we used e-portfolio as a digital tool to collect work
(artifacts), which demonstrates students’ ongoing effort and
growth (development) in research methodology area.
Methodology
Study design
The study employed a quasi-experimental single group design
(before-after-design) in order to examine students’
improvement in specific defined learning outcomes through eportfolio. Since random selection was not possible this design
was chosen. Total of 33 students were assigned to the course by
the e-learning department based on their needs to present a
research proposal in order to graduate.
The students experienced learning through a student-center
approach using e-portfolio, which allowed them to take control
of their learning process. The students had access to the free
online course management tool (Mahara, which is localized
based on the university LMS and is explained bellow), and the
instructor directed them to various online lessons (subject
matters). Each student created their own learning artifacts and
had the opportunity to reflect on them.
The educator acted more as a guide or facilitator rather than
someone who delivers information and provided feedback on
students’ artifacts (assignments).
Participants
In this study a total of 33 students, 26 female and 7 male from
postgraduate medical education students who were in their final
semester and were enrolled in Research in Education course.
Data Collection
Data sources included pre-test and post-test scores. All students
received the pre-post tests. The researcher graded the pretest in
order to assess the students’ knowledge of the subject. Then the
researcher administered the instruction and provided feedback.
Finally, the post-test was conducted and graded by the same
researcher. It is worth noting that the results were anonymous.
Content validity of the tests was confirmed by 5 experts in the
field of research methodology and Kuder Richardson index
(0.78) confirmed its reliability.
Means and standard deviation of the pre-post test scores is
reported in table 1.
Design stage of e-portfolio
At the design phase some value-added features were considered
and added. These features consist of: customizable, multiple
structure, ability to share and interact with supervisors and
peers, ability to search, integration to LMS, ability to transfer
data, download records, back up and reduce storage
requirements. These features facilitate sharing different parts of
e-portfolio and provided cross-referencing capabilities.
The system that seemed to meet our requirements was Mahara,
which was compatible with the university virtual settings.
Mahara is an open source e-portfolio. However, there were
running costs such as maintenance and upgrades. Customization
of the e-portfolio was provided after major challenges and
improvement in resources. Finally, it was integrated into the
university virtual learning environment (LMS).
At the second phase, a structured student centered learning
outcomes were designed. In this approach the teacher’s role
was to help students think through by using the following steps:
1) The learner identified and described the experience
(assignment), and the teacher listened actively to
encourage, not judge or make any interpretation.
2) The learner reflected on what was learned and the
teacher clarified and summarized.
3) The learner identified new learning needs and their
plan to meet these needs, and the teacher facilitated
their plans.
At the end of the program all intended and unintended learning
outcomes were reviewed. The evaluations of the e-portfolios
were based on the following criteria:
- Educational:
•
•
value added to students’ learning
Sharing material and learning resources
•
•
Learning activity
Reflective work (blogs, comments on assessments,
response to peers and faculty reviews)
- Functional:
•
•
Ease of use for students and supervisors
Ability to search keywords
•
Ability to bookmark educational materials
- Technical:
•
Integration and ability to transfer data from and to the
university LMS
Evaluation of e-portfolio (content validity) was confirmed by 10
experts in electronic learning, medical education and IT (CVI=
0.7, CVR=0.8).
All students were informed about the purpose of using eportfolio. It was emphasized that e-portfolio is being used as a
formative teaching tool and focuses on students’ development
through the use of self evaluation and reflection.
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Nahid Zarifsanaiey and et al.: E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation
Interventional stage
In this stage researcher played the role of facilitator to provide
necessary instructions and encouraged them on reflection. The
course consisted of four 3-h sessions related to the subject
matter. During each session different part of the subject was
discussed and at the end of the course, students were asked to
complete four learning activities (assignments). Students could
record and reflect on their learning in writing proposal skills.
Researcher provided feedback on assignments and checked their
progress.
In this study, the following ethical issues were taken into
consideration: After obtaining a written permission from the
college officials, the training program began at the Education
Development Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. At
the beginning of the training program after the researcher had
introduced herself, she explained the objectives and the need to
implement e-portfolio to the students, and a written informed
consent was obtained from the participating students. The
students were also assured that all information collected will
remain confidential. This study was approved by the Ethics
Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
(ECSUMS). Approved Code of Ethics Committee for Research
Project was CT: 94-170
Results
Among the 33 virtual medical education students who
participated in the study, 26 were female (79%) and 7 were
male (21%). Overall mean of participants’ ages was (37 ±
5.79) with the range of 26-50.Altogether, 79% of the subjects
were married and 21% were single. The first specific purpose
of this research included the evaluation of e-portfolio for
validity by experts. For this purposes the e-portfolio was
evaluated by 10 experts on technical, functional and educational
criteria’s.
Our findings revealed that the points for all features evaluated
were positive, and the quality of e-portfolio was acceptable.
Responses from experts indicated that the e-portfolio was very
useful to medical education students; easy to use, safe, and
assisted in learning and evaluating the students.
The second specific purpose of this research was the comparison
of the participants' learning toward “research in education”
before and after intervention. Therefore, the research samples
filled the pre-test questionnaires before and 8weeks after
learning (Table 1).
Table 1.Comparison of knowledge scores before and
after the intervention (0-20)
Knowledge score
Before
intervention
after
intervention
Mean±SD
Minimum
Maximum
13.36±2.396
5
17
10
Table 2. The attitude of the research samples toward
evaluation through e-portfolio
Attitude
No
Minimum
Maximum
Means
33
95
145
120.97±12.045
The results showed that the student's had a positive attitude
towards evaluation through e-portfolio. The correlation
between the level of knowledge and attitude of the research
samples were also examined (Table 3).
Table 3. The correlation between the level of knowledge
and attitude of research samples
knowledge
Pre -test
Post-test
The correlation coefficient
0.069
-0.093
P value
0.704
0.608
No
33
33
Attitude
According to table 3, there was no significant linear
relationship between the level of knowledge and attitude of
research samples.
The fourth purpose was to determine the correlation between
student’s reflections and teachers’ feedbacks with the level of
knowledge and attitude of the students (Table 4).
Table 4. The correlation between students’ feedbacks with
their level of knowledge and attitude
Variables
Pre-test
Post-test
The number
of feedback
The correlation
coefficient
1.000
0.282
0.069
-0.118
P value
0.0
0.112
0.704
0.514
The correlation
coefficient
0.282
1.000
-0.093
0.373*
P value
0.112
0.0
0.608
0.032
0.069
-0.093
1.000
0.036
0.704
0.608
0.0
0.841
-0.118
0.373*
0.036
1.000
0.514
0.032
0.841
0.0
The correlation
Attitude
Pre-test Post-test Attitude
coefficient
P value
The number The correlation
of students’
reflection and coefficient
teacher
P value
feedback
P value
0.027
14.42±1.714
post-test scores were significantly more than the pre-test. The
pair t-test revealed that there was a significant difference
between before and after intervention (p=0.027).
The third specific goal of this research was to determine the
attitude of the research samples toward evaluation through eportfolio (Table 2).
17
As is evident from the above table, the correlation between the
students’ reflection on learning and post-test scores was
significant, but in others areas (pre-test and attitude), there
were no significant correlation( p<0.001).
It was shown in the above table that there was a meaningful
relationship between pre-test and post-test scores, and the
172
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Nahid Zarifsanaiey and et al.: E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation
Discussion
The aim of this study was implementation and evaluation of eportfolio amongst postgraduate medical students. The eportfolio framework was designed for educating and selfreflecting of the medical education students. The experts
evaluated the e-portfolio in three areas (technical, functional,
and educational) as a qualified tool for supporting teaching and
learning process.
There was a significant increase in total mean scores of students
learning after using the e-portfolio (p=0.027). This result
revealed that the e-portfolio was a useful tool for education and
evaluation. This finding is in line with results obtained in some
studies. Pincombe et al. (2010) investigated the effects of eportfolio on learning and satisfaction of midwifery students.
They showed that the e-portfolio increased the student
participation in learning process and helped them in the
application of the principles and theory in clinical education[16].
In another research carried out by Fong et al. in "Digital
teaching portfolio in higher education", it was revealed that the
e-portfolio had a positive effect on teaching and learning[17].
Moreover, in a study by Garrett et al. (2013) evaluated the
implementation of an e-portfolio to assess the clinical
competence in nursing program. Their results revealed that eportfolio was accessible, convenient and transparent method of
assessment[18].
The results of this study are not in line with some other
studies, for example; Currant et al. in their research concluded
that there were no differences between using e-portfolio with
learner autonomy and levels of learning [19]. Chi-Cheng et al.
also studied the effects of using a web-based portfolio on
student's self-regulated learning and their academic
achievement. The results showed that web-based portfolio did
not have any significant effect on students' progress[20]. Seals
also studied the impact of using portfolios as a learning tool in
student achievement in a pilot project study. The results
showed that there was no significant difference between the
control and experimental groups [21]. It seems that one reason
for lack of differences in learning in some researches,
measuring e-portfolio is at an early stage and the principles and
criteria in scoring do not exist. Furthermore, the educational
goals must be appropriate with using the electronic e-portfolio.
E-portfolio is more compatible for measuring school
achievement of learners in real situations and overtime.
In summary, it can be concluded that by using e-portfolio,
students are encouraged to have higher order of thinking; selfregulated learning and self-evaluation through attaining
academic achievement.
One important factor in accepting educational methods is the
student attitude. Consequently, other specific goal of this
research was to determine the attitude of the research samples
towards evaluation by the e-portfolio. As the result of this
study has suggested, most of the research subjects had a
positive attitude toward this approach. This finding is in line
with the results obtained in studies carried out with Notari et
al., Naumann et al., Currant et al., and McKenna et al.[22-24].
These studies emphasized that since e-portfolio helped the
students to think about their progress, analyzed their work,
recognized their strengths and weaknesses and got feedback,
therefore, they had a positive attitude towards e-portfolio.
These factors were also identified as the important factors to
imposed positive attitude in our research.
In general, learning strongly depends on learner’s experiences
and theirs reflection on the learning process. Besides, the
teachers must bring up issues for discussions in order to
enhance group interactions, and promote self-reflection among
students[25]. Therefore Students’ reflection and teacher
feedbacks are the critical components in e-portfolio. The eportfolio without reflection is like collecting facts without
asking for the reasons. As the results showed, there was a
significant correlation between the students’ self-reflection and
teacher feedbacks with the level of learning (p<0.001). Many
researchers have confirmed the close relationship between
students’ reflection and learning in e-portfolios, for example,
Ching et al., in a study investigated the relationship between eportfolios, organization, and Reflection. They concluded that
students’ reflection was directly related to student success[26].
In a qualitative case study, Landis et al., examined the role of
reflection in e-portfolio and concluded that reflection had
comprehensive effects in teaching and learning process[27].
In conclusion the use of e-portfolio can have a significant
impact in improving the education system and e-learning
courses.
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Availability of data and materials
Data are accessible by contacting the corresponding authors.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Funding
No funding was provided for this work.
Authors’ contributions
NZ devised the study concept, designed the study, supervised
the intervention, data collection and analysis, participated in
the coordination of the study, and critically revised the
manuscript.
RR collected data, ran the study intervention, participated in
the study concept, performed the analyses and revised the
manuscript
SE contributed to the design and analysis of the study data, and
drafted the manuscript.
Acknowledgement
The present article was extracted from the MSc Medical
Education thesis by Mrs. Samie Etemadi under the guidance of
Dr. Nahid ZarifSanaiey with the consultation of Dr. Rita
Journal of Advanced Pharmacy Education & Research | Oct-Dec 2018 | Vol 8 | Issue S2
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Nahid Zarifsanaiey and et al.: E-portfolio based learning: Implementation and evaluation
Rezaee (Grant No:94-170). The authors would like to thank
the Vice-chancellor of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for
supporting this research. The authors thank the Clinical
Research Development Center of Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences for the statistical analysis and also thank the president
of e-learning center and the president of Education
Developmental center (EDC) of Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences for their patience and hard work invested in learning
and using the web-based e-portfolio system. The authors wish
to thank the Research Consultation Center (RCC) at Shiraz
University of Medical Sciences for their invaluable editorial
assistance.
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