RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
Introduction
In his generalised theory of education
Dewey (1939) sees experience as a
relationship between a person acting on
their environment and being acted upon by
the environment, and ideas, and external
theories, must be worked through in
personal experience for them to be
meaningful. Learners should also become
masters of the tools of learning (Dewey,
1939). Bowen and Hobson cite Dewey’s
assertion that learning should be “an
experiment and search into the unknown
rather than a passive absorption of
external ‘facts’, and that we can only truly
think when we are faced by a challenge”
(1974, p. 170). Skilbeck (1970) echoes
this when he refers to the aim of teaching
as training students to think, so they can
engage with the world as fully as possible.
Argyris and Schön’s (1978; 1989)
characterisation of action research as
involving ‘intervention experiments’
resonates with Dewey’s (1939) and
Skilbeck’s (1970) views of learning as
experiential experiments, highlighting the
link between experiential learning,
scientific inquiry, and action research (for
example, Dewey, 1939; Kolb, 1984; Lewin,
1946). The intervention experiment in this
study concerns the incorporation of e-
portfolios into the module Creativity and
Discovery, a course in Dublin City
University (DCU) Business School’s
Marketing, Innovation, and New
Technology (MINT) degree programme.
The focus of this paper is an evaluation of
e-portfolios as a method of assessment,
using some of the data and analyses
generated in the first cycle of an action
research study evaluating the benefit of e-
portfolios for student learning, creativity,
creative problem-solving, reflective
practice and assessment. It is intended
that the findings from this cycle will be
used to inform future development of e-
portfolio and learning supports for
students.
Course overview
The Creativity and Discovery module has
been running since 2011, with reflective
journal exercises introduced by the second
author (Geraldine) in the academic year
2016/7. Adopting a philosophy of
experiential learning and learning by
doing, and then reflecting on this, these
exercises required students to develop
learning journals based on independent
research and reflection on topics such as
defining creativity, assessing creativity and
its effectiveness in advertising, trend
analysis and sustainable design, applying
a ten-step systematic problem-solving
technique to a personal challenge,
developing a customer journey map,
assessing creativity in product and
organisational development, and
examining entrepreneurial behaviour.
Students had to choose five exercises and
create a text-based learning journal to
demonstrate their understanding and
learning of the course concepts and
demonstrate how they achieved the
course learning outcomes. These
exercises, and associated reflections,
made up 70% of the course continuous
assessment.
In 2018 the first author (Michele) took over
from the second author (Geraldine) in
delivering the course. Having seen
examples of student e-portfolios, Michele
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