RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.ORG
Issue 1 (2015)
The International Journal for
Recording Achievement,
Planning and Portfolios
Becoming conscious of learning and nursing in clinical
settings
Kirsten Nielsen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Birthe D Pedersen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Niels H. Helms, University College Sjælland, Denmark
Abstract:
Literature shows several benefits of implementing ePortfolio and focusing on learning styles within
nursing education. However, there is some ambiguity, so the aim was to investigate learning mediated
by the mandatory part of ePortfolio in clinical settings. The design takes a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. The setting was a ten-week clinical course in Basic Nursing, and participants
were 11 first-year students randomly assigned. Data was generated by participant observ ations,
narrative interviews and portfolio documents. The entire data material was interpreted according to Paul
Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation. This paper reports that the mandatory part of the portfolio promotes
consciousness of own learning and competencies in clinical nursing and raises students`
consciousness of nurse identity. It gives preceptors the opportunity to differentiate their supervision for
individual students and guide them to improve their learning potential. However, the language used in
the individual study plan must be clarified to avoid ambiguity, and there is potential to tai lor the individual
study plan.
Background
The ePortfolio is inspired by the Swedish
psychologist and portfolio pioneer Roger Ellmin,
according to whom implementing ePortfolio
methodology
in
education
represents
democratic values, such as human integrity,
freedom and self-control. Inclusivity is the
principle of learning, so the ePortfolio
acknowledges different intelligences and ways
of learning. This requires that the individual
student is accepted wherever she or he is in
their own learning process (Ellmin, 2008).
Students are involved in managing their own
learning. The aim is to help students to
understand how and what they are learning, and
when they learn the most. Portfolio work trains
the student to reflect on their own work alone or
with others, to structure and describe their
goals, to verbalize experiences and become
conscious of their own learning process, and to
assess their own learning outcome (Ellmin,
2006).
A systematic review of Buckley et al. (2009)
found that ePortfolio is mainly used in clinical
settings and that reflection and a kind of
assessment is required. In Nursing Education,
most portfolios are learning portfolios that are
both formatively and summatively assessed. In
78 % of cases, completion of portfolios is
mandatory (Buckley et al., 2009). According to a
review by Green, Wyllie, and Jackson (2013)
development of an ePortfolio involves theory,
concepts,
information,
observations
and
experience, which represent value for learners
across learnings styles.
Literature about X\