Implementing a mobile e-Portfolio system – Lessons learned a year on

Luke WoodhamSt. George’s, University of London

Medicine and Healthcare at St.George’s, University of London

• Specialist health sciences university – joint site with hospital

• Joint faculty with Kingston University• Range of courses in medicine and

healthcare• e-Learning Unit

– Provide and manage electronic educational resources for the curriculum

– Coordinate overall project for Myprogress implementation

WPBAs at SGULYear 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Basic Science Transition Pre-Clinical Practice

FoundationMBBS5Year 1

Transitional(T) Year

MBBS5Year 2

MBBS4Year 1

Penultimate(P) Year

Final(F) Year

Workplace-based assessments (WPBAs)• Key element in both learning

(formative) and summative assessment of clinical competency

• Complex, hard to read• Difficult to analyse– No validation – “spoilt” assessments– Illegible

• Large number of forms to manage– Lost and damaged forms– Difficulties in storage

• Submission difficulties when off-site• Difficult for students to monitor progress

Paper WPBAs

E-Portfolio – Aims

• Key Aims

– Students should “own” their own data - provide learners with real-time access to their progress

– Improving feedback to students

– Reduced administration load

e-Portfolio - ‘state of the art’ issues

Mature web-based systems for desktop data entry, were available, but heavily criticised: Why?

• Student/clinician encounters don’t take place at a computer• The responsibility for completing assessments lies with the

student not the teacher

Potential solution? - a mobile solution that does not require network access - wifi is not reliably available.

Meeting Expected Challenges - Key System Requirements

• Flexibility– able to apply to range of courses– able to adapt to future changes

• Robust– Meeting support challenges across several courses and many

geographically disparate sites• Appropriate to clinical environment

– Lack of access to traditional PC workstations– Variable access to Wifi– Differing working practices across sites– Usability – varying ability of assessors to embrace new technology

MyProgress• Web-based

– Hosted solution – Commercially developed by MyKnowledgeMap

– All data stored centrally• Allows data input from

both the web and mobile devices– Cross-platform

• Works offline– Downloads new

assessments for use offline– Uploads completed

assessments back to system

www.myknowledgemap.com

2013-14 - Pilots

• Series of pilots – Medicine and Radiography– Iterative improvements based upon feedback– Expanding scope

• Multiple attachments and sites, increased participant numbers

• Feedback– Improved feedback from using tablets rather than

phones– Increase in number of assessments completed – or

at least submitted

2014-15 Academic Year

Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Transition Pre-Clinical Practice

Transitional(T) Year

Penultimate(P) Year

Final(F) Year

• Following a series of pilots to establish feasibility, introduced Myprogress for completion of WPBAs– Gradual rollout in Medicine– Rollout in Diagnostic Radiography, Therapeutic Radiography and Co-curricular award

Electronic WPBAs Paper WPBAs2014-15

Electronic WPBAs Paper WPBAs2015-16

Electronic WPBAs2016-17

Technical Setup

• Students provided with 7” Android tablets

• Set up with institutional account for installing Myprogress

• Students able to use for other aspects of studies

An opportunity for WPBA is identified

The student begins to enter assessment details onto their mobile device

The device is passed to the assessor

The assessor completes and locks the assessment

and hands the device back to the student

who then submits the assessment when they

next have network access

Key Lesson - Students need to “own” their portfolio

• How can students be encouraged to feel they “own” their portfolio?

– If students have responsibility, they need to have power to ensure all their WPBAs are complete

WPB

A sent

RESPONSIBILITY

POWER

Academic Registry

Standard WPBAs

Com

plete

d WPB

A

If students have responsibility, they need to have power to ensure all their WPBAs are complete

Unfortunately, in one aspect, we broke this rule.

Signoff returned

RESPONSIBILITY

POWER

Clinical sign-off

Signoff sent

Face-to-Face Meeting

Academic Registry

Other considerations

• Wireless provision– Particularly for initial download of assessments

• Bring your own device– Initial cost savings, but significant implications for

support• Training and Acceptance– “I was not sure whether my WBAs went through the

system even after synchronizing”– Disseminating information effectively to both students

and staff

Current and Future challenges

Changing the culture– “I've forgotten to charge/bring in the tablet a few

times meaning I can't get forms done” - requires shift in student behaviour

– Increasing acceptance amongst clinical staff

– Ensuring a consistent approach to aligning power and responsibility for completion of assessments

opportunities!

Thank you and Questions

lwoodham@sgul.ac.uk

www.elu.sgul.ac.uk