The Mentor’s role in verifying evidence within the e-portfolio

The e-portfolio  All trainees on Edge Hill University Further Education and Training programmes are expected to complete an e-portfolio via Campus Pack which is part of the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment at Edge Hill University  The e-portfolios were introduced in September 2012 and have been revised and refined each year since then. We have tried to keep the amount of evidence required to a minimum that will allow the trainees to demonstrate achievement of essential skills and knowledge.

How do I get access to my trainee’s e-portfolio?  Trainees have been instructed to invite their Mentor and their Personal Tutor (amongst others) to access their e-portfolio.  Your trainee will invite you to access his/her e- portfolio via an generated by Campus Pack. The will contain a hyperlink to their portfolio and you may find it useful to save the link in your Bookmarks or Favourites folder.  If you have not received an from your trainee within two weeks of them starting their practice with you, you should ask if he/she has set up their e- portfolio yet, and request that you be given access.

What is in the e-portfolio?  The e-portfolio is a ‘single-source’ record that trainees will use to track their development from the earliest stages of their programme to the end of their training  The evidence requirements for the e-portfolio have been substantially rationalised, meaning less duplication of evidence and a lighter workload for the trainee, their personal tutor and for you as their Mentor

What evidence do I need to verify? The evidence that your trainee needs youto verify relates to:  The number of hours the trainee has completed  Formal observations carried out by you using Edge Hill University Observation documentation (you do not have to document informal observations if you choose to carry these out with your trainee)  Records of Mentor meetings These items are directly related to ensuring that the trainee’s records are compliant and that they are entitled to pass The Practising Teacher module. There is one additional key point that Mentors should be involved with, although they do not need to verify the evidence presented by the trainee…

Breadth of Experience  All trainees must evidence breadth of experience to demonstrate that they are engaging with the wider teaching role/gaining experience of other areas of teaching, in order to increase employability  Guidance in The Practicing Teacher module states: “You should provide evidence of engagement in the wider teaching role. Ideally this will comprise of up to 30 hours in addition to your 100 hours teaching and can include up to 10 hours of shadowing, team teaching, 1-1 delivery and can also include CPD such as attendance at conferences etc.”

Breadth of Experience  Trainees must also demonstrate that they have carried out 3 peer observations over the length of their course and these can be an opportunity to observe classes of their own subject, a different subject area and/or different age groups/levels from their normal teaching  Trainees should arrange these observations themselves, although you may be able to support this process by introducing trainees to key members of staff, especially regarding the following areas…

Breadth of Experience  We strongly encourage you to highlight opportunities for trainees to engage in the following: o English as an Additional Language/English for Speakers of Other Languages o English and Maths (this may be in Basic/Functional Skills sessions) o Students with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities o Behaviour for Learning  This may be through observation, team teaching, visits or Inset training. These areas are discussed as part of the course modules and Edge Hill University also hosts conferences to support knowledge in these areas, but there is no substitute for first-hand experience if this can be facilitated for approximately 5 hours per area above.

Breadth of Experience  If a trainee is in receipt of a Bursary, they must log that they have experience 30 hours of engagement with the subject/type of learners required by their specific bursary award  English  Maths  SEN  Breadth of experience/employability will be discussed at individual tutorials with Personal Tutors and we strongly encourage you to discuss this at Mentor / Mentee meetings  Personal Tutors will verify engagement with Breadth of Experience when trainees submit their e-portfolios for marking

How do I verify evidence? You and your trainee’s Personal Tutor need to verify certain evidence and this is done in two ways  Through signatures on those forms that require them for example, Observation paperwork, log of hours and  Through logging on to your trainee’s e-portfolio and entering your initials and the date in the appropriate column – your trainee will guide you through this process  NB. It is crucial that you only verify evidence in the e- portfolio when you have logged on via the hyperlink sent by the trainee – if you verify evidence when the trainee has logged on, the system will identify this as the trainee verifying their own evidence which cannot be accepted

I don’t have time to do all this!  At first glance it may appear that this is a lot of work, however we will be encouraging trainees to complete their e-portfolio from the earliest days at the university and their engagement with this will form part of the grade for the module. This means that they should be uploading new evidence on a regular basis.  The Achievement Tracker document that you have been given as part of the Mentor training, identifies target dates for the trainee to complete the various activities within the e- portfolio, and also identifies (in the far right-hand column) who is responsible for verifying the evidence that the trainee has uploaded only items with ‘Mentor’ in the far right-hand column require your verification, though you are free to explore all the evidence that your trainee provides if you wish.

 We will also be encouraging trainees to share their progress with you at your regular meetings – you can verify uploaded evidence whenever this is ready, so it should take only moments to complete on-going verification. The only thing that should wait until the end of the placement is the final verification of the teaching hours log  If you have any concerns about your trainee’s e-portfolio and/or verifying the evidence, please ask your trainee’s Personal Tutor who will be happy to support you. It is the trainee’s responsibility to compile and complete their evidence, we are just asking you to confirm that certain parts of the evidence are complete. Thank you