1. Christine Slade & Keith Murfin
Introducing ePortfolios into the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT) Program
Christine Slade & Keith Murfin
Centre for Support and Advancement of Learning and Teaching (C-SALT)
Anita Hamilton
Program Leader Occupational Therapy/OT ePortfolio Coordinator
University of the Sunshine Coast

2. Early Adoption 2013
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT) program were early adopters of PebblePad at USC
Initial cohort was 140 first-year students
The PLS was seen as the best place for developing reflective practice, storing evidence of meeting external standards, practitioner registration and career opportunities

3. Mapping Implementation
Year
Statement
Reflection
Evidence of Learning
Graduate Attributes
OTAust
Competencies CV
CPD Plan
CPD Review 1 ✓ 2 3 4 5

4. Reasons for Changing the Curriculum
Previously reflections were seen as one-off assignments and not kept for further use or review
Work was lost and therefore growth & development could not be tracked
When having to prepare a paper portfolio as fourth years, students regretted not keeping evidence towards competencies

5. The Approach
A collaborative approach was taken in order to embed ePortfolios into the course curriculum
The OT course coordinators worked with the C~SALT team to design the implementation and build teaching staff awareness
The end goal being that the OT teaching staff would be the ones to up skill students

6. Stakeholder - C~SALT Staff
Timeframe
Activities
Semester 1
Planning Session (building ePortfolios into the course)
Introduction to ePortfolios and PebblePad for academic teaching staff
Development of research partnership between C-SALT and course coordinator
Training session with academic teaching staff
One-to-one support creation of templates with course coordinators
Pre-usage surveys facilitated by C-SALT staff with students
Semester 2
One-to-one support creation of templates and making videos
Online post-usage surveys facilitated by C-SALT staff with students
Debrief session with OT ePortfolio/course coordinator at end of 2013

7. Stakeholder - OT Portfolio/course coordinator
Timeframe
Activities
Semester 1
Attend first year class to present to students what ePortfolios are and why we are introducing them at USC
In consultation with course coordinator select activities that will be included in ePortfolio
Create templates for students to use to upload work to ePortfolio
Arrange training for academic staff on scope of ePortfolio tool (PebblePad)
One-to-one support creation of templates with course coordinators
Arrange training for students on how to use ePortfolio tool
Semester 2
Arrange training for academic staff on scope of ePortfolio tool
Check templates and create additional ones for semester 2 ePortfolio tasks
Make instructional videos with C~SALT team members about ePortfolio tool so students can upload information for assessment task.

8. Stakeholder - Students
Timeframe
Activities
Semester 1
Hear about ePortfolios generally in class
Choose to attend optional face-to-face training sessions to learn how to use the ePortfolio
Semester 2
Some students ‘played’ with the PebblePad software to explore how it worked
Watch videos about how to upload work to the ePortfolio
Upload a selection of work to the ePortfolio

9. Student Response (used with permission)
Tasks for Students
‘The Desk’ Template
Student Response (used with permission)

10. Tasks for Students
Fieldwork Template - used to guide student reflection of the experience

11. How did it go?
By the end of the early adopter phase students had been introduced to the main features and had submitted a reflective task to ATLAS.
“At this point I don’t feel that I have many ideas about where to improve what we have done in our first year. I feel that by only taking on a small challenge we were successful. If we had tried to achieve anything more I doubt that it would have gone as smoothly as I think it did.” (OT ePortfolio coordinator)
A similar gentle approach will be used in 2014 however with the addition of an assessment task to the curriculum.
Second-year students (2013 cohort) will regularly add further evidence of learning, graduate attribute attainment and competency development.

12. The Benefits
Reinforcing the importance of developing critical reflective practice
Students being engaged in self-learning through pedagogical tools
The slow-start approach was easily adopted by both C~SALT and academic teaching staff

13. Lessons Learned
It is vital to plan early the embedding of ePortfolios into the course curriculum, particularly assessment tasks
Be mindful that staff and students may struggle initially with learning the software within a context of multiple demands on time, energy and resources
Having training workshops engages some students early. Others will rely on later helps such as the ‘how to’ videos
The importance of all members of the ePortfolio implementation ‘team’ communicating and planning together regularly so support will be available when needed

14. Anita Hamilton Occupational Therapy ePortfolio Coordinator
(click image to play video)

15. How is it now? First and second-year cohorts in Semester 1 2014
Student training sessions built into tutorial time
Assessment using ePortfolios is embedded in the curriculum

16. Program Mapping
* theory
+ fieldwork

17. In Summary…
It is difficult to “retrofit” a course with an ePortfolio, it needs to be slowly integrated into the course, the training needs to be part of the learning activities in the course and the students need to be continually reminded why it is being done. [OT ePortfolio coordinator]