proceedings of Student Mobility and ICT: Can E-LEARNING

The Influence of Portfolio Media on Student Perceptions and
Learning Outcomes
Maarten van Wesel, Anouk Prop, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
M.vanWesel@UB.unimaas.nl, A.Prop@Educ.unimaas.nl
Abstract: The electronic portfolio offers many advantages to its paper-based counterpart,
including - but not limited to - hyperlinked navigation, adding multimedia and the ease of
sharing the portfolio. Previous research showed that the quality of a portfolio does not
depend on the medium used. This paper studies the effect of the portfolio medium on
perceived support for self-reflection and on the students’ learning outcomes. We made
use of the fact that during this study about half of the first year medical students used an
electronic portfolio (n=157) and the other half a paper-based portfolio (n=190).
Introduction
Portfolio-based learning finds increasing implementation in a variety of educational and
professional learning contexts. It is utilized to stimulate and monitor students’ professional development
and to stimulate their ability to become lifelong learners. Simultaneously, we observe a move from the
paper-based portfolio to the electronic counterpart. In medical education a portfolio is progressively being
used to stimulate reflection among students (Prop, Shacklady, Dornan, & Driessen, 2007). In medicine,
reflection is defined as “including consideration of the larger context, the meaning, and the implications of
an experience or action” (Branch & Paranjape, 2002, p. 1187). Portfolios are most often typified as a
collection of students’ work and achievements during their academic career (Challis, 1999; Chen, Yu, &
Chang, 2007).
Portfolio literature mentions many advantages of an electronic portfolio (e-Portfolio) over its
paper-based counterpart, such as hyperlink functionality, use of multimedia and the ease of sharing the
portfolio (amongst others van Tartwijk et al., 2003; Woodward & Bablohy, 2004). While much research on
e-portfolios has been conducted, the focus of these studies is mostly on e-portfolio specific features. When
replacing a well established paper-based portfolio with an electronic version, we must take care not to lose
the original portfolio goals. We ought to compare e- and paper-based portfolios on their shared potential
merits, such as support for self-reflection and effect on learning outcomes, preferably in a similar
ecological setting.
Driessen et al. (2007) conclude that creating an e-portfolio enhance student motivation, an eportfolio
is more user-friendly for portfolio mentors, and delivers the same content quality compared to the
paper-based variant. They also found that students spent significantly more time preparing an e-portfolio
than a paper-based one. However, their questions about perceptions of students focus on the overall
experience of the students, and their measurement of the quality of evidence and content was based on a
content analysis, whilst the students’ perception of the support for reflection and the effect on learning
outcomes are also relevant. The student perception of a learning environment to a large extend effects the
way students manage to work in the environment, and thus the perception influences the students learning
(Diercks-O'Brien, 2000; Gijbels, van de Watering, & Dochy, 2005; Gijbels, van de Watering, Dochy, &
van den Bossche, 2006; Segers & Dochy, 2001).
Critical self-reflection is seen as an essential precondition for the professional development of
medical students (Branch & Paranjape, 2002; Driessen, van Tartwijk, Vermunt, & van der Vleuten, 2003)
and for other professions (Deloney, Carey, & Gail, 1998; Korthagen, 2001). Reflection is a metacognitive
skill which plays a key role in the metacognitive process of self-regulation (Ertmer & Newby, 1996), it
helps students “become aware of their mental structures, subject them to a critical analyses, and if
necessary, restructure them” (Korthagen, 2001, p. 51). Metacognitive regulation compiles a set of activities
that help to control the learning (Schraw, 2001). Good learners, typically, have a higher level of
metacognitive knowledge and regulatory skills then poor learners. Metacognitive knowledge offers the
insights needed to change the learning process to fit the changing task demands (Ertmer & Newby, 1996).
Promoting these metacognitive skills via experience-based reflective learning enhances students growth
Conference proceedings of Student Mobility and ICT: Can E-LEARNING overcome barriers of Life-Long learning?” 73