Teaching and Learning MattersKey ePortfolio features and strategies for student success in a competency-based clinical research program
Section snippets
Background
An electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) is a pedagogical tool that can be used to document acquisition of knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), and professional development through a digital collection of information, artifacts, and reflections that illustrate competence. ePortfolio use in education is grounded in adult learning theory, which emphasizes a self-directed, experiential, problem-centered approach to learning.1 ePortfolios support this type of approach and have demonstrated usefulness
Setting
The Master of Clinical Research (MCR) program at a large Midwestern university is a fully online, asynchronous, interdisciplinary (nursing, pharmacy) program with two profession-oriented degree specializations: Clinical Research Management (CRM) and Regulatory Affairs (RA). The curriculum's core courses are mapped to 47 core competencies for clinical research professionals defined by the Joint Task Force (JTF) for Clinical Trial Competency (Table 1).24,25
Additional courses provide advanced
Core Competency Reflections
The most important assessment elements for the MCR ePortfolio final program examination are the required core competency reflections. Students are required to write reflections on their acquisition of KSAs that demonstrate metacognition and critical thinking for each of the eight core competency domains and encourage the development of short-term and long-term goals associated with their professional development post-graduation. We provide specific guidance to students on the essay elements for
Critical Analysis of the Educational Activity
Since the start of the MCR program in 2014, a total of 140 students have completed an ePortfolio, 12 using the university WordPress platform and 128 using Portfolium. We continue to find the ePortfolio requirement to be an effective means for students to showcase their acquired knowledge and skillsets. The reflective writing requirement also provides students with a level of self-evaluation and professional goal setting as they transition from graduate student to clinical research professional.
Summary
This paper describes a learning activity and associated rubric as a means to provide a summative evaluation of student competency-acquisition in the program. We also present our experiences with the implementation of the assignment using two distinct, cost-free ePortfolio platforms, WordPress and Portfolium, in our competency-based graduate program for clinical research professionals. This work contributes to the literature by offering an approach to evaluate students and programs for
Disclosure(s)
This article has not had any external funding. Dr. Jones is funded, in part, from the Ohio State University CCTS NIH CTSA grant number UL1TR002733.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
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