The document summarizes research on the use of e-portfolios to foster reflection in social work education. It presents three case studies of student e-portfolios that demonstrate different levels of engagement with the reflection process and technologies. Scaffolding aims to support reflection, but some students clung strictly to guidelines while others used them as a "trampoline" to more creative reflection. Technologies also impacted reflection, from basic use to advanced use that enabled new forms of expression. Future work could provide additional technology training and capture reflection-in-action.

1. E-Portfolios – Fostering Systematic Reflection in
Social Work Education
Patricia Arnold1 /Swapna Kumar2
1Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany
2 School of Teaching & Learning, University of Florida, USA
Human Computer Interaction International (HCII) Conference 2014,
Heraklion, Greece
Partially funded by

2. Slide 2
HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
1. Research Questions and Methodology
2. Literature Review E-Portfolios
3. Context: Online BA Degree Program Social Work
4. Cases: Analysis of Three Student Portfolios
5. Conclusions
Overview

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Research Setting
 higher education in social work, for professional students
 an educational design that combines a mixture of carefully selected learning
technologies (including MAHARA as specialized e-portfolio software) with
explicit ‘scaffolding’ to foster reflection
Research Questions
 How do students engage with the educational design and the technological
affordances in creating their e-portfolios?
Research Methodology
 Qualitative in-depth analysis of three e-portfolios
The Challenge of ‚Scaffolding‘ E-Portfolios –
Research Questions & Methodology

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HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
„An e-portfolio is a digital collection of showcases of work (artefacts) by
a person who wants to document and illustrate the product (learning
results) and the process (learning trajectory) of his or her development
of competencies over a certain period of time
(Hornung-Prähauser et al. 2007, 14; transl. PA)
What is an E-Portfolio?
http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/scholars/doc_
20Phongsai/images/eportfolio.jpg

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HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
 Study results
(e.g. essay, presentation, discussion posting, etc.)
 Descriptions / Commentary
(abstract, significance, contextual information)
 Reflections of learning trajectory
(new insights, new questions, evaluation at hindsight, obstacles, solutions, etc.)
 Feedback by peers or lecturers
(according to Lewin 2002, Barrett 2003)
 ->selected, presented in different media, “packaged“ in different views
 -> define access rights per view / also to be used as job application
Elements of an E-Portfolio
http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/s
cholars/doc_
20Phongsai/images/eportfolio.jpg

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HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Affordances
 innovative method and technology for
learning, teaching and assessment
(Barrett 2003, Hornung-Prähauser et
al. 2007, Arnold et al 2013)
 a valuable tool for fostering students’
reflective capacities (Bäcker, Cendon
& Mörth 2011)
 a suitable means to document one’s
own professional learning trajectory
(Bauer & Baumgartner 2012)
 Instrument for impact assessment of
programs (Arnold & Kumar 2014)
Pitfalls
 students often not familiar with
technologies used AND with reflective
practices (Meyer et al. 2011)
 a risk of “over-acting,” e.g. including
too many items and applying
insufficient selection criteria
(Reinmann & Sippel 2011)
 a risk of “over-reflecting”: reflecting
because it is required, only on a
personal level (ibid)
 A risk of “defensive-reflecting” to avoid
bad grades (Häcker 2005).
E-Portfolios – Literature Review

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HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
scaffolding
 according to Brown, Collins & Duguid’s (1989) cognitive apprenticeship model
 a learning environment that provides carefully thought-out support for acquiring certain
skills
reflection
 With reference to Schön’s notion (1983) of “reflective practitioner”
 how professional experts act, think and reflect in practice
 Reflection-on-action vs. Reflection-in-action
Higher education for working professionals
In these programs it is particularly important , to ”recapture their experience, think about it,
mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning”
(Boud, Keogh & Walker 1985, 18).
E-Portfolios – Theoretical Framework

8. Slide 8
HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Context - Online Degree Program BA Social Work
Context
 75% online modules, 25% on-site seminars
 Requirements: minimum of 3 years work
experience in the social field, working in the social
field alongside the study program
 Networked cooperation with 7 universities across
Germany
 www.basa-online.de
Learning technologies
 Learning Management System OLAT
 Live Classroom Adobe Connect
 Peer-to-peer counseling Kokom.net
 Mahara for e-portfolios
 AND On-site seminars a week-end per month
BA Social Work

9. Slide 9
HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Context – Educational Design of Module

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Figure 1: Structure of e-portfolios
***************Comprehensive narrative on personal learning trajectory across the module************
Learning Product A Learning Product B Learning Product C
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Context - Structure of E-Portfolios

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Cases: E-Portfolio Student A – „All in Flux“
 presents herself as a student with three adult children for whom
obtaining an academic degree is an import part of her
aspirations in life
 Study products: BA thesis and 2 products from module.
 Using strong visual clues she argues that studying does not
mean creating “heaps” of knowledge but rather building a
growing network of knowledge.
 most valuable in-sight gained from her studies for her
professional future: she will refuses to “act as a buffer zone” as
a social worker , again by using a strong visual of a train buffer.
 closing remark: overall behavior has changed due to her
academic studies: she now adopts a critical stance everywhere
and e.g. requests sources for information, even in small talk
conversations.
 Mahara: linear text, sections, and graphics

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Cases: E-Portfolio Student B – „Scientific Theory-Practice-Transfer“
 comparatively young student, working as a nurse in early childhood
education
 study products: all three from module
 no explicit explanation for products chosen and their order.
 common thread that runs through the different parts of the e-portfolio is
the theme of how important it is to intertwine theory and practice
 Additionally: a video in which she explains her changing views on
professional identity, video production explained and reflected upon in
depth
 Mahara: three-row layout text, sections, graphics, embedded home-
made video

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HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Cases: E-Portfolio Student C „Authoethnographic Study on EP Production“
 Has adult children and works in a Montessori school
 Study products: encounter with autoethnography (BA thesis) ,
ethnographic study on creating e-portfolio
 a variety of elements: including a playful section with the text capture
“Space” and an empty space created in the portfolio by spreading the
single letters out over many lines.
 autoethnographic study of creating the e-portfolio.
 an introspection of her first initial resistance to yet another task and tool, a scan
of handwritten notes taken when the task was introduced, quotes by instructors
explaining the task which resonated immediately with her (“to look back on
traces of a study program
 an excerpt of a documentation where she and a fellow student “played “ with
mahara to come to terms with this new tool.
 At the end she reports how she inwardly smiled when she suddenly
realized how her own conclusion statement in her BA thesis “reflection
and introspection are important for any educational process” matched
the task of the portfolio creation
 Mahara: linear text, section and graphics

14. Slide 14
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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
 Student B responded to guiding questions for constructing an e-portfolio in a very literal
way
 scaffolding clearly helped her reach a basic level of reflection and build the e-portfolio, but
also possible that she chose to adhere to the structure provided, and that the scaffolding
prevented her from exploring new dimensions,
 Student A loosely used the set of guiding questions, but incorporated them into a bigger
narrative and went beyond just including previous elements by reflecting back on her
earlier work from her current perspective.
 appears to have benefited from the scaffolding because she integrates earlier individual
reflections into her personal narrative “all in flux”
 Student C did only vaguely follow the guidelines but had the confidence to take the task to
another level, expanding the required re-flection-on-action on her learning trajectory by
documenting her reflection-in-action to create the e-portfolio.
 scaffolding appears to have provided her with structures that resulted in reflection and to
have also instilled in her the confidence that any creative solution of the assignment would
be appraised if it was well argued and convincingly presented.
Cases: Analysis Response to Scaffolding

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
 Student A used the basic features of mahara, linear text, text sections with head-lines,
documents for download ,inserting images for illustration of her statements. Her strongest
design elements were “snappy” photos that provided strong visual clues
 The educational design appears to have succeeded in that she used mahara to convey
her reflective statements and to emphasize them with visual clues.
 Student C adopted basic features of mahara in an authentic personal fashion, by using
basic features but additionally adding a layer of creativity. , e.g. special characters in the
headlines like symbols for musical notes.
 The educational design appears to have influenced her learning trajectory in a similar way
to the reflective stance she adopted: it helped her to gain confidence, adopt a playful
attitude, and to allow herself creativity in her solutions.
 Student B eloquently explained why she “dared” to produce a video herself and situated
her thoughts within a definition of media design. She used more advanced features of
mahara for her e-portfolio, mapping her internal structure into a three-row-layout and
made use of mahara’s multimedia features
 For her, the the use of technology played an important role in the level of reflection
reached
Cases: Analysis Engagement with Technologies

16. Slide 16
HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
 Personalization of tasks with e-portfolios clearly works
Role of scaffolding:
 some “clung” to the structure provided and do not go much beyond it, while others used it
as a “trampoline” to reach a completely different level of reflection.
Role of technologies:
 Some demonstrated basic use of technology but were very creative in the way they
represented their reflections
 others’ intensive use of technology provided them with new ways of expressing
themselves and spurred them on to reflect in ways that they would not have done so
otherwise
Future work
 provide additional scaffolding in the future for the production of multi-media elements,
 Capture some reflection-in-action elements
 Considerf actors such as students’ inclination to write, gender issues, etc.
Conclusions

17. Slide 17
HCII 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Thank you very much…
…..for your attention!
Contact:
Patricia Arnold, Professor of Socio-Informatics
Munich University of Applied Sciences
arnold@hm.edu
http://patriciaarnold.wikispaces.com/
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