Abstract
In 2015, eportfolios were piloted within the curriculum of Instructional Technologies and Multimedia in Education (INTMAEU), a post-graduate module offered at the University of South Africa, aiming at preparing post-graduate distance education students for taking up lecturing posts at institutions for Higher Education. A learning-oriented approach was followed; therefore, I had to design learning tasks instead of assessment tasks, provide prompt feedback to facilitate current and future learning, and actively involve the students as self- and peer assessors. Twelve of the fourteen assignments guided the students towards demonstrating their skills in using a variety of technologies and multimedia to support teaching and learning at institutions for higher education. The last two assignments required active involvement as peer reviewers. The students also had to reflect on all of these learning experiences. During the process, they were provided with multiple opportunities to demonstrate the twelve key competencies that should be developed during South African higher education. I am using the reflections of one my top-achieving post-graduate students to demonstrate how an eportfolio can be used to demonstrate graduate-ness and employability.
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Notes
- 1.
Since taking over halfway through the year, I was able to identify problems that needed to be addressed. A month after I was appointed, I was invited to pilot e-portfolios within the INTMAEU-curriculum to replace the final examination. For example, many of the 2104 cohort failed due to a misinterpretation of assignments: the 2015 cohort were required to improve their assignments based on feedback, and to upload both the assessed and improved versions of their learning tasks into their e-portfolios.
- 2.
- 3.
Although this assignment was designed to provide opportunities to co-create a glossary, it could still be done without developing team working skills. Therefore, this assignment needs to be improved upon or regarded as an individual assignment.
- 4.
Namely, https://arend.co (accessed 09.12.18).
- 5.
Student X was actively involved in her base group but could not subsequently reflect upon the efficiency or otherwise of this learning strategy, as a new lecturer cancelled the assignment.
- 6.
The letter refers to the base group, the number given to one of 7 members of the group.
- 7.
She added that ‘…using these two theories in conjunction with each other can create a more holistic learning environment. The Behaviourist learning perspective focuses on external, observable changes, whereas experiential learning emphasises the internalisation of and reflection on the learning journey. Using these two frameworks together can enable integration of objective and subjective aspects of the learning experience.
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van Staden, C.J. (2019). Using an ePortfolio to Demonstrate Graduate-ness and Employability During Post-graduate Distance Education. In: Diver, A. (eds) Employability via Higher Education: Sustainability as Scholarship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26342-3_29
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