Evaluating Nursing Students’ Perception toward Use of E-Portfolio as an Innovative Learning Strategy for Student Assessment

Abstract

Abstract Portfolios have been advocated in nursing education to help student link theory and practice. E-portfolio has the advantage of allowing students to record, assess, and reflect upon their learning. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate nursing students’ perception toward use of e-portfolio as an assessment tool through the following: (1) Assessment of nursing students’ computer skills and knowledge about electronic portfolio. (2) Conducting theoretical and practical educational sessions about building e-portfolio. (3) Evaluating the nursing students’ perceptions regarding use of electronic portfolios as an assessment tool. Study design: A descriptive exploratory research design was used to conduct this study. Setting: This study was conducted in classroom and computer laboratory at Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Subjects: A convenience sample of all nursing students (n=200) during the academic year 2015/2016 were recruited to participate in this study. Data collection tools: (1) Students' assessment questionnaire: to assess nursing students' previous experience regarding computer skills and previous knowledge about e-portfolio. (2) Self-administered students' perception questionnaire regarding use of e-portfolio. (3) E-portfolio Gen-software was used to allow students to build e-portfolio. (4) Self-administered students’ opinionnaire regarding the theoretical and practical educational sessions. Results: Regarding overall perception related to e-portfolio, most of the students (92%) reported that, "It is a good program and social media through which they can communicate easily with their teachers and colleagues and can share knowledge, ideas, opinions and clinical experiences with others". Nearly two thirds of the students (66%) reported that, their experience with e-portfolio has been positive and the majority of them (82%) stated that "creating e- portfolio was an interesting activity. Conclusion: The majority of the nursing students perceived the e-portfolio as a new way of assessment because it is creative, fun, interactive and stimulating. Recommendations: It is recommended to use the e-portfolio as an assessment tool for nursing students, in addition to conducting other researches to evaluate the effectiveness of e-portfolio as a learning tool. Keywords: assessment, e-portfolio, learning, nursing students, perception