Loop Reflect
Loop Reflect

Learning with ePortfolios

Augmenting educators’ skills in use of e-portfolios

Learning portfolios had been called for in DCU in the 2012-2017 strategic plan.  The Loop Reflect Learning Portfolio was launched in September 2016. Based on Mahara, the open source platform, the portfolio aimed to make learning visible through the creation of a personalised and reflective living showcase of academic, professional, and personal achievements. A number of pilot projects were selected to use Loop Reflect across a range of disciplines and in a range of different contexts. At the end of the one year pilot programme,  there were approximately 5,200 registered users on the platform. In 2017/18 following a formal launch attended by the Minister of education, the Learning Portfolio platform was made available to all faculty and students. There are currently over 19,000 registered users, with almost 9,000 active users in the academic year 2019/20.  DCU has the largest eportfolio implementation of any higher education institution in Ireland (National Survey of Eportfolio Practice, 2019).

The initiative has been embedded into over 50 programmes and has played a critical role in supporting assessment and work placement across all faculties. Additionally, it has supported ongoing co-curricular activities such as the Mentoring scheme and Student Engagement awards. The eportfolio project was awarded the Learning Technology Team of the Year Award 2018 by the Association of Learning Technology (ALT) which particularly noted the collaboration with student eterns to support and promote eportfolio practice. DCU was a founding member of the  eportfolio community of practice Eportfolio Ireland  Furthermore, DCU is represented in the wider eportfolio community globally through DCU board membership on AAEEBL (Association of Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning).

 

ePortfolio Case Book

ePortfolio Case Studies

Case studies of eportfolio practice across many disciplines in DCU have been collated in this ebook. Reflections on the design and impact of eportfolio based assessment are shared.

Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:

Student

"I feel that Loop reflect was a major strength. Some of the topics covered in class were quite difficult, but by doing Loop reflect you had to read over your notes from class and do some extra research. This helped so much at exam time because you actually understand and remember what you are studying. I think every module should use Loop reflect!"

Student

"I learnt a lot about myself in the process of creating the portfolio. I found that I reflected a lot more on the different elements of my course when I wrote about them on the loop reflect page."

Student

"Creating this e-portfolio gave me the opportunity to pull together all the experiences and learnings from the past year in college and to synthesise my achievements and growth from all areas of the course."

Feedback from lecturers on the affordances offered by eportfolio are equally positive:

Lecturer

"Just to let you know - this module was always assessed with a written exam but I have to say I'm delighted with their submissions in Eportfolio. I intend to use it next year for other modules too."

Lecturer

"I'm really happy I chose Loop Reflect generally, especially with the move to online teaching....I also think as they saw their portfolio pages develop, that they were achieving goals on a more continuous basis and I liked that about the portfolio approach." 

Lecturer

"Enjoyed marking my Loop reflect assignments more than ever this year (ie. compared to marking other formats). The portfolios are a joy and help develop real understanding of the students' lifeworlds as they integrated different perspectives."

For more information on the Reflect eportfolio initiative, please click here.  The Reflect platform can be accessed  through the Quick Links panel in Loop.