FLC Project and Resources – Jen Gennaco's UNE Site

I have started researching to see how programs are incorporating peer review into their ePortfolio practices. This summer in a nursing course, I was able to work with one cohort of students on multiple occasions. Since we were 100% remote, they were the first group to try out the launch sequence. I made a class visit to answer questions and create context for their ePortfolio work. I also surveyed them to get a sense of perceived usefulness of the launch support materials. Their participation in helping me to improve the sequence was very helpful.

Working with group directly a few times gave me an advantage from my usual model of classroom instruction. Because the students had watched video tutorials, when I visited their Zoom sessions, I spent a few minutes reviewing and answering questions, but the basic set up was already done, giving me the opportunity to work with them to apply an integrative approach to assessing the structure and design of their ePortfolio through a simple peer review activity.

Typically, peer review relates to content: students peer review one another’s writing or they comment on each other’s posts, sometimes incorporating feedback for revision. My interest is in focusing peer review on ePortfolio design choices. So, working with this Nursing cohort, I created a short lesson to review terminology (pages, posts, widgets, menus). Then with the help of the professor and using Google Doc sharing, we broke the students into groups and asked them to review each other’s ePortfolios for structure and aesthetic choices. The goal was to provide each student with some feedback about the way their ePortfolio appeared to someone else and also to call their attention to structural issues that needed attention. I was expecting 30 minutes to complete this activity, but due to the first guest speaker taking more time than anticipated, this activity was only given about 15 minutes.

Themes-Peer-Review-Activity (Summer 2020)Download

Next, I reviewed the portfolios where the student got no substantive feedback (either due to time or other issues for the partner student). I also reviewed a sampling of other portfolios and offered additional feedback (links to tutorials to address identified issues, ideas for further development). I would like to build on this project by interacting with this group again to see their progress as they move into the next set of courses, which has them adding content from two more courses.

Editorial: ePortfolios — The Elevent h High I mpact Practice