Developing a Sustainable Electronic Portfolio (ePortfolio) Program That Fosters Reflective Practice and Incorporates CanMEDS Competencies Into the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum

Abstract

The University of Ottawa (uOttawa) Faculty of Medicine in 2008 launched a revised undergraduate medical education (UGME) curriculum that was based on the seven CanMEDS roles (medical expert, communicator, collaborator, health advocate, manager, scholar, and professional) and added an eighth role of person to incorporate the dimension of mindfulness and personal well-being. In this article, the authors describe the development of an electronic Portfolio (ePortfolio) program that enables uOttawa medical students to document their activities and to demonstrate their development of competence in each of the eight roles. The ePortfolio program supports reflective practice, an important component of professional competence, and provides a means for addressing the "hidden curriculum." It is bilingual, mandatory, and spans the four years of UGME. It includes both an online component for students to document their personal development and for student-coach dialogue, as well as twice-yearly, small-group meetings in which students engage in reflective discussions and learn to give and receive feedback.The authors reflect on the challenges they faced in the development and implementation of the ePortfolio program and share the lessons they have learned along the way to a successful and sustainable program. These lessons include switching from a complex information technology system to a user-friendly, Web-based blog platform; rethinking orientation sessions to ensure that faculty and students understand the value of the ePortfolio program; soliciting student input to improve the program and increase student buy-in; and providing faculty development opportunities and recognition.

The Utility of Reflective Writing after a Palliative Care Experience: Can We Assess Medical Students' Professionalism?

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Many have described storytelling and reflective writing as methods to both teach and evaluate professional attitudes. 10,14,15,18,[22][23][24][25][26][27] Educational activities that include learner opportunities to gain perspective, time for reflection, and mentoring are successful strategies that work in teaching humanism 28 and empathy, 26,27,[29][30][31][32] part of professionalism. Professionalism is a core competency and foundation for palliative care (PC) as a field.…”

The Challenges of Developing a Project-Based Self-Directed Learning Component for Undergraduate Medical Education

“…In essence, we are creating a digital portfolio that individual students can use to gauge their progress and reflect on their journey of lifelong learning. Using eportfolios in learning, including UGME, have been shown to be beneficial for students of this current Millennial generation [7][8][9][10]. The concept of keeping a portfolio of SDL-driven projects is a unique difference that sets this project-based component apart from PBL, and we feel that this capability further promotes the use of this type of SDL approach for students of the modern digital age.…”

Developing an academic coaching program

“…In our experience, this was an initially unrecognized and under budgeted, yet critical, component of the program. Hall, Byszewski, Sutherland, and Stodel (2012) developed an electronic portfolio program, which can be an option, if an institution is willing and able to invest the time and money. 8.…”