Enhancing Graduate Students’ Reflection in E-portfolios Using the TPACK Framework

Abstract

When electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) are employed as summative assessments for degree granting programs, it is imperative that graduate students demonstrate their knowledge in the field to showcase learning growth and achievement of the program learning outcomes. This study examined the extent master's degree students in the field of educational technology demonstrated their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) related elements in their e-portfolio reflection, when they were guided by TPACK framework grounded instruction. Using content analysis technique and open-ended survey responses, the findings show that graduate students were able to demonstrate their interconnected technological pedagogical knowledge in their reflection to justify their competencies. In addition, graduate students had positive reactions to the opportunity to reflect through writing the reflection paper. This study contributes to the eportfolio literature by signifying the importance of providing a discipline-specific framework to guide students' reflection of learning. The TPACK grounded instruction helped graduate students stay focused on their reflection. This study also contributes to the TPACK literature by demonstrating the extent to which graduate students presented their integrated knowledge of TPACK at the end of a program driven to developing students' technology integration expertise. IntroductionElectronic portfolios (e-portfolios) have emerged as an assessment strategy for pre-service and in-service teachers as well as professionals of various disciplines (Barrett, 2007;Joyes, Gray, & Hartnell-Young, 2010;Liao, 2011;Wakimoto & Lewis, 2014). The affordance of e-portfolios that makes the storage and retrieval of artefacts easier (Lin, 2008) complements the essential role of e-portfolios -helping students learn to think critically and reflectively (Thornton, Ferris, Johnson, Kidwai, & Ching, 2011). Ideally, when creating an eportfolio, students not only collect artefacts that showcase their learning and development, but also engage in reflective reasoning of their learning growth. Through reflection, students can connect, synthesise, and evaluate their interrelated knowledge, skills, and experiences in a comprehensive way. In addition, reflection can help students integrate their learning experiences into their existing knowledge base and encourage personal and meaningful connections to their learning.However, in reality, many e-portfolios are only organised collections of artefacts, which fail to include nurturing thoughtful reflection with insights (Hadley, 2006). Even when reflection is a required component for eportfolios, students often discuss their artefacts at a superficial level with only a description of the artefacts. Rarely do students reflect deeply to create a strong argumentative account that demonstrates their ability to connect theory with practice and that represents competencies critical to their professions. One possible reason for the lack of in-depth reflection lies in the absence of refl...

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