Promoting the scholarship of teaching through reflective e‐portfolios in teacher education

Abstract

This study focuses on the goal of enhancing student reflection and learning with the key objective being to determine whether a structured reflective tool can enhance students' ability to engage in a reflective cycle. A case study approach was adopted involving three cohorts of first year teacher education students in an Australian university over three years. The study found that the reflective tool assisted students to structure their reflections in a more cohesive manner, that without such a guide the majority of the students' comments were descriptive and their reflective comment tended to be at a superficial level.

The Contribution of Portfolios to Professional Development in TESOL: An Investigation into Teachers’ Beliefs and Attitudes

“…Clear guidelines in relation to what purpose such writing has and who will be reading it will help to allay their fears. Pelliccione and Raison (2009) show why providing teachers with a guide on how to engage in self-reflection is crucial. A reflection guide assisted the participants in their study "in structuring their reflections in a more cohesive manner.…”

Pre-service teachers' reflections during field experience

“…Reflection has been increasingly recognised as an important element of teachers' professional growth and development (e.g. Loughran 2002;Pelliccione and Raison 2009;Zeichner 1992). Schön (1987) suggests that in teacher preparation courses, teacher educators should engage teachers in tasks in which they can explore their own learning.…”

E‐portfolios in teacher education 2002–2009: the social construction of discourse, design and dissemination

“…The socio-cultural perspective implies communication and feedback from others, student teachers as well as teacher educators and e-portfolios afford open environments in which it is easy to publish texts, pictures or multimedia in order to invite teacher educators to provide formative assessments. Studies have shown that the development of e-portfolios can enhance student teachers' professional learning process and their ability to reflect on their work (Beck & Bear, 2009;Hauge, 2006;Mansvelder-Longayroux, Beijaard & Verloop, 2007;Pelliccione & Raisen, 2009). The same studies point out that in order to succeed, student teachers need training and support in their reflective work.…”