Skip to main content

A call to action for eProfessionalism: developing the use of ePortfolio with emerging health and education practitioners

Journal of Computing in Higher Education (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify educational, technological, and professional consequences of ePortfolio use that were intended, unintended, positive and negative. Ethical approval was obtained from seven universities in accordance with institutional guidelines established in accordance with Australia’s National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. A mixed methods design was employed to survey staff and invite them to participate in a focus group or interview. Online questionnaires were distributed across seven universities to 22 volunteer respondents drawn from academic teachers in both disciplines. Following completion and quantification of questionnaire data, respondents were invited to participate in a either a focus group or interview with one of the researchers. Merton’s sociological model was adopted in the study as it informed a conceptual framework used to examine the impact of unintended consequences that emerged when building a professional online presence. This theory was used to identify the full range of ePortfolio learning and teaching practices emerging as a multi-function, complex system, within domains and purpose of ePortfolios such as information systems, health or education disciplines. Results indicated a significant challenge, namely there is no single set of guidelines that would support teachers and students when engaging in learning and teaching activities to improve protection of private data relating to vulnerable people. Digital literacy of academics and students is variable and may impact on data privacy. Data gathered will be used to inform development of guidelines on the use and publication of information collected in ePortfolios to protect vulnerable people.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Armfield, S. W., & Blocher, J. M. (2019). Global digital citizenship: Providing context. TechTrends, 63(4), 470–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00381-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnable, A., Cunning, G., & Parcon, M. (2018). Nursing students’ perceptions of confidentiality, accountability, and E-professionalism in relation to facebook. Nurse Educator, 43(1), 28–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth, R. G. (2015). Happiness, stress, a bit of vulgarity, and lots of discursive conversation: A pilot study examining nursing students’ tweets about nursing education posted to Twitter. Nurse Education Today, 35(2), 322–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.10.012 Epub 2014 Oct 28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown Wilson, C., Slade, C., Kirby, M. M., Downer, T., Fisher, M. B., & Nuessler, S. (2018). Digital ethics and the use of ePortfolio: A scoping review of the literature. International Journal of ePortfolio, 8(2), 115–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryman, A. (2008). Of methods and methodology. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 3(2), 159–168. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465640810900568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cain, J. (2008). Online Social Networking Issues Within Academia and Pharmacy Education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 72(1), 10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cain, J., & Fink, J. (2010). Legal and ethical issues regarding social media and pharmacy education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74(10), 184. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj7410184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cain, J., Scott, D. R., & Akers, P. (2009). Pharmacy students’ Facebook activity & opinions regarding accountability & e-professionalism. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 73(6), 104. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj7306104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cain, J., Scott, D. R., Tiemeier, A. M., Akers, P., & Metzger, A. H. (2013). Social media use by pharmacy faculty: Student friending, e-professionalism, and professional use. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 5, 2–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Child, J. T., Haridakis, P. M., & Petronio, S. (2012). Blogging privacy rule orientations, privacy management, and content deletion practices: The variability of online privacy management activity at different stages of social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(5), 1859–1872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.05.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W., & Miller, D. L. (2000). Determining validity in qualitative inquiry. Theory into Practice, 39(3), 124–130. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3903_2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, E., Patel, P., & Neville, P. (2019). Perceptions of e-professionalism among dental students: A UK dental school study. British Dental Journal, 226(1), 73–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duke, V. J., Anstey, A., Carter, S., Gosse, N., Hutchens, K. M., & Marsh, J. A. (2017). Social media in nurse education: Utilization and e-professionalism. Nurse Education Today, 57, 8–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.06.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fetters, M., Curry, L., & Cresswell, J. (2013). Achieving integration in mixed methods designs- principles and practices. Health Services Research., 48(6 pt2), 2134–2156. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, M. B., & Hill, A. J. (2017). ‘Eportfolio implementation in a multiple campus university environment 6 – Academic teacher continuous improvement. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), 8(2), 3055–3063.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores, A., & James, C. (2012). Morality and ethics behind the screen: Young people’s perspectives on digital life. New Media & Society, 15(6), 834–852. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812462842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbes, D. (2017). Professional online presence and learning networks: Educating for ethical use of social media. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i7.2826

  • Getting, J.P., Lee, N., & Fjortoft, N. (2013). Student and Faculty Observations and Perceptions of Professionalism in Online Doman Scenarios. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 22(9). Article 192.

  • Gray, E., & McGuire, B. (2020). A student-centered framework for digital privacy, digital ethics and digital literacy. The AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, 3(2), 9–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, M., Jin, S., Sanders, G. L., Sherman, B. A., & Simha, A. (2014). Virtual Worlds: A Review. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Inventive approaches for technology integration and information resources management (pp. 162–212). Hershey.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hagel, P. A. (2015). What is good practice in the development, assessment and evaluation of digital literacy for graduate employability? (Report No. 2). Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University, Library Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.21153/dsc2015no2art1

  • Holmwood, J. (2005). Functionalism and its critics. In Harrington, A. (Ed.), Modern social theory: An introduction (pp. 87–109). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11

  • Ivankova, N., Creswell, J., & Stick, S. (2006). Using mixed-methods sequential explanatory design: From theory to practice. Field Methods, 18(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05282260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jawaid, M., Khan, M. H., & Bhutto, S. H. (2015). Social network utilization (Facebook) & e-Professionalism among medical students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 31(1), 209–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kift, S., Harper, W., Creagh, T., Hauville, K., McCowan, C., & Emmett, D. (2007, March). ePortfolios: Mediating the minefield of inherent risks and tensions. Paper presented at the ePortfolio Australia Forum: Imagining New Literacies, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Kim, P., Ng, C. D., & Lim, G. (2010). When cloud computing meets with Semantic Web: A new design for e-portfolio systems in the social media era. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), 1018–1028.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchenham, A., & Chasteauneuf, C. (2009). An application of Mezirow’s critical reflection theory to electronic portfolios. Journal of Transformative Education, 7(3), 230–244. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344610383287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kondracki, N., Wellman, N., & Amundson, D. (2002). Content analysis: Review of methods and their applications in Nutrition Education. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior., 34(4), 224–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1499-4046(06)60097-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. K. (1936). The unanticipated consequences of purposive social action. American Sociological Review, 1(6), 894–904. https://doi.org/10.2307/2084615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Sage. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2015.975966

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nagler, A. (2009). The unintended consequences of portfolios: Graduate medical education. Academic Medicine, 84(11), 1522–1526. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181bb2636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, N., & Connelly, L. (2016). Students’ Digital footprints: curation of online presences, privacy and peer support. Paper presented at European Conference on Social Media (ECSM 2016), Caen, France, United Kingdom, 11–12 July 2016.

  • Perlman, R., Ross, P. T., Christner, J., & Lypson, M. (2011). Faculty reflections on the implementation of socio-cultural eportfolio assessment tool. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives., 12(3), 375–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.571868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, T., Chen, H. L., Watson, C. E., & Garrison, W. (2014). Editorial: A call for more rigorous ePortfolio research. International Journal of ePortfolio, 4(1), 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossman, G. B., & Rallis, S. F. (2003). Learning in the field: An introduction to qualitative research. Sage. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.24.3.6.s2

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shulman, L. S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slade, C., & Downer, T. (2020). Students’ conceptual understanding and attitudes towards technology and user experience before and after use of an ePortfolio. Journal of Computing in Higher Education., 32(3), 553–560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09245-8OMITINBLINDCOPYTOREVIEWERS

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skrabal, J. (2017). Factors and Processes That Influence E-Professionalism among Pre-Licensure Baccalaureate Nursing Students When Utilizing Social Media. Dissertation, College of Saint Mary. https://www.csm.edu/sites/default/files/Skrabal.pdf

  • Sowton, C., Connelly, L., & Osborne, N. (2016). E-Professionalism. Retrieved from University of Edinburgh, Institute for Academic Development: http://www.docs.hss.ed.ac.uk/iad/About_us/Digital_footprint/Student_eprofrofessionalism_guide_v1_2.pdf

  • Watson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T., Light, T. P., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The eleventh high impact practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wissinger, C. L., & Stiegler, Z. (2019). Using the extended parallel process model to frame E-professionalism instruction in healthcare education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 31(3), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2018.1528155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeichner.K, & Wray.S,. (2001). The teaching portfolio in US teacher education programmes: What we know and what we need to know. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(5), 613–621. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00017-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the many colleagues and students who have contributed to our study. We hope that our findings make a positive contribution to teaching and learning in higher education.

Funding

This research was supported by the in-kind work of all authors listed. Lead author was employed by Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia, for three years of this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Binghamton, US

    Misty M. Kirby

  2. University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia

    Terri Downer

  3. University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia

    Christine Slade

  4. Australian Catholic University, Canberra, Australia

    Marie B. Fisher

  5. Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia

    Stephen T. Isbel

  6. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Zarrin S. Siddiqui

  7. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Lynn McAllister

  8. Digital Capability & ePortfolios Australia, Canberra, Australia

    Allison Miller

  9. Queens University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Christine Brown Wilson

Authors
  1. Misty M. Kirby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Terri Downer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christine Slade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marie B. Fisher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Stephen T. Isbel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zarrin S. Siddiqui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lynn McAllister
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Allison Miller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Christine Brown Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Misty M. Kirby.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kirby, M.M., Downer, T., Slade, C. et al. A call to action for eProfessionalism: developing the use of ePortfolio with emerging health and education practitioners. J Comput High Educ (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-022-09326-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-022-09326-1

Keywords

  • Unintended consequences
  • ePortfolio
  • Digital ethics
  • eProfessionalism
  • Vulnerable population
  • Intended consequences