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The effects of portfolio-based advice on the development of self-directed learning skills in secondary vocational education

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Abstract

This experimental study was designed to investigate whether supervision meetings, in which students receive specific advice on how to use a development portfolio to monitor their progress and plan their future learning, helps them to develop self-directed learning skills and improve their learning in the domain. In the first year of a hairdressing program in vocational education, supervision meetings were used to provide students with either specific advice or not. Students in the advice group (n = 21) formulated better learning needs, selected more suitable learning tasks, completed more practical assignments, and acquired more certificates than students in the feedback-only group (n = 22). Interviews also showed that students in the advice group appreciated the supervision meeting more and perceived them as more effective than students in the feedback-only group. Guidelines are provided for the use of development portfolios and the organization of supervision meetings in on-demand vocational education.

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Acknowledgment

This research project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, The Hague, project no. 411-03-202).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies and Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning Open University of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 2960, 6401-DL, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Wendy Kicken, Saskia Brand-Gruwel, Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer & Wim Slot

Authors
  1. Wendy Kicken
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  2. Saskia Brand-Gruwel
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  3. Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer
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  4. Wim Slot
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy Kicken.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Protocols for supervision meetings in both conditions
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Kicken, W., Brand-Gruwel, S., van Merriënboer, J.J.G. et al. The effects of portfolio-based advice on the development of self-directed learning skills in secondary vocational education. Education Tech Research Dev 57, 439–460 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-009-9111-3

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