Portfolios: An ‘affective’ assessment strategy? Sally Glen and Norman
F Hight
The curriculum research and development work undertaken to facilitate the implementation of a portfolio assessment strategy, as an integral component of a Project 2000 course, is described. Many excellent assessment schemes have floundered at the point of being put in to use, thus the question of consultation, reflection and preparation needs to figure from the early stages if the scheme is to be successful. This should include in-service education for nurse and midwifery educators and preparation of students. The principle questions explored in the paper are: What educational values do portfolios have? Against what criteria should students make decisions in relation to content? Against what criteria are educators to assess portfolios? The issue of evaluation of portfolio schemes is likely to determine whether portfolios maintain the important place they have captured in the nursing and midwifery education imagination. Finally, it is argued that innovations, such as portfolios, should be seen as catalysts, as points of departure, rather than as things to be implemented.
INTRODUCTION Within nursing and midwifery education there is an upsurge of interest in the use of portfolios (ENB 1990; Oeschsle & Volden 1990; UKCC 1990; Volden, Lambeth & Oeschsle 1989). Knapp (1975) defines a portfolio as: a file or folder of information which has been accumulated about a student’s past experiences and accomplishments . . . can be the vehicle for organising and distilling raw prior experiences into a manageable form for ass-
Sally Glen MA Dip Ed RGN RNT, School of Education and Health Studies, South Bank University, London SE1 OAA, UK and Norman F Hight RMN Dip N RGN RNT, The North West London College of Nursing and Midwifery, London, UK (Requests for offprints to SG) Manuscript accepted 1 July 1992 416
essment . . a process by which prior experiences can be translated into educational outcomes or competencies, documents and assessed for academic credit or recognition. Portfolios with their associated norms of ‘ipsative’ reference, negotiation and participation form a loose and untested constellation of innovative projects (for example, journals, diaries and profiles) which are becoming integral components of preand post-registration courses. This paper is the authors’ response to the need for a more rational and critical examination of portfolios as a form of assessment. The principle questions addressed are: What educational values do portfolios have? Against what criteria should students make decisions in relation to content? Against what criteria are educators to assess portfolios?
NURSE EDWATION
The stance adopted knowledge
here is that until we have the
for improving
assessment
identifies evaluates
strategies,
4 17
TODAY
resources for learning, and learning outcomes. Learning is
based on a data-base and evaluative information,
conceptualised
nurse and midwifery
tory, life-long process resulting in increase in perception and/or change behaviour.
educators
should proceed
cautiously.
Most nursing
WHAT EDUCATIONAL PORTFOLIOS HAVE? It is becoming formal
more
preparation
midwifery
VALUES DO
for work
to learn about themselves, interaction
with other
own ways of handling
importance students
(1991)
in nursing
and
ments are required
for students
about their styles of and about
significant
to the
plistic premise
out
personal
is to orient
gressivist’ ideology. student
points
influenced
of
a ‘pro-
an oversim-
while the view of the
way of thinking,
be described
to attach
towards
as an adult (androgogy)
humanistic
1991).
that
This is perhaps
because
their
experiences
development
teaching
ideology,
by behaviourists,
gists and cognitive theorists
is based on a
and therefore
as a Progressivist
Gestalt
might it is also
psycholo-
(Darkenwald
& Mer-
riam 1982). Much recent practice in nursing and midwifery education is prone to cite the ‘theory of andragogy’ introduced by Lindeman (1926) and more recently
Knowles
and the ‘person-centred identified
The underlying of documenting four assumptions (Knowles 1975). The student
(1975,
approach’
by Kogers (1977,
1978,
to learning
basis for the portfolio regarding
method
is found
in the
the adult learner
challenging. are:
The readiness to learn develops tasks and problems demonstrates
are a rich from life
curiosity
and is
self-motivated to grow and achieve. The self-directed learner is therefore seen as one who diagnoses
her/his learning
needs,
an in
courses
tedness
..
review
of
influence. context.
(1986)
for maintaining
cultures
. . . and a
throughout
the
world
are rigid and
of individual
empha-
options.
is less likely to be allowed
in a rigid, traditional
The nursing profession light. Attempts
and
that self-direc-
and they place a primary
sis on the subjugation
prosper
or
Environ-
rarity
reveals that most social structures
Self-directedness
be an
warns that there
is an empirical
hierarchical
To
educator
that are both supportive
Brookfield
cultural
to
setting.
is often viewed in such a
to introduce
portfolios
are more
likely to succeed if they recognise the interdependence of individual actors and their institutional settings and address the ‘social’ as well as the ‘material’
realities
and barriers
within
the
institutions’ unique culture (Table 1). A very over-simple diagram of learning contained
in Kolb’s (1984) learning
is
cycle (Fig. 1).
Whilst Kolb’s cycle is not an accurate reflection the
learning
process,
it contains
some
of
of its
essential elements and it is important to note that in all of these instances learning begins with experience.
That experience in the placement
any situation
is self-directed
diploma
self-initiated a certain
good ground
classroom
The student’s past experiences resource for learning
The student
1980)
1983).
prior learning
requires
student
related to health and illness (Beattie Pendleton
rhetorical
reflective,
that
about their personal
people
not just
active, recognised
needs to make provision
values, about their feelings,
and midwifery
participa-
advocate the development of self-initiated learning. However, this aspiration requires structural force,
widely
as a self-initiated,
Carlos
might occur in the or life experience
might be a learning
Casteneda
(1990)
notes,
situation. ‘The
As
world
doesn’t yield to us directly: the description of the world stands in between’. The experience itself merely provides learning opportunities, what individuals learn from the experience depends on how they internalise and build on the learning opportunities
present.
fessional
is a function
learning
The
student’s
pro-
of her ability to
418
NURSEEDUCATIONTODAY
Table 1 Two realities of colleges of nursing and midwifery The Arena Material structures
The Action Social structures
Level 3
The policy environment Department of Health Region Board National Board
The ‘social environment’ Local community
Level 2
The Theatre College organisation Policy and curriculum
The atmosphere College ethos or climate
Level 1
The script Learning tasks
The performance Transactions, perceptions and predispositions
First order reality Intended curriculum revealed by systems analysis
Second order reality Perceived curriculum revealed by ethnographic study
develop qualities of the ‘reflective
practitioner’.
biased understanding ing them
from
of human
different
The development of these qualities requires the cultivation of meta-cognitive skills and these can
logue, according
be developed
being open to conversion
through
and autobiographical lios, journals Portfolios assessment
and
Dialogue
the
curriculum
student
merits
terms in constantly reminding learning is a two-way process. process the comments
separation
because
between
has clear
such as portfo-
they
of are
and educa-
not
The student
answer to every question’ and acquire a more tentative perception of knowledge, one that will
of the
from a person
degenerate
1968). and
The
enable
a resource
to assist
the student critically to reflect on her experience and possibilities for future development. Dialogue has as its focus the expansion of an individual’s understanding of her own achievements and aspirations and by extension, of her goals.
In other
of knowledge
her to regard
of the
a situation
associated
with reflective
formed
and constituted
words
practice
are
in part by
TExpefie “\ Active Experimentation
Reflective Observation
the
The insights or understandings which emerge ‘go beyond’ the student’s previous ideas. Gadamer (1975) defines dialogue as a process one’s own partial
abilities and
Concrete
student extends her own ideas by bringing them into a dialectical relationship with other People’s.
of deepening
from its multi-
aspects. The metacognitive
themselves
‘one correct
lose its
cutting edge, however. Kather at best it should be a ‘critical dialogue’, a collaborative process, in
the setting
has to grow out of her ‘absolute’
students that Within such a
(Peters
which the teacher constitutes
under-
perception
capacities
should
of a situation by bring-
standing.
with authority dialogue
points of
and extending
ing it into a dialectic with an alternative
faceted
authority
to alternative
in educational
and the reflections
as well as coming
of view. Dia-
is not a matter of
view. It is a matter of deepening
teacher are more likely to be seen as being vested who has formal
to Gadamer,
one’s own understanding
and diaries. also challenge
based on dialogue tor.
the use of biographical techniques
acts by explor-
points
and inevitably
\
Abstract
rJ
Conceptualisation Figure Kolb’s learning cycle
NURSE EDUCA1‘ION
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4 19
Table 2 Examples of the application of the affective taxonomy to portfolios The process of internalisation commences with receiving and responding and progresses to characterisation. Receiving and responding The two lowest sub-categories interview. For example:
of the affective domain would hopefully be determined
during the selection
The candidate is attracted to nursing as a career and has some consciousness of the depth and scope of her choice. Value At the end of the Common
Foundation
Programme
one of the criteria could be, for example:
She has a continuing desire to develop her ability to deliver nursing care effectively. Characterisation To successfully meet the summative assessment criteria at the end of the branch programme, might demonstrate evidence of the following affective objectives. For example: 1. Demonstrate 2. Demonstrate 3. Demonstrate
the student
a willingness to revise judgements and to change her behaviours in the light of evidence. a willingness to be a respondent of change. a commitment to her continuing personal and professional development.
social interaction. A central thesis of liberalism, that of an individualistic psychology, has recently been challenged by theorists such as Vygotsky (Wertsch 1985; Williams 1989). In Vygotsky’s view, development occurs only in and through the social interaction between people. A special intersubjective learning relationship makes development possible. If this social interactive dimension is neglected, it is probably close to inevitable that portfolios will have little formative effect in the way of facilitating the process of ‘internalisation’ (Bloom, Krathwohl, Masia et al 1964) (Table 2). It is fair, however to ask the question: What conditions have to be satisfied in order for a dialogue to be sustained which I) provides for informed critical questions to be put which rest on alternative viewpoints and 2) encourages the student to put their views in a non-threatening and non-defensive way, such that 3) it is a learning process for both student and teacher (cf. Habermas’ notion of ‘an ideal speech situation’; Habermas 1976; Hart 1985; McCarthy 1978). This is the ideal to which portfolios aspire, even if they sometimes fall short. Internalisation is the growth that occurs as the students become aware of and then adopt attitudes, principles, codes and sanctions that are basic to their personal and professional judge-
ment and guide their personal and professional behaviour. Indicators of the process of internationalisation (i.e. professional socialisation) facilitate the identification of criteria against which the portfolio can be assessed. (Table 2 illustrates examples of how criteria can be related to indicators of internalisation). Assessment and curriculum therefore become part of an integrated whole and assessment serves fully the personal developmental purposes of the curriculum - recognition at least that internalisation and student development concern the dissolution of the personal and professional divide. The need to become aware of and then adopt a much wider held of-persona1 and professional beliefs and practices to become a more rounded, and hence a better nurse, becomes important. One might argue that one ought always to be required to ask of assessment strategies how they advance the personal and professional development of the student and whether the ones which are employed are chosen and administered so as to maximise their possible contribution to that development. It is not always, however, an easy principle to apply. What constitutes personal and professional development is in itself deeply problematic.
420
NURSE EDUCATION
TODAY
Table 3 Affective objectives and associated verbs Bloom’s classification
Associated verbs
Receiving Responding Value Organisation Characterisation
Listen; accept; attend; perceive; be aware state; select; answer; write; derive accept; increase; particiapte; attain; decide Relate; associate; find; form; select Change, demonstrate; judge, identify; decide
AGAINST WHAT CRITERIA SHOULD STUDENTS MAKE DECISIONS IN RELATION TO CONTEXT
AGAINST WHAT CRITERIA ARE EDUCATORS TO ASSESS PORTFOLIOS?
In the recent literature portfolios are an effective
Rowntree
Many authors
to facilitate reflection
on practice (Richert
The selection of content and promote
1990).
should therefore
the ongoing
a critical, reflective
it is suggested that mechanism designed reflect
development
practitioner
(Schon
institutional reflections educator
and comments
in
placements; in relation
highlighting
perceived
and needs and the teacher’s comments perceptions
of
strengths
and
work, including
comments
by teachers
facilitation
of
learning.
to
strengths as to their
needs,
course and self
Bloom
of educational
sought
and complexity.
to arrange
ciated
most
might be written.
The
of ‘internalisation’
‘affective cational
domain objectives’
their optimum foundation
of
relationships
in Table
(UKCC 1990) as a concept (rather than a policy) for the developments of nursing and midwifery practice.
the
taxonomy
hier-
of
through
a common is illustrated
of the application to
edu-
et al 1964) and
and branch programme
illustrated
leagues also offers nurse and midwifery educators a tool to grasp the framework of PREPP
of the affective
to add the dimension
(Krathwohl
on the outcomes
and professional values and norms and the development of self assessment and evaluation skills. Self-reflection and reflection with col-
the asso-
in which objectives
to provide a meaningful
taxonomy
can potentially bring about the of a critical awareness of personal
1964).
by levels
archical structure (Krathwohl et al 1964). The sequence of categories and subcategories of the
2. Examples
of action and persona1 diaries.
cited is that
objectives
authors
domain found it necessary
affective
plans
objectives
to be the simplest:
verbs are the terms
in Table
of actions and subsequent
for
In Table 3 those at the top of the
list are supposed
assessment and peer review in some instances; learning contracts, proposed actions, reflections
Portfolios development
The
written by Bloom and his associates (1956,
personal and course objectives and learning outcomes. This might include self-assessment by the student,
the
1962;
of educational of teaching and
1983).
by the student and the
on the student’s progress
the specification and use objectives for the organisation
Mager
persuasively
classification
on experience
and non-institutional and comments
et al 1956;
have argued
towards
Content might therefore include: personal aims (and their continuing modification); course aims; reflection
(Bloom
1974)
portfolios
are
of the also
2.
Affective objectives have long-range importance involving as they do, not whether a student can, but whether she wants to and does behave in a professionally desirable way. Specifying affective outcomes (e.g. attitudes, interests, values, commitments, etc.) are as important within the context of professional education, as specifying cognitive
or psychomotor
and Clayton (1988)
outcomes.
As Bevis
note:
Perhaps the fact that nursing has practice as its
NURSE EDUCATION
most important aspect necessitates that, that very practice be viewed not just as a set of behaviours but as thoughts, feelings, perceptions, insights, ways of being, ways of knowing, intuitions, attitudes, longings, dreams, hopes, visions, and values. One might argue that nursing is essentially a moral practice aimed at the realisation of values, not so much as an extrinsic outcome of an activity, but within the form of the activity itself. Affective outcomes therefore constitute legitimate nursing and midwifery educational outcomes in themselves. Furthermore, how a student feels about the art and science of nursing and midwifery and their commitment to lifelong learning may be as important as how much they achieve. Bloom’s work has been subjected to frequent criticism mainly on the grounds of lack of conceptual clarity (@me11 1974; Peters 1969). Moreover, Bloom himself recognises that the distinction between cognitive and affective is a convenient artifact, and that thinking and feeling are closely interwoven in human behaviour. Finally, one might argue that actions not behaviour, are the raw data, so raw that we cannot assume that we know precisely how to conceptualise them to make them accessible to assessment. However, Bloom’s work has proved for us a valuable first step in an attempt to provide structure in the amorphous area of facilitating the development of portfolios with Project 2000 students.
PREPARATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION Many excellent assessment schemes have foundered at the point of being put into use (Broadfoot 1987). The question of implementation of a portfolio scheme needs to figure right from the early stages of discussion and design if the scheme is to be successful. This includes in-service education for nurse and midwifery educators and preparation of students.
TODAY
42 1
In-service education (INSET) A combination of approaches is probably most helpful. Our experience suggests that provision of workshops and participation practical exercises and activities has provided most useful insight and preparation and the to many of the difficulties associated with introduction of portfolios.
the the in the key the
Preparation of students In the long run, preparing students for a rather different role in the assessment process than they are possibly used to is likely to be just as important to the eventual educational success of the scheme as preparing the staff who will operate it (Ruddock 199 1). Again, our experience has demonstrated the need to consider the above issues before implementing a portfolio scheme of assessment. Any attempt to skimp on the process of consultation, reflection and preparation of educators and students is likely to result in a scheme which does not achieve its goal, either because it is faulty in its design or because it does not enjoy the support of all members of staff and students.
Evaluation The need to evaluate the success of any attempt at innovation may seem dull in comparison with the down to earth concerns discussed so far. Nevertheless, the issues evaluation address are likely to prove the most fundamental of all in the long term to determine whether portfolios maintain the important place they have captured in education and midwifery the nursing imagination. Unless portfolio schemes of assessment are flexible enough to respond to changing needs and circumstances; unless they can win professional and public acceptability and unless they form a coherent whole with other developments in assessment and accreditation, within nursing and midwifery education, the enthusiasm on which portfolios depend will rapidly succumb to the erosion of time and disillusion.
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NURSE EDUCATION
The paper
TODAY
view that the proposals outlined in this are an interim statement requiring a
considerable
amount of continuing
and fine tuning. data
base
informed
We recognise
and
evaluative
development.
‘To draw attention
modification
the need (1982)
continuing
for notes:
to its full range of function
CONCLUSION
we
may define “evaluation”
broadly as the collection
Portfolios
and use of information
to make decisions
resent
involves
the
about
are
potentially
the search
about changes,
an educational programme.’ As the word itself implies, ably
process of review and evaluation.
for a
information
Cronbach
scheme has been launched. It is necessary to subject the scheme’s operation and impact to a
evaluation
formulation
of
inevit-
particular
nursing
assess students,
in the way they develop students.
be made. Thus any evaluation requires a clear specification of assessment criteria which will
facilitate
allow a judgement to be made as to whether those goals have been achieved. These require-
tions such as portfolios
ments may be expressed
things to be implemented.
as three key questions
points
-
What are our objectives
-
folios? How do we know when we achieved
in instituting
If we are not achieving
portthese?
them, what are the
reasons?
decisions.
of departure
rather
catalysts
the vulnerability
of nursing
is a form of formative
work. It is difficult
Striven
(1967) is
notes: to
‘The
role
discover
stand
portfolio
-
That
about
process
development. could
Involvement the inherent
An
potentially
the process
behaviour
of
-
of
teachers
successful
action-research facilitate
and
in action research task of professional a dialectic
That it will reveal actual outcomes intended ones
the
the
students. will serve work, i.e. between as against
That it will lead to decision-making.
Therefore
the need
and consultation
for discussion,
reforms,
temporary,
can be
and midwifery
time
pressures
decision
makers
of potential happen.
under
given the political and which
for nursing
to become
solutions,
edu-
quick fixes
but
they
constantly
and midwifery
‘critical consumers’ this is what
must
to under-
will postively change
development through practice and reflection -
major
as
process
would come
the
and
version.’
part of an action-research
more
approach following:
of formative
deficiencies
successes in the intermediate and students
and as
than
term change. The problem of seeking innovations as solutions is particularly acute because of
research
By being
rather
even
innova-
best be seen as
cational decision makers to apparent
evaluation
- they
than aids to more basic long-
or other specific solutions,
educators
and relate to
In this sense,
innovations,
of
basis for curriculum
because they are by definition diversions
rep-
but also
are formative
should
One can seek answers to the above questions within an action-research framework. Action-
evaluation
curricula
purposes
a more informed
Finally,
which need to be answered:
-
Such
development
They
ways of bringing
not only in the way colleges
and midwifery
may
criteria or values against which ajudgement
catalytic.
for better
reflection
does not finish once a portfolio
Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge and thank those teachers within North West London College of Nursing and Midwifery who formulated the concept of portfolio and incorporated it into the ‘Diploma of Nursing and Kegistration as a Nurse’ assessment profile. We owe them a considerable debt as it is upon their work which we have built. We would also like to thank Ursula Cowell for permission to publish.
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