Tips for the new ePortfolio year

By Catherine Fink NZROT

Feb 22, 2018

 Keeping your ePortfolio up to date is a challenge for any busy Occupational Therapist. Juggling a case load, staying on top of documentation, attending in-services, workshops and conferences, participating in supervision and keeping up with changes in services, legislation etc. all compete for your time. Often attending to our ePortfolio update gets pushed to the bottom of our to-do list, until the end of March rolls around.

And yet, dedicating some unhurried time to our ePortfolio activity has many potential benefits, not just to maintaining our competence to practice. But also to our professional identity, our growth as a clinician and to our career development.

Here are 5 tips (well actually there are 17 tips) for being proactive about your ePortfolio.

Make a start sooner rather than later

• Updating your ePortfolio always takes longer than you think. Plan to do it long before March 31st, so that you are not under pressure come the end of the practicing year.
• Put aside a decent chunk of time (eg: 2 x 3 hour slots over 2 weeks) so that you can give it the attention it needs and you can mindfully reflect on your activity over the year and set meaningful goals for the year ahead.
• Schedule a supervision session dedicated to discussing your ePortfolio.

Critique your ePortfolio in case of audit.

• Are the Employment and Education sections of your ePortfolio up to date and complete?
• Do your Self Assessments reflect your career development and professional journey over time? Maybe uploading your CV as evidence of this would be useful. Or maybe giving a brief background of your role, responsibilities and level of expertise would provide context for your chosen Goals and Learning Activities.
• Do your Goals and Learning Activities relate to your Self Assessments?
• Do your Critical Reflections reflect applying knowledge, gaining insights, and sharing of learning?

Have you met the minimum requirement for the 2 year ePortfolio period?

• Have you completed a full cycle of learning and reflection for each of the 5 competencies? This includes a completed Goal, Learning Activity, Outcomes and Critical Reflection.
• Have you hit the “Completed” button for both Goals and Learning Activities?
• Do you a current Goal and Learning Activity in Competency 1?

Does your supervision serve you well and is this reflected in your ePortfolio?

• Is your supervision currently meeting your professional development needs or is it time for a review?
• How have you demonstrated in your ePortfolio that you participate in regular, constructive supervision?
• Do you record in your ePortfolio how you apply to practice the insights and feedback you gain through supervision?
• Do you keep a record or supervision log and have you uploaded this into your ePortfolio? 

Make your ePortfolio work for you…don’t invent goals and activities just for the sake of it!

• If you are facing new opportunities, a change in work roles or are planning to deliver or attend a professional development activity this year…make sure you capture these as Goals and Learning Activities.
• Remember to upload certificates of attendance, handouts or summaries of reading or other documents as evidence of your activity.
• Soon after participating in any professional development activity make some time to reflect on it and capture your learning, insights, responses or changes in practice. Keep a notebook to record these ideas until you have time to transfer them into your ePortfolio.

The ePortfolio process is there to serve us…It is a tool that enables us to take stock of our professional development over time, guide our planning for ongoing learning and demonstrate in a variety of ways our competence as practitioners.

Don’t forget that if you are struggling to engage with the ePortfolio process or to make it work for you, Catherine or Louise at THRIVE would love to help. Make contact today to find out how we can support you to THRIVE in your professional journey.