E-Portfolio assessment of, for and as learning: Reflections on the Learning Technologist role in Technology-Enabled Assessment.

The role of a Learning Technologist (LT) is one of support and facilitation and increasingly relevant in our technology enhanced Higher Education sector. This extended abstract is a reflection on delivering technology-enabled assessment (TEA) from an LT perspective and explores the challenges and lessons learned over a two year roll out period. The ePortfolio used was a be-spoke version of Mahara devised at University College Dublin (UCD), where I worked as an Educational Technologist (ED Tech) from 2014 until October 2017 with the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science (SPHPSS). The two programmes which I introduced ePortfolios to were diverse in subject and level and equally varied in the modes of use designed for assessment of, for and as learning, one of this year’s ICEP conference themes. Having worked in the HE sector in the UK and Ireland for several years as a lecturer and more recently a LT or Ed Tech I had been aware of ePortfolios as a multi-faceted learning and assessment tool. I was therefore very keen to use the Mahara version available to “add value” to the programmes I was supporting. Both student groups engaged enthusiastically with ePortfolios, as this technology is used within their professional context as a “showcase” for skills and qualifications and a framework for Continuing Professional Development. This paper will reveal some of the lessons learned from experience, intuition and reflection on a rapid assessment roll-out including some very positive results which were achieved. I will look at the indispensable role played by the LT in scaffolding technology-enabled assessment and the practice and experience of using this particular digital learning tool – what worked, what didn’t and why. I will also explore the various aspects of assessment of, for and as learning, as demonstrated through the deployment of ePortfolios in this particular context and use National Forum literature review findings to show examples of how this technology has been embedded into practice in the wider HE sector.