University, e-portfolio and students: perpetuating a sense of failure?

Authors

  • Helen Bardy Newman University Birmingham
  • Lorraine Loveland-Armour Lorraine Loveland-Amour is Dyslexia Team Leader at Newman University and continues to develop Dyslexia Support Services alongside a team of eight dyslexia specialists within the Student Services Team. She teaches students with dyslexia in an integrated and inclusive manner that encourages them to develop and apply metacognitive strategies to their learning approaches to university courses.
  • Sarah Parkes Newman University Birmingham

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21100/compass.v9i13.341

Keywords:

Eportfolio, assessment, partnership, Dyslexia

Abstract

Newman University embraces partnership work through the principles of a pedagogy of partnership evidenced through development of Student Academic Partnership (SAP), Student Research Partnership (SRP) and Student Community Partnership (SCP) projects.Driving enhancement of digital literacy in its graduates, the Youth and Community work programme embraced the open source e-portfolio platform Mahara for use on study skills and placement modules. Staff however, became aware of the difficulties encountered by students using Mahara and embarked on an initial SAP to unmask the barriers and inform teaching development. This was subsequently followed by an SRP that investigated the specific difficulties for students with dyslexia.The projects found that students valued peer to peer support rather than online support resources, and uncovered a variety of navigational issues that reinforces a sense of failure (Nosek, 1997), stymieing progress that ultimately limits opportunities for students to creatively express knowledge and understanding of a given subject.  

Author Biographies

Helen Bardy, Newman University Birmingham

Helen Bardy is a Senior Lecturer in Youth and Community work and Programme Leader, Post graduate Chaplaincy Certificate at Newman University. As a trained and experienced youth and community worker now with a number of years’ experience in academia, Helen draws on her commitment to informal education, being person centred, alongside critical pedagogy. She has an interest in enabling students to both successfully challenge and navigate their journey through Higher Education

Sarah Parkes, Newman University Birmingham

Sarah Parkes is Tutor for Transition and Retention at Newman University. She works with students and staff to develop and deliver in-curricula and co-curricula activities that support student progression and success. Her principle interests include notions of institutional transformation within programme design and structural organisation that develops staff capacity to enable student success, rather than looking for increased homogeneity within the student body

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Published

11/08/2016

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Vol. 9 No. 13 (2016): Compass: Journal of Learning and Teaching

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Case Studies

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