MEDICAL EDUCATION

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Notes for the Primary Care Teachers
PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

PROBLEMS IN THE PREPARATION AND ASSESSMENT OF A PORTFOLIO

Many trainees do not like portfolios, saying that the extra time required in building portfolios could be better used for learning ‘real medicine’ in the clinics and wards. Most trainees also have considerable difficulty reflecting on their learning. If portfolios were to become mandatory, it is expected that most trainees would do the minimum to satisfy the requirements. There is also the possibility of sharing of materials between trainees and even extensive copying unless these are carefully checked by the assessors. Guidance on how to prepare a portfolio with the mentor demonstrating on how to reflect and think critically is essential for the junior trainees.

For the assessors, the voluminous portfolios collected by a trainee will take quite a bit of time to go through. In view of the variable experiences undergone by trainees, the portfolios collected by trainees from the same programme may differ considerably between one to another. The unstandardised portfolio, coupled with inter-rater variability between assessors, means that a sufficiently high level of reliability and validity is not achievable.3-5

CONCLUSION

The portfolio is consistent with the principles of adult learning and self-directed learning. Whether it should be widely introduced in undergraduate medical courses and postgraduate vocational training is still being debated. Maintenance of a portfolio promotes elements of ‘personal and professional development’, and may be introduced in future revalidation or recertification of doctors.

References

1. Thistlethwaite JE. How to keep a portfolio. The Clinical Teacher. 2006;3(2):118-23 [Link]
2. Snadden D, Thomas M. The use of portfolio learning in medical education. Med Teach. 1998;20(3):192-99 [Link]
3. Pitts J, Coles C, Thomas P. Educational portfolios in the assessment of general practice trainers: reliability of assessors. Med Educ. 1999;33(7):515-20 [PubMed]
4. Snadden D. Portfolios – attempting to measure the unmeasurable? Med Educ. 1999;33(7):478-9 [PubMed]
5. Roberts C, Newble DI, O'Rourke AJ. Portfolio-based assessments in medical education: are they valid and reliable for summative purposes? Med Educ. 2002;36(10):899-900 [PubMed]