e-portfolio help
Welcome to the help page for the e-portfolio.
We have
produced the following short videos to help with some of the e-portfolio's common functions.
Introduction to the e-portfolio
Associating an assessment to learning outcomes
We also have some e-portfolio FAQs prepared below. Please do check them if you have a question as they are regularly updated. There are separate FAQs for questions about the curriculum and assessments.
1) What will be in a trainee portfolio?
2) I am a LAT/SpR/SAS/Trust doctor can I use the e-portfolio to record my competencies?
3) How can I assign my Educational Supervisor?
4) How do I change my OST stage in my e-portfolio?
7) Under the Portfolio then Review link it gives the option, "Create New Review". What's this for?
9) What backup systems are in place for
data stored in the e-portfolio?
10) I put my PS11 DOPS into my ARCP but it isn't showing in my review progress page. Why is this?
1) What will be in a trainee portfolio?
A portfolio consists of a collection of evidence that shows a trainee is making
progress during in training. In addition to recording what has been done (which
is a logbook) it contains information on the standard of achievement. Trainee
portfolios will differ to some degree but all should contain the following:
- A log book of experiences/procedures/clinics
- Personal audit
- A CPD diary
- Critical incidents
- 360 feedback
- trainer reports
- outcomes of specific assessments
- personal development plans
2) I am a LAT/SpR/SAS/Trust doctor can I use the e-portfolio to record my competencies?
LAT doctors can usually have access to the e-portfolio. Please contact the College for further information by telephone on 020 79350702 or via email on portfolio@rcophth.ac.uk
Doctors who are not in PMETB approved training posts cannot currently use the e-portfolio but can use the WBAs available in the OST curriculum in paper-based form to record competencies gained. If access to the e-portfolio is made available to you in the future you can upload paper based documents (by scanning them) into the e-portfolio.3) How can I assign my Educational Supervisor?
To assign your Educational Supervisor you need to go to the 'my details' page (one of the tabs on the top right of the portfolio navigation). Towards the bottom of the page it'll list education supervisor, grade, NTN etc. If you click on the edit button below this the page will refresh and there will be a drop-down list next to Education Supervisor. Select change supervisor, then click on the save button at the bottom and it will take you to the list of supervisors, search for your supervisor in the same way as you search for an assessor and select them. You will then be able to go back to your MSF and send it to your supervisor.
If you can't find your supervisor or you have any problems with it please contact the College.
4) How do I change my OST stage in my e-portfolio?
Go to the 'My Details' section of your e-portfolio and click the edit button under the section where it states the stage of OST you can then select the relevant stage and save the changes.
Yes indeed it is possible to record assessments on paper, although we have encouraged all MMC trainees to record them on-line from the start, and prospective use of the e-portfolio became compulsory for all StR trainees on 1 August 2008. However it will always be an option to make the initial record on paper and then have the trainee transcribe it to the on-line system thereafter (preferably very soon thereafter) - in that situation the trainer will receive a message asking him/her to log on and validate the transcribed result.
Scanning the paper form and uploading the resulting computer file to the e-portfolio was an acceptable option, and remains so for uploading of assessments done before 1 August 2008 - use the "Resources" section of the portfolio. There is then the option to associate it with the appropriate Learning Outcome. This process is not acceptable for StRs for assessments done after 1 August 2008. The 'traffic light' functions in the e-portfolio to aid you in showing progress towards the stages of OST for ARCPs does not incorporate scanned WBA forms.
This is up to each individual trainee and we do not wish to be too prescriptive. It would be a good idea to discuss with your local Educational Supervisor what they would like to see recorded. Trainees should still be using a form of logbook (e.g. the existing "old" Excel logbook provided by the College) for things like operations performed, numbers of specialist clinics attended etc - the resulting file should be uploaded periodically into the Resources section (with a new, dated filename to allow sequential copies to be stored there). [NOTE: Legal advice is currently being sought to ensure that this is acceptable from the confidentiality viewpoint.] We would suggest using the reflective diary frequently however, especially for those situations (including theatre lists, clinics, meetings, ward rounds) where you have learnt a useful tip, etc.
7) Under the Portfolio then Review link it gives the option, "Create New Review". What's this for?
This means create a sub-portfolio for the ARCP
8) I am unable to fill in any assessments on line with people who aren't listed (only Consultants seem listed) as there seems no way to add another person (e.g. a nurse to assess me on vision, or a SpR to mark slit lamp use etc...)?
As a pragmatic measure pre-August 1st 2007 we put all consultants onto the system although, particularly for newly appointed consultants some will always slip through the net. Any consultant whose name is not on the list should email portfolio@rcophth.ac.uk and request that (s)he be added. College Tutors are responsible for emailing the College with the names and email addresses of non-consultant assessors in their unit whom they consider suitable for the job. If no non-consultant assessors appear then you need to have a word with your College Tutor! You could still have a paper assessment with one of these other people but your College Tutor would have to validate the assessment on their behalf both by signing the paper form and acting as a proxy assessor following its transcription onto the on-line system. (In that event the Tutor should add a note to one of the free-text boxes indicating who actually acted as assessor and confirming that they agree that that was appropriate.).
9) What backup systems are in place for data stored in the e-portfolio?
The College has a rigorous backup agreement with its I.T. supplier. The data in the e-portfolio is backed up as follows:
- Hourly backups, kept for a day
- Daily backups, kept for a month
- Monthly backups, kept for a year
Daily and monthly backups are transferred off-site and stored on disk-based storage daily. Monthly backups are additionally archived weekly to tape-based storage kept in a fire-safe and kept for 3 months. Backups are designed for disaster recovery purposes and any recovery may be chargeable.
10) I put my PS11 DOPS into my ARCP but it isn't showing in my review progress page. Why is this?
It is likely that the learning outcome associations aren't quite right. To get the best use from your e-porfolio it is worth ensuring that your WpBAs are correctly associated to the curriculum learning outcomes. It is the learning outcome associations that the review progress 'traffic light' page in your ARCP picks up. It is essential that you set the associations before you put yor WpBA into an ARCP as it cannot be done retrospectively after the ARCP has occurred.
From your outstanding tasks list you can select 'associate' next to the WpBA, this takes you to an expandable and collapsable list of the curriculum's learning outcomes. A WpBA should never be associated to an entire domain. Click the small + sign next to a domain and this will expand the list to show each individual learning outcome, select the appropriate outcome(s) by ticking the box next to it. When you're finished at the bottom of the page, click the associate button to save your associations.
11) When completing OSATS or DOPS WpBAs, is it possible for the same assessor to complete the same assessment on separate occasions e.g. same retina consultant approves the required 2 DOPS on laser skills on 2 separate occasions?
Using different assessors is very much the ideal but the College accepts that it is not always practical especially in smaller units. The final decision on this in any individual instance is the responsibility of the Deanery. Trainees should discuss their choice of assessor with their Educational Supervisor in the first instance.
Last updated 20 August 2010 (km)