An understanding of the constraints and benefits of different technologies

In 2014, due to my experience supporting PebblePad for the nursing programme, I was asked to set up an eportfolio system for the midwifery programme. The programme requires that student midwives document their time in practice to show that they are meeting standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Although PebblePad was already in use in the Department, as a learning technologist, I took the opportunity to consider if this was the most appropriate system or if there were better alternatives. I was also aware that the Department’s licence for PebblePad was due for review in 2016 and so thought it was prudent to consider an alternative at this point. There are several eportfolio systems but the main alternative that I considered was Myprogress produced by MyKnowlegeMap.

PebblePad in HealthcarePebblePad's eportfolio, learning, asessment and mentoring technology offers health professionals unparalleled capability for CPD, appraisal and revalidation.

Nursing educationMyprogress is the smart solution for offline student and trainee evaluation in clinical settings and other challenging environments. - Nursing education

I considered the strengths and weaknesses of both systems and created a comparison table (see right) for ease of reference. I also met with representatives from both companies to discuss the possibilities of using their system. There were clear advantages to using PebblePad, some of which were not about the technology itself but about people and resources. Users were already familiar with PebblePad and it was embedded as a system. It had been used successfully to record practice information for nursing programme students and indeed, this created confidence within the midwifery programme that an eportfolio system could also meet their needs.

In terms of functionality, there are many features that are similar but a notable weakness of PebblePad is that it does not offer offline capability for interacting with the portfolios. This would address many of the issues that we have with the system around the immediate accessibility with work. Myprogress offers offline functionality, allowing users to record entries on mobile devices and sync them with their account when back in wifi range. A further difference between the two systems is that PebblePad offers a more secure sign-off function by mentors, as the mentor is verified by myself and then linked to the student’s account. In contrast, Myprogress's smart sign-off system does not appear to allow for a verified mentor to link to the student’s account and so therefore, their work could be signed by anyone given access by the student using a mobile device.

E-Portfolio Tools Matrix - Midwifery Comparison.docx

Evaluation of the two systems led me to a clear decision that PebblePad was the best choice for the midwifery programme. A lot of the functionality was the same and although Myprogress had a clear advantage around offline capability, this alone was not a strong enough reason to propose the substantial investment that moving to a new system would have required. In reflecting upon the reasons behind this decision, I am more aware that the use of learning technology is not just about its functionality but also about people, resources and contexts too. The Department had already made the financial investment in licences for PebblePad; it had invested in a support team to help users; and it would be a better use of the Department’s resources to support one system rather than two.