Impact of student reflective e-portfolio on medical student advisors.
BACKGROUND
Little is published about the role of faculty advisors and use of students' e-portfolios.


OBJECTIVE
This article reports advisors' observations and understanding about 1st-year students based on information from students' journaling as part of an e-portfolio.


METHODS
Data were collected on Blackboard survey module for 8 volunteer advisors at two medical school campuses. Responses were hand coded, verified by two authors, tallied, with example comments recorded.


RESULTS
The four male and four female advisors are all mid-career, mixed between clinical and nonclinical faculty. The students' responses in the portfolio gave advisors greater insight into students' thinking, maturity, and reflective ability, and they helped advisors identify early warnings about problems. The e-portfolio enhanced meaningful interactions and more focused discussions with students. Advisors reported no improvements in efficiency of communications and had technical difficulties with Blackboard (version 6.0).


CONCLUSIONS
Advisors reported students' reflective responses to focused questions in an e-portfolio contribute valuable understanding about students' thinking and attitudes. Advisors are enthusiastic about the value of the e-portfolio for this purpose. We anticipate benefits will generalize when fully implemented.
Bashook
Philip G
PG
Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. pgb@uic.edu
Gelula
Mark H
MH
Joshi
Medha
M
Sandlow
Leslie J
LJ
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012577:Schools, Medical; D012984:Software; D013337:Students, Medical; D013664:Teaching Materials