Success Factors

What are the key outcomes of the initiative?

The project has produced six rich case studies that contain evaluation instruments, data and analysis of findings and have contributed to a list of key questions, top tips, benefits of e-portfolios and weblinks which will be of value to anyone in the education sector thinking about using e-portfolios to support widening participation.

The evaluation has also produced various models for analysing and implementing e-portfolios effectively to engage students in learning and to develop their reflective skills.

The project developed an initial model of user engagement with e-portfolios which has four steps: initial engagement; sustained engagement; learning engagement and continued engagement. This was further developed to incorporate five types of user engagement: non-user; reader; tentative; selective and continuous.

Overall, the project successfully provided e-support for access to HE in all three partner institutions. A key achievement has been to embed the project findings into institutional practices. At Bradford, the new five credit, level zero module 'IT skills and PDP' (designed to complement existing Compact Scheme modules) has been adopted by the University and all schools participating in ELP wish to continue. Leeds Met is using the experiences and evaluation to inform their review of the Progression module and its future delivery. Similarly Leeds Medical School is using the ELP experiences to inform its ongoing access activities using social software and Web 2.0 technologies.

All partners engaged more learners in their widening participation activities than originally targeted with success achieved by those learners who completed the widening participation activities (i.e. achieving the learning outcomes and passing the access module) or achieved an offer of a University place in a competitive and oversubscribed area i.e. medicine or health-related subjects.

What follow-up activity will be/has been carried out as a result of the project?

As well as learning materials and case studies created from the evaluation results, the project has also contributed to the wider research on e-portfolios through conference presentations and papers.

ELP2, Enhancing Learner Progression through the Use of Personalised Learning Environments, will build on the work of the ELP to address the issue of regional communities of practice.