Project title: Digital Fluency for Occupational Therapy Apprentice Portfolios

Project partners: Heidi Von Kurthy (Principal Lecturer, School of Sport and Health Sciences), Lisa Houston (BSc Hons Business Management) and Annette Feakes (Senior Lecturer, School of Sport and Health Sciences)

We needed help to develop engagement with and creative use of ePortfolios for our occupational therapy apprentices.  We needed someone to work with our staff and learners to create a user-centred design and facilitate the process of ePortfolio creation with instruction guides, exemplar ePortfolios and an evaluation platform to support learner success. Lisa helped us explore and create a user-friendly ePortfolio platform which is easy to use and adds value to the apprentice learning journey.

The project was to assimilate with the learners to understand the current platform they were using and why it was causing a lack of engagement and hurdles to developing their ePortfolio. Once we understood the limitations of the existing platform, Lisa set about sourcing an alternative. The priorities were that the platform would be easy to use, interactive and ultimately provide a professional ePortfolio to showcase the qualifications our learners are working hard to complete.

There were a few options available, so armed with the learners wish list, Lisa tested the viability of different options and found an ideal solution with online and app company CPDme. The company provided an in depth training session to show what the platform was capable of and how other universities and healthcare providers were utilising the tools on the site to further support their learning and professional development. Once we had ensured it was the ideal fit, it was then shared with a number of Occupational Therapy learners and was met with positive enthusiasm and a desire to gain access to the platform as soon as possible!

Lisa: “As a new student to university of Brighton (foundation year), I am so pleased I was successful in securing this project placement. I was able to use and build on existing skills to continue my personal development and it was a really positive experience to work with a team who aren’t directly linked to my course so that I could broaden my network across the university and was able to learn about the wider academic operations. I had the full support of my team Annette and Heidi and we had regular check in’s to keep the project on track. We have completed the project brief and I look forward to seeing the developments over the coming months.”

For more information about this project, contact Heidi Von Kurthy – H.Vonkurthy@brighton.ac.uk