1. The Role of ePortfolios in Continuing Professional Development Applied Research Project Faculty of Dentistry Research Day 2008 Russell Butson (presenter) Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago This project has received financial support from an e-Learning Enhancement Grant, Committee for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT), University of Otago. The authors wish to acknowledge the ongoing advice and feedback from Susan Moffat, Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago. Rosemary Kardos Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago

2. Present Environment In New Zealand the implementation of the Health Practitioners Competency ACT 2003, has resulted in the Dental Council of New Zealand (DCNZ) requiring dental practitioners to maintain a professional portfolio 1 as evidence of their competence and fitness before they are recertified to practise through the issue of the annual practising certificate (APC). 1-Policy on the Recertification of Dental Hygienists, Dental Auxiliaries and Orthodontic Auxiliaries under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (HPCA) Act, 2003

3. Aim – To create an ePortfolio environment The aim of this project is to explore the potential of professional portfolios to assist staff and students to manage and control their continuing professional development in a manner that allows them to make sense of and map out their academic and professional expectations and subsequent achievements.

4. Challenge – Promote Self Governance of the CPD However, as with any compulsory activity it is inevitable that these portfolios are likely to be regarded by practitioners as a regulatory requirement, considerably weakening any prospect they might have of supporting career development.

5. Research Approach/Method

7. Design-Based Research – The Intervention

8. Influences

9. Intervention

11. Professional ePortfolio - Structure/Process 1 2 3

12. File Repository

13. Non-Verifiable CPD Form

14. Portfolio Sections

15. Selecting Evidence Files

16. Portfolio Sections - share

17. Share Portfolio Sections

18. Comments

19. List of sections being shared

20. Comments others have made on my Portfolio Comments I have made on others Portfolio

22. Present/Future

23. Present

24. Are Professional Portfolios likely to be regarded by practitioners as a regulatory requirement? Or Can they be designed so practitioners view them as a vital part of their practice? Future: Compliance vs Self-governance