Portfolio development as a method of learning, assessment and evaluation in clinical Nursing Education in Kenya

Abstract

In the last few years, there have been remarkable innovations in the field of Nursing education and practice where education has experienced paradigm shift from being a traditional teacher-centered process to one that is student-centered. Nurses globally, are required by their professional bodies to maintain a professional portfolio to reflect on their own development of knowledge and skills over time and present evidence of competencies for career development.With the advent of online learning, e-portfolios have become popular than showcase portfolios with the advantage that in e-portfolio reflection is involved. This article is desk top research that reviewed several related literature. The study aimed at determining portfolio development as a method of learning, assessment and evaluation in clinical Nursing Education in Kenya. Students perceive portfolios as a representation of gathered and presented hard evidence and specific data about ones’ learning. The study identified challenges in development of portfolios as; reluctance of the student to engage in self reflection and time-consuming aspect of compiling, lack of writing skills and ethical issues. In conclusion, the use of a clinical portfolio by students demonstrate the uniqueness, empowerment and self -evaluative control. Therefore, the clinical portfolio has been seen to be responsive to student needs through self -directedness in constructing one’s learning and creating meaning from their clinical knowledge within the practice environment