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Abstract There is a growing interest to teach and introduce professionalism to the undergraduate medical students. A professional doctor reflects, commits to his own learning and interacts with the patients, their families and the health team he works with. He needs an assessment method that could be used for self reflection and self assessment and can contribute to his learning process. Selecting, collecting, and reflecting on evidences that learning has taken place are the main principles underlying portfolio building. The goal setting component in the portfolio is related to the student-centered learning, which is based on students’ needs and where they are responsible for their learning. These principles are strongly related to the adult learning theories. In CBE, the students spend much more time in training and learning. Learning could happen in different occasions and with different persons. So, it is a challenge to assess students in such settings which the assessment depends very much on evidences of their achievements and a cross-sectional view of these achievements is needed to make a fair judgment. This study aimed at implementing portfolio as an assessment tool, which could be used to assess not easily assessed learning outcomes by usmg methods, that results in increasing the varieties of evaluated outcomes for undergraduate students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. The portfolio was developed for the students in phase two during their field training, and after collecting experts’ opinions, piloting and evaluating the developed portfolio. The study objectives were: 1. To develop, validate and implement a portfolio prototype for the students (in phase II) at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University during their field training. 2. To test the reliability of the developed portfolio. 3. To measure students’ and raters’ satisfaction of the developed portfolio. The study was an experimental study one. The target population of the study was the second and (n= 38) third (n= 38) years’ students (second phase students) at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. To achieve the study’s objectives, the first step to be done was to identify the problem that urged the development of a portfolio. This step was done by reviewing the documents of the objectives and the activities in the field training and the literature review. The close agreement between the ILOs, the tasks and the assessment methods was checked during this step. Developing the portfolio was started by identifying the purpose of the portfolio, then determining the main components (entries) of the portfolio, tools for portfolio assessment (rating scale with its scoring rubrics), and last developing guidelines for students and tutors explaining selecting and evaluating the entries. Delphi method was conducted to validate the developed portfolio. In this method, the developed template of portfolio was revised by 7 experts (medical education experts and the field training coordinator). Implementing the portfolios was done by the distribution to the students at the beginning of the study year. Orientation workshops were conducted for each year’s students. Other workshops were organized for the tutors. The evaluation process included the assessment of the inter-rater reliability and the internal consistency of the developed portfolio, measurement of the students’ satisfaction with the developed portfolio regarding the acquired knowledge, skills and their perception of its usefulness and measurement of the raters’ satisfaction by self administered questionnaires asking about their satisfaction regarding the assessment process. The mean score (out of 80) in second year was 62.6, and the third year was 49. This study showed that the inter-rater reliability was acceptable. The internal consistency was (0.7 in year 2 and 0.71 in year 3) which means that it was accepted. The overall students’ satisfaction with the portfolio was moderate to high. The satisfaction was slightly lower in the third year than the second year. Both groups of students understood how to use it and what type of evidence to collect. They also agreed that the portfolio helped them to become a more self-directed learner. Regarding identification of their strengths and weaknesses, second year’s students agreed with that but the third year’s students were neutral. Regarding that the tutor discussed portfolio with them and he/she gave useful guidance on using the portfolio, second year’s students agreed but, the third year’s students disagreed. They agreed that the portfolio was a loss of time; this could be the main reason of the neutral satisfaction of the students regarding some items. The overall satisfaction of the raters was high. Most of the raters strongly agreed that the combination. of the portfolio assessment and the clinical examination is effective. Most of them agreed that portfolio identified students’ strengths and weaknesses. More than half of them agreed that all the sections of the developed portfolio were helpful in providing information. Most of them strongly agreed! agreed that the instructions for them are clear and they recommended using the same portfolio in subsequent years. This supports using this assessment method for the undergraduate students. The study concluded that introducing portfolio into the early years in a medical school is a successful experience. In addition to its learning purposes, portfolio assessment is necessary to evaluate the progress of students’ achievements of the intended learning outcomes. It helps increasing the reflective and the goal setting ability of the students. Structuring, guiding, both the examiners and the examinees, and using an objective assessment tool are all necessary to use portfolios in the assessment purposes. Portfolio assessment provides an effective method to assess the various and difficultly assessed ILOs achieved by the students in CBE learning activities. The perception of the students that the portfolio building is a loss of time or it involves excessive paper work could be changed by establishing a supportive portfolio culture integrated in the educational process. |