Abstract:

To successfully complete a Masters’ level Systems Engineering apprenticeship degree, apprentices need to demonstrate the development of their knowledge, skills and behaviour gained over a few years. The apprentices need to collect evidence of their learning journey over the years of study in preparation for their End Point Assessment. Gathering this evidence at the end of the study period can be very stressful and some important pieces of evidence may be forgotten and left out, and that might hinder attainment of higher grades. There has not been a systematic way of collecting this evidence for the previous cohorts on the Systems Engineering apprenticeship programme making it difficult to track progress not only for the apprentices, but also for their tutors and mentors. Considering that, an e-portfolio builder was developed using OneNote Class Notebook to facilitate the collection of evidence in various digital ways, and from anywhere and at any time throughout the apprentices’ study period. As such, this was a significant development for the current as well as future cohorts.

This paper presents the development process, implementation, and the first stages of the evaluation of the innovative e-portfolio builder tool. It covers the rationale of customising OneNote Class Notebook for the development of the e-portfolio builder; the stakeholders’ voice in the development process as collaborators, and how they are already benefiting from the system. Lessons learnt from overcoming challenges encountered are presented together with recommendations, future development plans, as well as evaluation and sharing of best practice.

Keywords:

E-Portfolio, E-Portfolio Builder, Apprenticeship, OneNote Class Notebook, Microsoft, Systems Engineering.