Abstract:

Financial disciplines are characterised by their complexity, and the need of having updated information that facilitates a good understanding of our economic and financial environment. Professionals in this field are exposed to challenging situations and they are expected to have good judgement and knowledge on a variety of disciplines that contribute to the development of quick thinking that assists on decision making process. As a result, we consider as an essential objective of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to offer programmes that are updated and in touch with the realities of the field. Learners need to be equipped with credentials, skills and qualifications to face real situations and to take well-informed decisions. Our experience as educators and practitioners in the field indicates that students tend to struggle with subjects specialised in finance, and extra support is needed in the classroom. We believe that bringing ePortfolios as a complementary learning and teaching tool would aid and minimise students’ apprehension and uneasiness when dealing with complex models and when trying to connect learnt theories with their financial environment and their individual realities in their workplace. In this regard, we posit that ePortfolios can be integrated as part of the learning process, as their versatility offer chances for encouraging the development of reflective and critical thinking skills that are precious talents in the financial arena, especially nowadays when this field is subject too much uncertainty. In our quest to support learners, we have developed a circular flow that identifies the basic steps that are required to ensure that students are equipped with essential foundations that ensure that they are able to use their ePortfolios efficiently. In this process, Business Schools need to be at the forefront of education and technology that should act as a conduit on the transmission of knowledge on an instant manner nurturing collaboration and cooperation among learners. Our findings indicate that the role of the instructor is core during the initial stages of implementation, and that this role diminishes as students gain understanding and awareness on how the ePortfolio helps them taking ownership of their own learning, and the whole learning paradigm move towards a student focused approach.

Keywords:

EPortfolios, feedback, finance, collaboration, reflection and critical thinking.