ABSTRACT
This intervention-research project analyzed the use of the electronic reflective portfolio (ERP) in medical education within the context of anesthesiology internship, based on the perspective derived from the Theory of Meaningful Learning.
Objectives
To investigate the ERP’s role in reflective practice and in the learning process and to identify students’ perceptions on the ERP and how information and communication technologies (ICT) have contributed to this process. The typology adopted in the investigation into meaningful learning (ML) is based on an evaluation of conceptual statements made by students to represent and qualify their knowledge.
Results
60% of students reported reflections while developing the ERP and documented reflections in their narratives; all students’ portfolios allowed for recursion and 60% showed evidence of ML in their narratives. It was therefore possible to identify the individual process of developing the ERP, the positive and limiting aspects in its pedagogical use, and the contribution made by ICT in this process. These results suggest that ERP favors and stimulates reflection, facilitating the ML’ process and contributing to the continuous follow-up of the student’s consolidated learning, not only during the anesthesiology internship, but also in other essentially practical contexts.
Education; Teaching; Medical Education; Learning; Technology; Anesthesiology
