Professional Practice & Inquiry

The digital portfolio has been lauded as a powerful learning tool that is becoming a central feature of contemporary education (Scully, O’Leary & Brown, 2018). In recent years, there has been increasing and widespread use of digital portfolios in higher education (Eynon & Gambino, 2017), and educators are using digital portfolios to engage students in reflective learning and to foster lifelong learning skills (Kunnari & Laurikainen 2017).

Why the PPI Digital Portfolio for Student Teachers?

The Digital Portfolio provides multiple benefits, which include facilitating student teachers to:

• Reflect and inquire into their teaching practice
• Consolidate and integrate their learning at NIE
• Develop their teaching philosophy and teacher identity
• Connect, share and learn collaboratively with fellow student teachers
• Collate and showcase their learning artefacts and achievements
• Track and chart their growth and development as a teacher 

The PPI Digital Portfolio at the NIE is a digital space for student teachers to take ownership of their own learning and chart their developmental journey as a teacher. It is used as a Learning Portfolio for pre-service teachers to reflect on their learning, a Showcase Portfolio for practicum and induction, and a Teaching Portfolio as the beginning teacher enters the teaching service.

The Digital Portfolio platform enables student teachers to collate and combine diverse forms of digital artefacts (video, audio, graphics and text) to demonstrate their learning. Through the platform, students can also share their work and exchange feedback with peers and tutors.
In the course of their Practicum experience, student teachers will make three Focused Conversation (FC) presentations. On these occasions, student teachers will curate materials from their developmental portfolio to construct a showcase portfolio for presentation.

Learning 4 Life, Teaching 4 Life

The fifth installation of the PPI Book series is the first to be published in a web-based format, on 1 Feb 2024. The new online format will allow the series to be made accessible on multiple browsers and devices. This series challenges the authors to think about their learning through their reflections, inquiry, teacher identity, and the use of digital portfolios as a learning enabler. 

Click here to read. 

Becoming a Teacher

Professor Low Ee Ling, Dean (Teacher Education), launched the fourth PPI book entitled "Becoming a Teacher: Reflection, Inquiry and Identity," at the Virtual Learning Forum held on the 16th of March 2021. This new book presents unique stories, personal journeys and inspirational insights of 19 graduands from across the Initial Teacher Preparation programmes.

Click here to read. 

Inquiring into Practice Book

The 3rd series of the PPI book was launched by Dean TE, Professor Low Ee Ling, at the International Practicum Summit on 1 August 2019. This book showcases the reflections of 19 student teachers during their journey here at the National Institute of Education (NIE). It documents their stories and explores how theory and practice converge during practicum. It tells of challenges that they have faced and strived to overcome, and the growth that ensued.

Click here to read. 

Practices of Inquiry Book

On the 30th May 2017, we launched our second PPI book entitled “Practices of Inquiry: Through the Lens of the Student Teachers”. This book documents the journeys of our student teachers through practicum; what they have learnt about reflecting, inquiring and most importantly, about themselves.

Click here to read.

The e-Portfolio Reflections Book

On the 28th May 2015, our first e-Portfolio book entitled “e-Portfolio in Teacher Education: Our Journey” was officially launched by A/P Liu Woon Chia, Dean TE, at the Learning Forum for Teacher-Mentors 2015.

Click here to read

Scully, D., O’Leary, M., & Brown, M. (2018). The learning portfolio in Higher Education: a game of snakes and ladders. Dublin: Dublin City University, Centre for Assessment Research, Policy & Practice in Education (CARPE) and National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL).

Eynon, B., & Gambino, L. M. (2017). High-impact ePortfolio practice: A catalyst for student, faculty, and institutional learning. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Kunnari, I., & Laurikainen, M. (2017). Collection of engaging practices in ePortfolio process–Publication of the Empowering Eportfolio Process project. Häme University of the Applied Sciences: Hämeenlinna, Finland.