Introducing portfolios in Speech Therapists’ undergraduate education: a pilot study at the University of Milan

Background: Portfolios are useful tools to document students’ learning in the clinical field and to give feedback, in undergraduate/postgraduate education. In the literature, three types of portfolios are reported: learning, evaluation and professional portfolio. Despite portfolios have been implemented with many healthcare professionals, no study involving speech therapists is available. Summary of work: The study was aimed at constructing a learning portfolio for students in Speech Therapy. Expert teachers/educationalists defined the portfolio structure, which was later experimented by five students. Two blinded evaluators used a scoring rubric to analyse the portfolios. Students’ and clinical supervisors’ satisfaction was investigated through a questionnaire. Summary of results: Portfolio structure and contents have generally revealed useful to document students’ clinical competences. Portfolio was appreciated as an effective instrument to support learning in this field, in particular to develop reflexivity. The time needed for portfolio preparation and the amount of documentation required were considered the critical aspects of this pilot experience. Discussion: As described in other studies on portfolios, students and supervisors reported difficulties, due to the time needed in preparing materials. The amount of data collected has revealed not manageable by: by both the supervisors and the teachers. Besides, they considered the experimented portfolio as not completely appropriate for documenting third year students’ clinical competences. Conclusion: The study results show good acceptance and satisfaction with portfolio in the Speech Therapy students involved, especially for its capacity of stimulating reflexivity. Therefore, one of the main goals of portfolio was achieved. Nevertheless, further research has been advocated to improve the portfolio feasibility in the Speech Therapy bachelor degree. Take-home message: Portfolios can effectively respond to some educational needs of Speech Therapy students, as the demand of reflecting on their clinical experience. Nevertheless, the introduction of portfolios in undergraduate Speech Therapist education must be carefully evaluated, considering available resources to implement them and, above all, to give feedback to students.