Presentation by Blanaid White at the MaharaIRL meeting in Dublin, Ireland, on 27 April 2017

1. Eportfolios for INTRA placement
– a pilot study in the Schools of Biotechnology
and Chemicals Sciences, DCU
Dr. Blánaid White
School of Chemical Sciences
27th
April 2017

2. Eportfolios for work placement students
“eportfolio is a showcase of their knowledge and technical skills and can be
used to demonstrate their suitability for a job description”
Why start with INTRA for eportfolios?
-Currently ideally all students will complete an INTRA placement, so it’s a good
way to introduce the concept to them,
-As a pass/fail module, it’s a “safe” module to introduce a new idea within,
-Currently INTRA reports generated by students are static, and not seen by
most students as useful going forward – they are submitted to the INTRA office
and then forgotten about,
-All staff engage with the INTRA module, so it will introduce staff too.
There is an opportunity for students to recognise all the skills they’ve
learned in INTRA and incorporate them in their skill-set going forward

3. Eportfolios for INTRA – the rollout
1. During INTRA, students complete at least
6 diary entries and submit these to their
supervisor via loop. They will tag these
entries with key skills and DCU graduate
attributes.
2. At the end of INTRA, students will use the
diary entries to write their INTRA report,
which they will also submit via loop.
3. Students in fourth year, when they meet
with Careers Office, will be directed to
use their diary entries to build their
unique skills profile (T-shaped graduate)

4. Learning diary entries
• Topics for learning diary entries:
– A time when you had to negotiate
personnel issues, e.g., changing
your holiday dates
– Your first day on the INTRA job
– Having to deal with a difficult
person or situation
– Being expected to undertake a
completely new area of knowledge
or a complex task
– Receiving either positive or
negative feedback from a superior
– Realising that you have made a
mistake
– Finding yourself with nothing to do
– Your best day on INTRA
• Diary entry tags:
– Graduate Skills & Attributes: Attention to
Detail, Attitude, Design thinking,
Flexibility, Initiative and Creativity,
Interpersonal Skills and Teamwork,
Judgement, Knowledge of the company,
Leadership Potential, Organisational
Adaptation, Problem Solving, Quality of
work, Technical Ability, Time
management, Verbal communication,
Written communications
– Technical Depth: Regulation, including
GMP, HPLC, Excel, Technical
Competence, Programming, Analytical
Skills, Report Writing, Data Analysis,
Organic Chemistry
• 6 diary entries spaced evenly throughout placement (INtegrated TRAining - INTRA)

5. Final report – pulling everything together
1 Introduction
2 Company structure
3 Duties performed
4 Knowledge gained
5 Theory -v- practice
6 Ethical Considerations
7 Self- Evaluation of Performance
8 Self-development Plan
In the light of everything you have written in your reflective journal, outline a plan for your
future development during your final year in college. This plan should identify the skills you
need to acquire and how you will do so. The plan should also consider some of your career
options in the light of your INTRA experience. It should, in addition, cover the ways in which
you will manage your time while in final year, including the balance between work, college
and social activities. This shows that you meet Learning Outcome 8 “Apply the knowledge
gained from the host workplace to other aspects of their scientific programme”.
9 Conclusions
Learning diary
entries are used to
inform all sections
of this report

6. Final report – pulling everything together
1 Introduction
2 Company structure
3 Duties performed
4 Knowledge gained
5 Theory -v- practice
6 Ethical Considerations
7 Self- Evaluation of Performance
8 Self-development Plan
In the light of everything you have written in your reflective journal, outline a plan for your
future development during your final year in college. This plan should identify the skills you
need to acquire and how you will do so. The plan should also consider some of your career
options in the light of your INTRA experience. It should, in addition, cover the ways in which
you will manage your time while in final year, including the balance between work, college
and social activities. This shows that you meet Learning Outcome 8 “Apply the knowledge
gained from the host workplace to other aspects of their scientific programme”.
9 Conclusions
Learning diary
entries are used to
inform all sections
of this report