Factors influencing students’ reflective thinking in e-portfolios practices at a higher education institution in Hong Kong

This paper seeks to identify the factors supporting or hindering students’ development of reflective thinking or reflection through working on e-portfolios at a higher education institution in Hong Kong. Six students were selected to participate in the study from one of the groups of GECC (General Education Consolidation Course) based on their scores in first reflective essay. Two in-depth interviews with each of the selected six students, totaling 12 in-depth interviews were carried out. The focus of the first in-depth interview was to understand what supported or constrained their reflective thinking from their perspectives. The second in-depth interview was carried out for some clarification purpose from the first interview and also to have more detailed information. The first interview was conducted after students had received scores for their first reflective essay. The second interview was conducted after students had finished their course work and submitted their e-portfolios to the supervisor. In addition, students’ individual consultations with their supervisor were observed. Furthermore, all six students’ e-portfolios were analyzed and each student’s two reflective essays totaling twelve reflective essays were critically analyzed. The study found supporting factors such as support or training from the university; support from supervisor; peer feedback, to name a few. On the other hand the study also found hindering factors such as technical skills; limitation of the platform of e-portfolios; language skills, to name a few. The paper provides a detailed account of how all different factors interacted with students’ development of reflective thinking. Copyright © 2017 The Education University of Hong Kong.