TITLE:
Students’ Perception of Portfolio in Casablanca Dentistry Faculty
AUTHORS:
Aicha Oubbaih, Zineb Al Jalil, Mouna Hamza, Souad Chaouir, Samira Bellemkhannate
KEYWORDS:
Portfolio, Pedagogy, Dental Students, Perception, Self-Assessment, Reflective Writing
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
20,
2024
ABSTRACT: Introduction: With the reform of dental medicine studies in Morocco, a sixth year has been added to the curriculum. The portfolio is one of the tools administered to students at the end of their sixth-year training. Our work aimed to identify the students’ perceptions regarding this pedagogic tool. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive survey of students enrolled in the 6th year of the Faculty of Dentistry in Casablanca, Morocco during the academic year 2020-2021. Results: Among 131 students involved in this study; 67.4% considered the portfolio moderately useful, while 20.7% considered it very useful. Seventy-one percent of students viewed it as a means of assessment, and 25% saw it as a means of evaluation and training. Sixty-two percent agreed that the portfolio was a tool for self-assessment, and 65% appreciated this practice. Discussion: All the data collected in our study show that the portfolio system, its components, and its support were generally appreciated by students, who reported the benefits despite some difficulties. Several studies have highlighted the importance of students’ perceptions of the tool and noted that this perception may differ from the pedagogical intentions of its designers if the formative and evaluative approaches have not been clarified and justified to the learners. This underscores the need to integrate the portfolio into the curriculum properly.