Portfolios and Assessment of Personal Protective Devices Course Learning

Introduction: Portfolio assessment is one of the new and most accurate assessment methods. The objective of this study was to examine the introduction of portfolios in the assessment of students’ learning in a personal protective devices course.

Methods: This study was a semi-experimental study that was conducted using the curriculum of the Ministry of Health for occupational health students from the school of health in Mashhad from 2013-2015. A personal protective devices course was taught and assessed with a modified essay in group A, a portfolio and a modified essay in group B and some tasks and a modified essay in group C. Each group had 35 students. Data were analyzed by ANOVA for comparison of means between groups; in addition, odds ratios with confidence intervals were calculated.

Results: The total grades of students in the personal protective devices course were calculated, and in group A the mean score was 18.52±2.68, in group B it was 19.71±0.36 and in group C it was 18.93±1.0 (P=0.035). There were some differences between the three groups. Specific lessons, such as those on ear protectors, respiratory protector calculation and eye protectors were promoted, and the mean grades for these lessons were higher in group B, which used portfolio assessment.

Conclusion: According to the results, portfolio assessment might be useful for the evaluation of undergraduate students’ learning in practical aspects of personal protective devices.