Reflections on Developing an e-Portfolio

The journey of developing my e-portfolio has given me an opportunity to reflect on my professional identity, view health care from a different lens and document my perspectives and insights regarding the marginalization of Aboriginal populations in Canada. This journey has challenged my information technology skills as I created a personal website and developed and refined blog posts.

I have expanded on my previous version of a paper-based resume by developing a portfolio in the electronic world. The e-portfolio has given me a platform to include visual imagery to profile my education, training, and knowledge of Canadian health systems over the last several months. I have been challenged to curate resources to support my learning and include links to these resources in my e-portfolio. I have valued reading the perspectives of classmates by viewing their e-portfolios which reflect their individual journeys. There is definite value in connecting with colleagues outside of my home province as classmates present unique thoughts and opinions on a platform that is far reaching across the country and the world.

As I developed my e-portfolio, I reflected on definitions of health, social determinants of health, vulnerable populations, compared chronic diseases between provinces and gained a greater appreciation for commonalities and differences of provincial health care systems. I have documented my journey of discovery throughout my e-portfolio and have learned much about vulnerable populations across the country and how they are marginalized in health-care systems and society as a whole. I have discovered inequities that were previously unknown to me such as health disparities of Aboriginal women and rising homelessness rates of Aboriginal Canadians. I have learned through the social ecological model that health is affected by interactions between individuals, families, community and society. This is particularly true for Aboriginal populations as they are deeply rooted in culture and traditions from previous generations. Creation of my e-portfolio facilitated self discovery as I examined my personal and professional values, understood how my values serve as the basis for my leadership and contribute to my decision making in health-care.