The educational effects of portfolios on undergraduate student learning: A Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) systematic review. BEME Guide No. 11

Introduction: In recent years, the use of portfolios as learning and assessment tools has become more widespread across the range of health professions. Whilst a growing body of literature has accompanied these trends, there is no clear collated summary of the evidence for the educational effects of the use of portfolios in undergraduate education. This systematic review is the result of our work to provide such a summary.Methods: We developed a protocol based on the recommendations of the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) collaboration. Citations retrieved by electronic searches of 10 databases were assessed against pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria by two independent reviewers and full texts of potentially relevant articles were obtained. Studies were identified for inclusion in the review by examination of full text articles by two independent reviewers. At all stages, discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Data relating to characteristics of the student population, intervention, outcome...