Portfolio or Digital Storage Container?
At the end of my first digital learning class in my Masters Program, we were asked to create our e-portfolio. Since I already have my own site, since I am a Google Trainer, the assignment was pretty easy. I just had to add the class assignments, and turn it in. Done! Easy Breezy! Got an A and moved on.
Now, here in the second class, EDLD 5303, we have been asked to further add to the e-portfolio, especially using it as more than a digital container, but really as a place for reflection on our learning and for meta-cognition.
As I was reading the articles about e-portfolios, this quote stuck with me - “students are given the opportunity to move beyond dropping assignments into a digital container and are encouraged to start to consider and show how they plan to use technology to enhance their own learning and their learning environments.” My website, up until the start of this class, really was just a digital container for me to showcase my creations. Since starting this class a week ago, I have added a lot to my website, such as how to contact or connect with me on social media. I reorganized the learning I showcased in EDLD 5302. But I feel like it is still just a digital container of my stuff.
In my school district, leaders have started having conversations about student digital portfolios and what they would look like - how they would be structured, what would be on them and who would determine the content, etc. For college applications and for looking back (saying "I did that!") I think it would be awesome for students. My daughter, who attends a high school in the same district, recently shared with me that she is creating a Google Site portfolio in her architecture elective, in order to showcase the projects she has created in that class. When I read “Making Meaningful Connections with An Eportfolio”, my thoughts immediately went to her, and how lucky she is to have a teacher who is teaching students in high school how to showcase their creativity. If she decides to study architecture in college and make that her career path, she will already have skills needed for those roles. But this is not common.
Getting students and teachers from the fixed mindset of a digital container to a growth mindset of a real portfolio will definitely be a challenge. In one of the technology electives on my middle school campus, they will learn how to make a Google Site next week, but they won’t utilize it as a full eportfolio. I suggested to the teacher that there be an element of creativity to it, but that was not her vision.
So what will be my vision for my e-portfolio? Maybe by reflecting on it and recording my reflections here in my blog, I can learn ways to motivate teachers to try digital portfolios with students and to move on past digital storage containers.
Refrerences:
(2016, March 3). EDLD 5303 Getting Started Tips | It's About Learning. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from http://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6322
Now, here in the second class, EDLD 5303, we have been asked to further add to the e-portfolio, especially using it as more than a digital container, but really as a place for reflection on our learning and for meta-cognition.
As I was reading the articles about e-portfolios, this quote stuck with me - “students are given the opportunity to move beyond dropping assignments into a digital container and are encouraged to start to consider and show how they plan to use technology to enhance their own learning and their learning environments.” My website, up until the start of this class, really was just a digital container for me to showcase my creations. Since starting this class a week ago, I have added a lot to my website, such as how to contact or connect with me on social media. I reorganized the learning I showcased in EDLD 5302. But I feel like it is still just a digital container of my stuff.
In my school district, leaders have started having conversations about student digital portfolios and what they would look like - how they would be structured, what would be on them and who would determine the content, etc. For college applications and for looking back (saying "I did that!") I think it would be awesome for students. My daughter, who attends a high school in the same district, recently shared with me that she is creating a Google Site portfolio in her architecture elective, in order to showcase the projects she has created in that class. When I read “Making Meaningful Connections with An Eportfolio”, my thoughts immediately went to her, and how lucky she is to have a teacher who is teaching students in high school how to showcase their creativity. If she decides to study architecture in college and make that her career path, she will already have skills needed for those roles. But this is not common.
Getting students and teachers from the fixed mindset of a digital container to a growth mindset of a real portfolio will definitely be a challenge. In one of the technology electives on my middle school campus, they will learn how to make a Google Site next week, but they won’t utilize it as a full eportfolio. I suggested to the teacher that there be an element of creativity to it, but that was not her vision.
So what will be my vision for my e-portfolio? Maybe by reflecting on it and recording my reflections here in my blog, I can learn ways to motivate teachers to try digital portfolios with students and to move on past digital storage containers.
Refrerences:
(2016, March 3). EDLD 5303 Getting Started Tips | It's About Learning. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from http://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6322
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