E-portfolios

[Lori Holcomb]

E-portfolios are organized examples of student work collected and displayed in digital form. Eportfolios can serve a variety of purposes including showcasing a student's best work, showing growth over a time period or within a discipline, and as a form of authentic assessment. All portfolios are meant to invite conversation between the author and the viewer of the portfolio and allow for feedback and reflection.

Read the following article, "The Digital Convergence: Expanding the Portfolio Model" http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0441.asp?bhcp=1

and explore several of the links within the article to see examples of portfolio use by students and instructors in higher education.

Questions for discussion: What do you see as potential benefits of using eportfolios for students? What do you see as potential benefits of using portfolios from the instructor's perspective? What types of obstacles might we face when beginning to implement eportfolios? Provide an example or idea from the article or related links that seemed particularly useful or worth considering.

Additional resources:

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/eportfolios.htm

http://electronicportfolios.org/blog/

[Rachael Lundin]

This week we read about e-portfolios. I do not have a lot of experience with e-portfolio's but I had a great time reading about them and viewing some examples online. I think that e-portfolio's could be a great support tool for assessment within the classroom. I have always been a proponent of portfolio's because they allow students to build towards a goal and to see their progression throughout a semester. I think that allowing students to do these portfolio's online allows the teacher to incorporate another fun aspect to the project. A portfolio online could have a place for comments and could help promote students to read and review each others work ... as well as to get a sense of other peers work throughout the entire semester versus just seeing completed work at the end. I think that the teacher must work hard to make sure they ask effective questions and give questions that will provoke good answers and thoughtful learning. Teachers must also think about the fact that not all students might have the ability to work on their portfolio at home ... so maybe one day every two weeks is dedicated to the computer lab and that is when students work on their portfolios? Another positive about this idea is the fact that parents could also log on and see their students work ... what fun! With the technology that is currently part of our society we also have the ability to see when they are logging on, when they are posting information etc ... hence teachers can check to make sure students are keeping up with their portfolios in the correct manner.

I was just thinking how neat it would be if students had the ability to create new e-portfolio's within the same website etc as they used the previous year. What a neat portrayl of their continued knowledge and progression through the years! Of course this would mean that teachers would need to be consistent with format etc ... but how great would it be to see students work compiled from year to year.

In all ... I am a proponent of this technology. Like anything else ... I think that this technology needs to be a support tool for the classroom but can assist teachers with receiving a great assessment with various types of works as well as a home to student works that encompass an entire semester. Also like any other technology ... teachers will need training, support etc and the drive and motivation to make this technology and fun, and effective part of their classrooms. The great thing about this technology is that it also has a wide variety of applications and the teacher can use this technology both in their classroom as well as for their personal goals, use etc.

[Tawnee Bounds]

I agree with you that ePortfolios are a great support tool: a great opportunity for collaboration among the students in the creation of ePortfolio's and if a rubric is provided an awesome performance based assessment.
I enjoyed reading your comments.

[Katrina Benton Donham]

I really am intrigued by this idea of saving work year to year in secondary schooling for the student to see their progression over time...in the same program is even better. Also, e-portfolios are neat, as you've said, because they are multi-functional. The purpose of an e-portfolio varies, which could be well-played in any academic setting. The teacher has more control about what's expected and student's will have a better idea of the work expected.

[Kristy Meyrickk]

Can you imagine saving all those LA and SS projects we completed years ago? Wouldn't it be fun to have easy online access to them now?

[Tawnee Bounds]

What do you see as potential benefits of using eportfolios for students?
Seeing as how students are totally into technology, ePortfolio’s would be a fun way for the students to become and stay organized. Creating an ePortfolio would entail developing and using 21st century skills like self-teaching, critical thinking, team work reflecting, and new technology. Reflection is an important step in the process of ePortfolio’s as is preparing the data. The ePortfolio also offers a way for the students to get feedback from peers and other adults (educators, family, friends, business leaders, etc…). It also offers the students a way to monitor their progression in learning over the years – kind of like an opportunity for them to tell their story. For the students who are not great test takers, this is a way to really excel and feel successful without the pressure of test grades.

With gaining admittance into a favorite college getting tougher and tougher, students can include their ePortfolio as part of their college application. High school and college grads can use it to market themselves for employment (a step ahead of the competition – or at least in step with them).

What do you see as potential benefits of using portfolios from the instructor's perspective? A way to generate excitement/passion, since most teens really like using technology and like to learn new ways of using it (especially when their friends don’t know how to do something and they can teach them).
A way to assess students using performance based strategies. In technology classes, I would rather give the students a project to complete than a multiple choice test. The test doesn’t tell me that they know how to create a presentation and use complimentary colors and fonts, add animation and audio. I can tell fairly quickly by looking at their presentation if they followed the presentation rules. Also, I have heard a lot about teaching RBT, performance assessments utilize the higher level thinking by applying their knowledge, developing based on that knowledge and presenting what they developed.

What types of obstacles might we face when beginning to implement eportfolios? The first obstacle that comes to my mind is the availability of technology in the classroom. There may be computers, but is the Internet access sufficient, are the required internet tools allowed to be used at the classroom level, are the applications free or affordable, and where do we get storage space for the ePortfolio’s? Another would be time needed for the learning curve (technology skills, organizational skills, knowing what to include and the documentation process).

Provide an example or idea from the article or related links that seemed particularly useful or worth considering.
This was a really interesting activity and I started reading a lot of links and articles all over the internet. I really don’t remember which article it was in, but this idea just took off in my brain when I read about it.
I teach computer applications and this semester have mostly freshman. I would like to work with them in setting up and organizing a structured ePortfolio (possibly the beginning of a lifelong ePortfolio) that they can continue updating with each of their classes throughout high school (and accomplishments thereafter). I will suggest that they include one or two favorite assignments from each class and will have them choose a foundation from Word or PowerPoint due to the internet issues and storage space constraints we currently have at school (this information I got from Dr. Barrett’s research). I think the students would enjoy creating an ePortfolio, and can only imagine what their final project will look like. It may even create a desire to work harder in all their classes and a sense of pride as they show it off to friends, family and other teachers.

[Katrina Benton Donham]

Tawnee, I hadn't thought about the obstacle of memory space or cost when considering e-portfolios in the classroom. Thank you for that thought. Perhaps, each student could carry a jump drive as a method of keeping up with their e-portfolio (BUT a lot of students would lose it...). A jump drive locker in the classroom could be a solution?

[Kristy Meyrickk]

Dr. Hellen Barrett suggested that the eportfolios all be stored online. That too can be costly. I have been using free web 2.0 tools so far. I know that I am going to have to break down and purchase my own domain though - soon.

[Michael Cook]

I have to be honest up front and admit that I know very little about eportfolios other than the research I have done for my technology project in this course. I can, however, now see the many benefits they offer both students and teachers. I found the articles I read extremely intriguing and have saved the information for use in my classes.
A good deal of research has dealt with using portfolios to aid the student writing process and compile artifacts they have put together throughout a semester. ePortfolios takes it a step further by allowing students to collect artifacts of any and all mediums to showcase what they have learned and how they have grown. Not only can this help with student writing, but it also helps students with meaning making and metacognition. Students can continuously return to various selections , reflect on their work, and revise. Another amazing thing about this type of assessment is that students can use a number of programs to compile their work; these can be through Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, or they can be stored completely on-line. ePortfolios also take the power away from standardized and writing testing and place it squarely on the shoulders of the student, allowing them to take ownership of demonstrating what they have learned. Students are given the chance to work with and develop 21st century skills, something the current mode of testing is lacking. Because they are completing this for an audience, they will take it more seriously and spend more time engaging themselves with the material. Peer-to-peer interaction is encouraged, giving collaboration the chance to reign. As Greenberg (2004) mentions, students can complete eportfolios for various class requirements, for job interviews, or for post secondary school application. They truly give students the ability to demonstrate what they have learned, what they are interested in, and what they are capable of. Now that I have learned how valuable they are, I am excited about putting them into practice in my own classes.
As a teacher, I can see the real value in eportfolios. This provides, in my opinion, a better and more accurate way to assess students. They can show real world skills, something my current tests are not capable of determining. Students are actively engaged and learning throughout, and I can review and provide feedback during the process. Students can also reflect on what they have done and change work accordingly. None of my tests allow them that, unless I offer test corrections, which is nowhere near the same thing and not close to being as educational. I think students will see this as more "real" and a more valid way to display their knowledge than any traditional test will. I think they will see it as useful and want to be more involved. Aside from student benefits, I feel like teachers can benefit as well. We can keep our own portfolios as an ongoing professional development opportunity. It will force us to look at ourselves and our colleagues and force us to grow as educators. I am more excited about eportfolios than I have been about anything else we have studied.
All the articles we read and the concept maps we looked at were useful and interesting, but Greenberg's article stood out more to me, and I feel offered me more information. I love the idea of these being a work in progress, where peers and teachers review and provide feedback for further consideration. He goes on to talk about multiple types of media being utilized; this is what I like most about eportfolios. The fact that people do not have to be in the same place to share and review one another's work takes learning outside of the classroom and extends it to the home, incorporating 21st century tools and skills they so desperately need. I also love that these can be used for formative and/or summative assessments. There are a number of other points Greenberg made that I thought were great, but I'll only mention one more. He discussed the fact that eportfolios accomodate different learning styles. This can help us with differentiating instruction, which is something we all strive to do well.
I do intent to research eportfolios further and find ways to incorporate them into my own classes. I believe my students will take more pride in their work, reflect more on their work, and produce work that does a better job of demonstrating what they have truly learned, what they are interested in, and what they can really do.

[Tawnee Bounds]

I really enjoyed this topic too. You made a good point that students will learn and use multiple applications and technologies when they create their ePortfolio. They will be gaining 21st century skills as they develop their project and the ePortfolio will enhance their opportunities for success - for admittance to college or for employment.
Enjoyed your post.

[Katrina Benton Donham]

Michael, I am completely sold on the idea of e-portfolios replacing standardized testing. It just makes more sense to use student work as a means of assessing what college/profession they go into. In addition, I, too, am excited to use e-portfolios in my future classrooms. I think student ownership is a beautiful thing--the right way to teach, to create a positive, fruitful learning environment. Enjoyed your post, and good luck in your e-portfolio exploration!

[Destiney Ross]

I agree that portfolios provide more substantial evidence of students' learning and therefore should replace our current form of assessing them. However, I can only imagine how difficult it is to come up with a standard in which to grade them in that the students' work will greatly vary. But great suggestion and GOOD LUCK!

[Kristy Meyrickk]

I want to create my own eportfolio. I could see teachers using them as "good examples" when trying to explain a project we want our students to create. We could also save some of our best students' work in our eportfolio, being mindful to give the students credit but also being careful about security and disclosure of students' private information.