E-Portfolios-Tech Play 2
As I dive deep into e-portfolios, I have been reflecting on what a powerful tool they can be to deepen our understanding of our students. I grade countless papers weekly, record the grades in the grade book, and send the assignment home. Students have one number representing their work at the end of the grading period. This traditional method doesn't allow you to see what the student mastered, concepts that still need developing, and ideas that they extended their thinking on.
Articulating what you know and what you have learned provides a more meaningful look at what was accomplished over the pursuit of the degree. It gives the student more reflection and ownership of their thinking, which drives continued learning. Answering the set questions falls into a more traditional format of assessment, which many people are comfortable with and thrive in that environment. Creating a representation of what you learned over your coursework gives you more possibilities to be creative and showcase how far you have come.
I looked at several different tools to create an e-portfolio. My students at school are currently developing a physical portfolio. Many of our projects this year were physical products that didn’t make sense to digitize due to the scale of the projects. Building the time to digitize everyone’s work is not something we could do this year. Our issue, though, is that not all of their work is physical. The students also create several digital projects that we have trouble showcasing to parents and the students leave without good documentation of their work. I created my portfolio using Folioteck. I found that was the best fit for me. It provided the structure for what I needed as wasn’t overly complicated with graphics and add-ons. It also has no unwanted ads and focuses the viewer on your artifacts. For my students, I think they need something more accessible, so I would guide them toward using Google Sites. It's incredibly easy to use, and they can still personalize it however they want. I didn't want to sacrifice individuality for ease of use, so this one checks all the boxes. Students are most engaged when they can have ownership of their products. The students are already very familiar with Google Suite, so they needed little guidance on building their site. The drawback is that when logged in with their student accounts, the site can only be shared with people inside the organization. This gives students an added layer of digital citizenship and cyber security.
After researching, the students wrote papers on national parks using Google Docs. They had to include important facts about the park, its location, and the different landforms you can find there. The students could share their doc with a partner who would suggest edits. I would love to see the students add their final written papers to their portfolios. Then, they could link the park location on Google Maps and connect the reader to the national park website.
Another project they have been working on is exploring how shadows change throughout the day. The student created a hands-on model of this with a flashlight and a small figure. They then used a stop-motion app to capture the movement of the light. This would be a great addition to their e-portfolio so that they can easily share their video and then reflect on their learning on the site.
