1-Focus Question:
How can teachers and students use digital portfolios as tools for learning?
Digital portfolio, described by Kilbane and Milman, as quoted by Maloy, is a “goal-driven, organized collection of artifacts that demonstrates a person’s expansion of knowledge and skills over time“(Maloy, Verock-O’Loughlin, Edwards, Woolf, 2012, p. 309)). Teachers, as well as students who are engaged in a portfolio-building process, manipulate a tool that has the potential to allow a direct evaluation of their knowledge, and also to give rise to serious thoughts. How can digital portfolio be used for both of them as tools for learning?
Educators generally build their portfolios with elements that display academics, teaching, talents, and accomplishments. Students on the other hand demonstrate in portfolios their knowledge and skills. Either one, when organizing a portfolio, has the opportunity to assess and reflect on their knowledge. Lee A. Montgomery, Education researcher, noted that portfolios can be useful for new teachers and veterans as well, to reflect about their progress and objectives. Otherwise stated, while a digital portfolio is used as a guide to show credentials, knowledge, and experience, it also offers the opportunity to appraise them. It is an occasion for the portfolio builder to think critically and creatively about himself, and to make opportune choices.
Putting together a portfolio gives teachers or students a unique chance to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and make plans to improve themselves. Consequently, a particular feature of digital portfolios is to promote learning through personal reflection.
DIGITAL Picture Credit to: jpeg from wtcatech.com/digitalportfolios.htlm
2-Tech Tool.
Different options ranging from do-it-yourself templates to use free, modest, and expensive products are available to portfolios builders. The following are common choices:
· TaskStream – It is a popular digital tool used for Web design and portfolio building. Users can find a variety of design options such as presentation portfolios and resource portfolio. They can be accessed by the world or specified closed community. Document can be set in these portfolios showing the learning process of the user. www.taskstream.com
· Life – iLife ’09 is software created by Apple for Macintosh computers. Its various features (import of photo images into versions of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD or Web) allow adding sound effects and professional quality cinematographic to the portfolio. www.apple.com
· EduTools – It is a website sponsored by Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET). Besides finding template for e-portfolios, EduTools provide online assistance to those interested in using e-tools. Moreover, it provides reviews of online college, advanced placement, and high school courses. http://eportfolio.edutools.info/
The different options offered by EduTools in addition to the fact that it is free, constitute an essential tool that I would not hesitate to use to build online digital portfolios.
3- Summary.
Chapter eleven surveys how digital portfolios facilitate assessment of knowledge and promote reflection to teachers and students. Montgomery & Wiley state that “Digital portfolios offer an effective way for students and teachers alike to assess their teaching and learning accomplishments” (Maloy, et al., 2012, p. 309). The experiences, teaching activities, and accomplishments of an educator gathered in a digital portfolio, show his skills and background experience using interactive technologies (Web 2.0) in teaching.
Digital portfolios offer many advantages as well as disadvantages. Curriculum theorist Shulman although he foresaw potential dangers of portfolios, argued that “the dangers can be more than counterbalanced by the strengths of portfolios as a teacher assessment approach” (Maloy, et al., 2012, p. 311).
Teaching portfolios design by teachers are setup in different and creative ways, but almost all combine elements about resume, philosophy of education, unit plan, academic courses and research experiences, teaching experience, personal talents and accomplishments, reflections, resource links, video, and pictorial segments.
Students, with the use of portfolios, can also demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
A unique feature of portfolios is that they allow learning through personal reflection. It is a guide to gauge teaching abilities; it stimulates thinking critically and creatively about being effective, and its content can be constantly updated.
Students have also to practice digital portfolios for learning to be successful. They need to bring input to rules of school conduct, topics to study, and the assessment process. An advocate for greater involvement of students in educational decision making process is the movement for democratic schools and classrooms. They are places were students and teachers interrelate in active engagement and willing participation, as they conduct learning together. Democratic schools have a schoolwide mission, particular teaching practices, and ample use of technology.
Teachers need to find out what students already know about a topic before introducing a lesson. Thus, Preassessments allow teachers to connect new concept to prior knowledge, to demonstrate that teachers care, and also create a sense of collaborative learning. Online surveys offer an effective way to involve students in preassessment process and activate prior knowledge. Some resources are available online to conduct preassessment with students.
· Zoomerang, provides prompts and templates, and categorizes a diversity of themes. It allows modifying the design and personalizing it, keeping an archive and it is a free basic membership. http://info.zoomerang.com
· Poll Builder, is from the History and New Media at George Mason University, it does not have many options, but it is free and can be useful. http://chnm.gmu.edu
Handheld wireless tools called, clickers, stimulate students’ participation. They “offer interactive learning options for teachers and students” (Maloy, et al., 2012, p. 318). These tools have numerous advantages: active learning, student involvement, real-time feedback, question-driven instruction. A characteristic example is the CPSPulse Clicker from elnstruction. “Clicker change the classroom experience, encouraging student individually while giving them active roles and reasons to participate in discussions” (Maloy, et al., 2012, p. 320).
Technology also transform lesson plan as shown in Documenting Student Learning Using Digitals Portfolios in ENCYCLO-ME-DIA.
References
Maloy, R.W., Verock-O’Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2012). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson Education, Inc.
Thorough summary with some great resources (it is customary to hyperlink though instead of writing the links out - you'll want to be sure you know how to do the hyperlink for the last project!)
ReplyDeleteClicker technology is quite popular, but I believe we will begin to see the use of mobile devices and web software replacing that hardware in the fairly near future.