Gotta admit. My feelings about ePortfolios have run the gamut. When I first read the term, I thought "What the heck? I have never heard of such a thing. I wonder if it's what it sounds like?" In reading about them through the different assignments, I became intrigued and thought they sounded really cool - a great tool to showcase projects and to give evidence that learning actually occurred and the student isn't just repeating information on a test. And now that I've had to research and play around with them, although I still think they're a fantastic idea, I'm intimidated at the thought of this process! From confusion to curiousity to delight to dread, this ePortfolio business is stressing me out!! But no matter, it's still a sensible tool in this technological age and I think the end result will be worth it!
FOLIO THINKING AS ASSESSMENT
I love this idea. Assessing students based on more than just test grades has always seems more like what teachers/schools/institutes for higher learning should be doing. After all, anyone can cram facts into their brain, regurgitate it on a test, and immediately empty their hippocampus of the information and still make an A. But if this is ALL we're looking at, are we really interested in whether or not the student learned anything? I would say not. While some students do actually learn and do well on tests as a result, test grades should only be a portion of what we look at when we are assessing what students have learned. Portfolios ("e" or otherwise) are a better indicator of what a student has actually learned. They include projects, papers, thoughts, and are in themselves a learning experience as the students should be reflecting on what they've learned through the process. A transcript grade only shows evidence that work was done in a satisfactory fashion. A portfolio shows WHAT that work was and HOW the learner was able to connect it to their life.
I think it much more relevant to be able to articulate what I've learned about a subject and to provide evidence of that than to just answer questions on that same subject via a written test or paper. HOWEVER, given a preference, I do like taking a test, writing a paper, turning in a project, or filling out a form as I crave the "safety" of knowing that I can study certain information and give it back when asked. A portfolio seems much "riskier" to me as it requires much more of ME to be put out there and as an introvert, that's just not part of my nature!
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Wikis and websites and blogs, oh my! Not to mention proprietary tools.....So I tried to "play" as much as I could without registering for too many accounts. We talked about blogs last week - so that's done. I think a blog COULD be used as a portfolio but I also think it would do better as a link within a portfolio - as supporting documentation or a way to show reflection on the artifacts that may be included within the portfolio. Wikis seemed really complicated to me - like there were too many moving parts. I started reading a tutorial on how to set one up and became overwhelmed, confused, and panicked - so I dismissed that as an option for my personal portfolio. I would imagine that someone who really likes technology, understands what they're doing, and has lots of extra time on their hands would be drawn to this as the description sounded like a desirable end product. I think the other options, free sites and proprietary tools are very similar - the biggest difference being cost and support. With something "free", you're going to get what you pay for....super simple & basic vs. lots of bells & whistles. I did notice that with all of the "free" sites I looked at (FolioSpaces, PortfolioGen, Weebly, G Suites) that while the BASIC option is free, the upgraded/premium versions costs anywhere from $6-$10/month and $10-$72/year. I was initially leaning towards G Suites (Google Sites) because my husband (who recently set up the website for our church) said it was free & easy. HOWEVER, the catch with G Suites is that you have to belong to an organization that uses Google Apps to be free. While I currently DO have that status, what happens if and when I don't? I don't want to suddenly lose access to my ePortfolio due to an employer change or some other technology update within that world.
So - I think Weebly wins the contest. It ended up being the best "free" option with some cool drag & drop features. As far as different affordances, all of the "E" portfolio options seemed to have basically the same benefits - with the exception of G Suites - of being able to go with the user just about anywhere and for as long as needed. A traditional portfolio with tangible items (paper, recordings, art) would have the affordance of not being reliant on technology for proof of learning but also have the disadvantage of being bulky and harder to store.
WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?
In asking students to create a portfolio, what would I do? Well - it really would depend upon what I was able to provide for them in the classroom. If I can give them the opportunity to all be on a computer or other device, it would be easier to ask them to create a portfolio for themselves using their district account. Almost all of our teachers use Google Classroom and my daughter frequently sends me "work" to view. I love being able to see what she accomplished in her class during the day as opposed to the "we had fun" description on the car ride home! If I was not able to provide equal time and technology across the board, I would probably ask them to keep more of a folder of work that THEY felt represented their best. Again, with my daughter, she brings home a TON of paperwork and assignments. While I feel terrible throwing out so much paper that shows WHAT she's been learning, I am realistic when it comes to storage. She has basically a "portfolio" from each grade where she has kept some examples of her work - tests, art projects, letters, etc. - so that we can look back and see how she has grown. At the elementary level, this is still probably the way to go with portfolios as so much of their work still IS on paper. At the high school level, it could possibly easily translate to a thumb drive. (The drawback is that not everyone has the ability to access technology at home.)
HOW CAN I USE THIS?
As a future Teacher-Librarian, I was thinking that it would be really cool to set up some sort of record data base for each student of the books they read. It would have to be under their student account, or even on an app (if there's one out there) that could track what they read and then their opinion of the book. Our reading comprehension program does a basic version of this, but it's more of an assessment OF learning as opposed to giving the opportunity FOR learning in posting reviews and opinions. Another way to do this would be to open up a Librarian Blog where the students could go to post their review or opinion of a book we read together in class. This could get overwhelming, as it would result in about 100 opinions per book - BUT it would be a great indicator of what knowledge the students gained (or didn't!) from what we read together. If I could incorporate something like Moodle(?) as suggested in the Mishra/Koehler video in order to eliminate the "I Agree" syndrome amongst the older students, that would be even better. This could ALWAYS be tweaked to use paper and pencil if technology was "on the fritz" that day/period. If I could figure out how to set up an ePortfolio for EACH student though, that followed them throughout their elementary education, they would be able to look back at the end of their elementary years and see just how many books they had read and how their interests and cognition changed - especially in the later years. A BIG project to take on - I realize. Implementation would be challenging (but not impossible) and it may be better to start with just 1 or 2 grades instead of the entire school.
So at the end of the day, I had to create SOMETHING. It's still very much a work in progress, but the beginnings of my eportfolio can be found at the following link: https://supescoollibrarymom.weebly.com
FOLIO THINKING AS ASSESSMENT
I love this idea. Assessing students based on more than just test grades has always seems more like what teachers/schools/institutes for higher learning should be doing. After all, anyone can cram facts into their brain, regurgitate it on a test, and immediately empty their hippocampus of the information and still make an A. But if this is ALL we're looking at, are we really interested in whether or not the student learned anything? I would say not. While some students do actually learn and do well on tests as a result, test grades should only be a portion of what we look at when we are assessing what students have learned. Portfolios ("e" or otherwise) are a better indicator of what a student has actually learned. They include projects, papers, thoughts, and are in themselves a learning experience as the students should be reflecting on what they've learned through the process. A transcript grade only shows evidence that work was done in a satisfactory fashion. A portfolio shows WHAT that work was and HOW the learner was able to connect it to their life.
I think it much more relevant to be able to articulate what I've learned about a subject and to provide evidence of that than to just answer questions on that same subject via a written test or paper. HOWEVER, given a preference, I do like taking a test, writing a paper, turning in a project, or filling out a form as I crave the "safety" of knowing that I can study certain information and give it back when asked. A portfolio seems much "riskier" to me as it requires much more of ME to be put out there and as an introvert, that's just not part of my nature!
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Wikis and websites and blogs, oh my! Not to mention proprietary tools.....So I tried to "play" as much as I could without registering for too many accounts. We talked about blogs last week - so that's done. I think a blog COULD be used as a portfolio but I also think it would do better as a link within a portfolio - as supporting documentation or a way to show reflection on the artifacts that may be included within the portfolio. Wikis seemed really complicated to me - like there were too many moving parts. I started reading a tutorial on how to set one up and became overwhelmed, confused, and panicked - so I dismissed that as an option for my personal portfolio. I would imagine that someone who really likes technology, understands what they're doing, and has lots of extra time on their hands would be drawn to this as the description sounded like a desirable end product. I think the other options, free sites and proprietary tools are very similar - the biggest difference being cost and support. With something "free", you're going to get what you pay for....super simple & basic vs. lots of bells & whistles. I did notice that with all of the "free" sites I looked at (FolioSpaces, PortfolioGen, Weebly, G Suites) that while the BASIC option is free, the upgraded/premium versions costs anywhere from $6-$10/month and $10-$72/year. I was initially leaning towards G Suites (Google Sites) because my husband (who recently set up the website for our church) said it was free & easy. HOWEVER, the catch with G Suites is that you have to belong to an organization that uses Google Apps to be free. While I currently DO have that status, what happens if and when I don't? I don't want to suddenly lose access to my ePortfolio due to an employer change or some other technology update within that world.
So - I think Weebly wins the contest. It ended up being the best "free" option with some cool drag & drop features. As far as different affordances, all of the "E" portfolio options seemed to have basically the same benefits - with the exception of G Suites - of being able to go with the user just about anywhere and for as long as needed. A traditional portfolio with tangible items (paper, recordings, art) would have the affordance of not being reliant on technology for proof of learning but also have the disadvantage of being bulky and harder to store.
WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?
In asking students to create a portfolio, what would I do? Well - it really would depend upon what I was able to provide for them in the classroom. If I can give them the opportunity to all be on a computer or other device, it would be easier to ask them to create a portfolio for themselves using their district account. Almost all of our teachers use Google Classroom and my daughter frequently sends me "work" to view. I love being able to see what she accomplished in her class during the day as opposed to the "we had fun" description on the car ride home! If I was not able to provide equal time and technology across the board, I would probably ask them to keep more of a folder of work that THEY felt represented their best. Again, with my daughter, she brings home a TON of paperwork and assignments. While I feel terrible throwing out so much paper that shows WHAT she's been learning, I am realistic when it comes to storage. She has basically a "portfolio" from each grade where she has kept some examples of her work - tests, art projects, letters, etc. - so that we can look back and see how she has grown. At the elementary level, this is still probably the way to go with portfolios as so much of their work still IS on paper. At the high school level, it could possibly easily translate to a thumb drive. (The drawback is that not everyone has the ability to access technology at home.)
HOW CAN I USE THIS?
As a future Teacher-Librarian, I was thinking that it would be really cool to set up some sort of record data base for each student of the books they read. It would have to be under their student account, or even on an app (if there's one out there) that could track what they read and then their opinion of the book. Our reading comprehension program does a basic version of this, but it's more of an assessment OF learning as opposed to giving the opportunity FOR learning in posting reviews and opinions. Another way to do this would be to open up a Librarian Blog where the students could go to post their review or opinion of a book we read together in class. This could get overwhelming, as it would result in about 100 opinions per book - BUT it would be a great indicator of what knowledge the students gained (or didn't!) from what we read together. If I could incorporate something like Moodle(?) as suggested in the Mishra/Koehler video in order to eliminate the "I Agree" syndrome amongst the older students, that would be even better. This could ALWAYS be tweaked to use paper and pencil if technology was "on the fritz" that day/period. If I could figure out how to set up an ePortfolio for EACH student though, that followed them throughout their elementary education, they would be able to look back at the end of their elementary years and see just how many books they had read and how their interests and cognition changed - especially in the later years. A BIG project to take on - I realize. Implementation would be challenging (but not impossible) and it may be better to start with just 1 or 2 grades instead of the entire school.
So at the end of the day, I had to create SOMETHING. It's still very much a work in progress, but the beginnings of my eportfolio can be found at the following link: https://supescoollibrarymom.weebly.com
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