E-Portfolios for Teachers and Students
In today's lecture Greg introduced us to e-portfolios. He defined them as:
“A digital or electronic portfolio is a collection of work or a display of artifacts that demonstrates one’s skill level, progress and achievements in one or more areas of discipline over time. It is arranged so that they and others can see how their skills have developed and progressed. The collection must include contents, the criteria for selecting and judging content and evidence of reflection. As new work is completed the portfolio is updated.”
E-portfolios can be created by both teachers an students. Student e-portfolios hold examples of students work which allows users to reflect on their learning and experiences over a given period . To be effective assessment tools e-portfolios should contain student works from the beginning, middle and end of the year to show a progression in learning. Importantly, e portfolios allow teachers to make further improvements that will benefit future student learning.
To be purposeful an e-portfolio should:
- feature multiple examples of work be context rich
- offer opportunities for self-assessment and reflection
- offer a look at development over time.
A teaching professional can utilise and e-portfolio to showcase their professional development, pedagogy, classroom experiences and achievements when applying for teaching jobs. They are also a fantastic way to show potential employers that you know a thing or two about ICT!
Workshop Activities and Classroom Applications
Today we began the workshop by looking at some examples of power point based e-portfolios that had been developed by previous Primary Education students.
A good e-portfolio should contain most, if not all of the following pages:
- Introduction
- Resume
- Philosophy of Teaching
- Awards and Achievements
- Reflection and Discussion Entries
- Application of Theories to Classroom Experiences
- Referees
- Teaching References
- Contact Information
Greg spoke to us about the value of developing an e-portfolio to accompany the interview stage of job applications. These portfolios provide insight into a teachers' individual talents and pedagogy.
Teacher e-portfolios are concise, annotated collections of teacher work and things they have accomplished, in and outside the classroom. What makes them very different from traditional portfolios is that they can include scanned or digital photos, video and sound clips, animations, recordings of students, text, traditional writings and drawings. Teacher portfolios are a collection of work produced by a teacher. The portfolio is designed to highlight and demonstrate the teachers' talents, knowledge and skills in teaching.
While looking into developing my own e-portfolio I came across this you-tube clip that illustrates how e-portfolios are becoming more and more popular all over the world. Their popularity can be attributed to their capacity to showcase a person’s abilities and developments in an accessible, professional and reflective manner.
In our workshop, Greg taught us how to utilize the Microsoft programs Power Point and Publisher to develop an e-portfolio. In Power Point this can be done by essentially creating a slide show with each slide corresponding to pages mentioned above. Alternatively, Microsoft Publisher can be used to develop a website based portfolio.
I attempted to create a website using publisher as the basis of my own professional portfolio; the tabs at the side of the template correspond with the pages mentioned above:
While I have decided to use the website templte to develop an e portfolio, it could also be used by students to develop a a class website or as an alternative to the traditional poster making projects for students.
Microsoft Publisher is also a fantastic program for developing brochures and other publications. The Publisher website ( http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/) has lots of free tutorials and information on different projects and activities that the program can be used for.
Some classroom applications could include:
- Making a class newspaper
- Newsletters and flyers
- Creating advertisement
- Brochures
- Web sites
I created a brochure on a holiday destination using publisher. It was quite straight forward and looks quite professional. I think the professional look is something students appreciate because the publication they have created is authentic looking, not amateurish.
