Many people have had to make portfolios in their lives, whether it was for school or for job opportunities. Portfolios are used to gather and put together all of the artifacts and skills students have learned in the classroom into create a collection of student work. Portfolios are found to be vey useful for teachers to find all of the students' work in one place, and many of the parents like to see it all organized in one place as well. It also allows for many skills all shown in one place as well, with many different types of assignments all compiled together. The students can also see their growth, as well as their teachers and parents. Each assignment in portfolios usually have a reflection that students will do to talk about how they felt like they did with the assignment, so they are able to see what glows and grows that have for that particular assignment. All of these artifacts gathered together can create a great portrayal of what the students did and how they have grown in their learning. Many of these portfolios used to be just hard copies used in higher levels of education, in order to get ready for job interviews and to be used in college settings. However, this is not the case anymore. Now, schools are starting to see portfolios being used at much younger grade levels and are also moving from paper portfolios to E-Portfolios.
So, what are E-Portfolios? E-Portfolios are the same as regular portfolios (where they are a collection of student work, artifacts, and reflections), but are created online and with technology. E-Portfolios are mainly used to "collect their work, reflect upon strengths and weaknesses, and strive to improve" (Miller & Morgaine, 2009). E-Portfolios are now being used more than ever, as our society moves to integrate more of technology into the classroom. This way, the students are also engaged with what they are doing and are able to connect what they are learning to other real-world experiences (since many people are expected to use technology throughout their education and for jobs). They will learn the skills and knowledge of how to use and work technology in a productive way, and they are able to learn the content that they are taught as well.
There are many different types of E-Portfolio creators and tools to use online with your students in the classroom. Ones that I have learned about before was Seesaw, which is a digital portfolio maker where teachers can give students activities to do and students will be able to create artifacts they will have for their portfolios. This resource can be used on any device and is free for teachers. This resource also is very fun and engaging to the students, with a fun interface they can interact with. I have also learned about VoiceThread, which is where "students can create, share, and comment on images, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio files, documents, and PDFs, using microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file uploads." (Indiana University, 2019). Basically, students are able to add many different types of media onto this platform, and have the ability to have voiceovers and show websites too. It is a great way to create a digital portfolio in the classroom.
I have personally used Wix to create my own E-Portfolio, which you are on right now to read this blog. Here is the link to my personal site's homepage. I have found this site to be very easy to use and fun to work with. It allows you to add pictures, documents, videos, and more. You can embed websites, incorporate blogs, use buttons and other interactive tools, and even include audio on your website. This tool would also be easy for students to use because it has a drag-and-drop interface that students will be able to figure out. This can be a great way for students to show their growth, skills, and learning over the course of the year.
Some different E-Portfolio tools that schools can use include Kidblog and Three Ring Mobile App. Kidblog is a site where students can create digital portfolios with their own writing in any format that they like. They are able to upload any kind of document onto their portfolio, such as a PDF documents, photos, videos, and more. They also can connect their portfolio to google drive, so they can add any of their google slides presentations, drawings, docs, and more. I would personally use this to create fun writing projects like blogs, where they can add pictures and other attachments. I think students would find this very engaging because they are able to show their work online with any format and design as they like, and can incorporate any type of media on it they want. Students will be able to engage with technology and can produce something of their choosing. Three Ring is an app that students can use to take pictures of written work and artwork, record audio reflections and discussions, take videos of presentations, and more. This way, all of their work can be collected into a portfolio on the app. I would use this to gather all of their work on the app so that the parents can see their growth at parent-teacher conferences and students can use the technology to collect their work. Students will like this because they can use the app on iPads and tablets to make a portfolio, while also still using their written work and things they create on paper for their portfolio too.
Overall, E-Portfolios are a great incorporation of technology in the classroom. This allows for the students to create and produce their work in a digital way, instead of just watching videos and reading articles. This has the students really show their stuff by making things and artifacts for their portfolios. So, E-Portfolios can be a valuable addition to the classroom.
Citations:
Common Sense Education. (2018, September 01). Student Portfolio Apps and Websites. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/student-portfolio-apps-and-websites
Dickins, H. (2018, August 24). 10 Tools to Create Online Student Portfolios. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/01/10-tools-to-create-online-student-portfolios/
Indiana University. (2019, January 10). Indiana University Indiana University Indiana University. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://kb.iu.edu/d/bduw
Miller, R., & Morgaine, W. (2009). The Benefits of E-portfolios for Students and Faculty in Their Own Words. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/peerreview/Peer_Review_Winter_2009.pdf
Safe Student Publishing. (n.d.). Kidblog. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://kidblog.org/home/
Skelton, A., & Skelton, A. (2012, April 25). How One App Uses Digital to Empower Education. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://mashable.com/2012/04/24/three-ring/#iCkcwFaQtuqW
Stuart, H. (2013, November 14). What is an ePortfolio? Retrieved October, 2013, from https://youtu.be/xvqBORISA5k
Teaching Ace. (n.d.). Kidblog! Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://www.teachingace.com/kidblog/
Teachings in Education. (2016, December 19). Student Portfolios for Classroom Assessment. Retrieved December 19, 2016, from https://youtu.be/sacuuqjHPXo
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