Going Digital
Step 1: Start with the Why
Start With Why - Simon Sinek TED talk
Why Digital Portfolios? An answer from Sal Khan...
“The more artifacts that you can create over the course of your life the better off you’ll be when it comes to getting hired. The idea of building a digital portfolio, badging, and other artifact-creation is one way to respond to this challenge."
The Benefits
Electronic portfolios are among the most important tools in your digital kit as a teacher . In its basic definition, an educational e-portfolio is a digital collection of student work that evidences mastery of a set of skills, applied knowledge, and attitudes. The notion of portfolios has a long history in education, but it is only with the revolution of web 2.0 technologies that digital eportfolios spawned the educational landscape making it way easier to build, maintain, share and archive student learning in digital forms.
Students that develop an ePortfolio will see BENEFITS....
...from the PROCESS
- They will discover a valuable exercise in self assessment through the reflection process
- Learning will take on a new depth through the reflection process
- Their self esteem and self-confidence will be enhanced as they take control of their learning.
- They may develop their own goals for their learning.
- Assessment of their learning may become more student centered; the learner is involved and authorized to make decisions about will be evaluated.
- They will receive more recognition for individual learning abilities and preferences.
- They will learn and begin to practice a process that will be used in life long and life wide learning pursuits.
...from the PRODUCT
- They will have a tool for personal development.
- They will have a personal learning record.
- They may receive credit for informal and non-formal learning as well as formal learning.
- They will have direction for career planning.
- They will have a tool for feedback from teachers and peers; feedback in the form of comments, as opposed to marks.
- They will have a concrete way of showcasing strengths to teachers or future employers.
- They may have needed documentation for prior learning assessment or program credits.
- They may receive credit towards a course completion or towards graduation
- They will have an extremely portable tool to use no matter where they are in the world.
Why Do Digital Portfolios Matter?
There is a range of purposes that e-portfolios might serve across a lifetime of learning:
- Application providing evidence in support of an application for a job or for admission to further study
- Transition: providing a richer and more immediate picture of learners’ achievements and needs as they progress to a new environment, and supporting them through the process of transition
- Learning, teaching and assessment supporting the process of learning through reflection, discussion and formative assessment, and providing evidence for summative assessment
- Personal development planning (PDP) and continuing professional development (CPD) – supporting and evidencing the pursuit and achievement of personal or professional competences