Long Script of Pauline Auld

Creating and Using Portfolios on the Alphabet Superhighway (pages 1-8)

www.ash.udel.edu/ash/teacher/portfolio.html

This article provides an overview for educators in the creation and use of electronic portfolios on the Alphabet Superhighway.  It outlines how portfolios may be used in a variety of ways in the classroom.  It also provides ideas on possible activities to encourage students to review their own work, analyse their own learning strategies and assess their own collaboration with others.  At the end of the article a glossary of relevant terms is provided.

What are electronic portfolios?

  • Selective and purposeful collection of student work on www
  • Records of learning, growth & change
  • Meaningful documentation of students’ abilities
  • Represent a learning history
  • Inclusive or focus on individual subjects
  • Bring curriculum, instruction & assessment together (Page 1)
  • Shared understanding of “quality work” (teachers & students)
  • Common language for evaluating work
  • Students accept responsibility – become “agents of their own education”

 

“Portfolios bring together curriculum, instruction and assessment.  Through the use of portfolios teachers and students can develop a shared understanding of what constitutes quality work, and acquire a common language for evaluating student’s accomplishments”(page 2).

 

Why use electronic portfolios?

·        Foster active learning – goal setting

·        Motivate students – self reflection

·        Instruments of feedback – evaluation of learning, goals, learning strategies, knowledge presentation (Page 2)

  • Instruments of discussion on student performance – curriculum, achievement, teacher expectations examined during conferences
  • Exhibit benchmark performance – “open to the public”
  • Accessible – economy in storage and ease of access
  • Store multiple media – projects, etc.
  • Easy to upgrade and keep current (Page 3)
  • Allows for cross-referencing of student work – links between projects & work             

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Creating electronic portfolios – Steps to Implementation

  • Decide on areas of assessment – teachers identify dimensions of learning they wish students to display
  • Different dimensions of  curriculum elaborated to provide indicators of progress
  • Guidelines from report cards, national, state, district standards (Page 4

Question:  Should teachers always select the “dimensions of learning” or should students be allowed to have input into the process?

Selecting assessment measures

  • Choose different assessment measure based on student’s products, processes, perceptions
  • Student products may include:  essays, reports, lists of books read, problems solved, models built, etc
  • Processes are evidence of goals set, outlines, drafts, strategies
  • Perceptions are student attitudes, motivations and self-assessment of learning

Selecting portfolio content

  • Wide range of work samples allows the viewer to examine progress
  • “process portfolios demonstrate student work throughout a learning task
  • questions may include:  what do I plan to accomplish with this task

      how I plan to get there

      my strategies for accomplishing this task

  • teacher may include interim evidence and notes on progress

Who should decide what to include in a portfolio?

  • For students to feel ownership of the portfolio, they need to have decision-making power in selecting materials
  • Should be selected collaboratively by the teacher and student (Page 5)
  • Students need to review portfolios periodically & self evaluate
  • Student may review & provide feedback on each other’s work

How should a portfolio be organized?

  • Organized to reflect an accurate picture of student development
  • Should include:  table of contents

     Date of work

     Description of task

     Student reflection on entry

Could also have links to areas of assessment that are involved in the project or task

  Using electronic portfolios

  • Require determination, technological sophistication, time, energy
  • Schools need to develop guidelines for use of portfolios – part of school culture (Page 6)

Question:  What might these guidelines look like?

Glossary

*     authentic assessment: evaluation of student's learning, achievements, and attitudes that are consistent with classroom goals, curricula and instructional methods.

*     criterion referenced: An assessment that evaluates a student's work with reference to specific criteria rather than with reference to other students' work.

*     dialogue journal: a journal for recording a conversation or dialogue, typically between a teacher and a student.

*     formative assessment: diagnostic evaluation that helps to design and guide instruction

*     metacognition: knowledge related to one's thinking and actions.

  • performance assessment: assessment methods that rely on students demonstrating their knowledge or skills in applied situations.

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Electronic Portfolios – A Chapter in Educational Technology

(pages 1 – 7)

  Barrett, H.C. (2001).  http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/encyclopediaentry.htm

  This article defines an educational portfolio as one that contains work that a learner has selected and collected to show growth and change over time.  A critical component of an educational portfolio is the learner’s reflection on the individual pieces of work, often called artifacts, as well as an overall reflection on the story that the portfolio should tell.

  Definition of portfolio   “A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas.  The collection must include student participation in selection contents, the criteria for selection’ the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection”

Northwest Evaluation Association (1990).

  Various Portfolio Purposes

·        three general purposes:  Learning (formative) portfolios – occur on an ongoing basis supporting professional development

   Assessment (summative) Portfolios – occur within   

   the context of a formal evaluation process

   Employment (marketing) Portfolios – used for 

   seeking employment

·        there are also Working Portfolios, Showcase or Best Works Portfolios and Assessment Portfolios

·        portfolios are an alternative form of assessment – synonymous with authentic assessment or performance-based assessment

·        characteristics are:  student involved in meaningful performance tasks; clear standards and criteria for excellence’ emphasis on metacognition and self-evaluation’ student produces quality products and performances; positive interaction between assessor and assesse (page 1)

·        portfolio is a container that holds examples of student or teacher work, the “artifacts” and reflections on that work that transforms the artifacts into “evidence” of achievement

 

Electronic Portfolios Defined

  “An electronic portfolio uses electronic technologies, allowing the portfolio developer to collect and organize portfolio artifacts in many media types - audio, video, graphics, text” Barrett (2000)

 

·        electronic portfolio & digital portfolio used interchangeably

·        is not a haphazard collection of artifacts (digital scrapbook or multimedia presentation) but a reflective tool which demonstrates growth over time

·        organised around a set of standards or learning goals and their achievement of the standards, learner’s reflections, rationale for selecting specific artifacts and overall reflection (page 2)

·        benefits for developing electronic portfolios include:  minimal storage space, easy to create back-up files, portability, long shelf life, learner centred, increases technology skills, links to standards, accessibility

 

Electronic Portfolio Development Process

·        series of stages, each with goals and activities

·        create a powerful tool for demonstrating growth over time

·        develop teachers’ as well as students’ multimedia technology skills

  Multi-media Development Process  - Ivers & Bacon (1998)

*          Assess/Decide. The focus is on needs assessment of the audience, the presentation goals, and the appropriate tools for the final portfolio presentation.

*           Design/Plan. In the second stage, focus on organising or designing the presentation. Determine audience-appropriate content, software, storage medium, and presentation sequence. Construct flow charts and write storyboards.

*           Develop. Gather materials to include in the presentation and organize them into a sequence (or use hyperlinks) for the best presentation of the material, using an appropriate multimedia-authoring program.

*           Implement. The developer presents the portfolio to the intended audience.

*           Evaluate. In this final stage of multimedia development, the focus is on evaluating the presentation’s effectiveness in light of its purpose and the assessment context.

  Portfolio Development Process - Danielson & Abrutyn (1997)

*          Collection - teachers and students learn to save artifacts that represent the successes (and "growth opportunities") in their day-to-day teaching and learning

*           Selection - teachers and students review and evaluate the artifacts they have saved, and identify those that demonstrate achievement of specific standards

*           Reflection - teachers and students become reflective practitioners, evaluating their own growth over time and their achievement of the standards, as well as the gaps in their development

*           Projection (or Direction) - teachers and students compare their reflections to the standards and performance indicators, and set learning goals for the future. This is the stage that turns portfolio development into professional development and supports lifelong learning.

*         Presentation - teachers and students share their portfolios with their peers. This is the stage where appropriate "public" commitments can be made to encourage collaboration and commitment to professional development and lifelong learning (page 3)                  top

  Five Stages of Portfolio Development

1.      Defining The Portfolio Context  & Goals

·        Identify assessment context, purpose, identify audience and resources

 

2.      The Working Portfolio

·        Occupies longest span of time

·        Collection of artifacts – with short, reflective statements

·        Select software development tools most appropriate “medium is the message” – control, restrict or enhance portfolio development process

·        Form follow function – software match the vision and style of portfolio developer

 

3.      The Reflective Portfolio

·        Reflective process – ask three questions:  

1. “What?” (summarise the artifacts)

            2. “So What?”  (reflect on learning /meeting 

                                     standards)

            3. “Now What?” (address implications for future learning, set

                                                      refinements or adaptations)

 

“A professional portfolio system invites Teachers to become the architects of their own professional development” (page 4)

 

4.      The Connected Portfolio

·        Create hypertext links between goals, work samples, rubrics and reflections

·        Insert appropriate multimedia artifacts

·        Create table of contents to structure portfolio

·        Contributes to summative assessment process – link reflections to artifacts, single artifact can link to multiple standards

·        Brings together instruction, assessment, portfolio development and professional development

 

5.      The Presentation Portfolio

·        Store portfolio in an appropriate medium

·        Present portfolio to an audience & celebrate accomplishments

·        Evaluate in terms of purpose and assessment context

 

 “An opportunity for professionals to share their teaching portfolios with colleagues for meaningful feedback and collaboration in self-assessment. This public commitment provides motivation to carry out the professional development plan of a formative portfolio” (page 5)

 

Electronic Portfolio Development Tools

·        Many strategies for developing electronic portfolios, 2 general approaches : common tools approach - off the shelf software 

                           Customised  systems approach – designing a networked

                                                                           system

·        Some good commercial electronic portfolio programs on the market

Summary

·        Keep the process simple

·        Should showcase learner achievements and growing capabilities in using technology to support lifelong learning

 

Related links to additional references:

  Using Technology to Support Alternative Assessment and Electronic Portfolios - Helen C. Barrett, PH.D. (2000).

  http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios.html#Refs

  Dr. Barrett, an expert in the field of electronic portfolios, provides numerous references, links, online video, tutorials, conference and workshop information on the topic.  

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To Efoliate or Not to Efoliate: The Rise of the Electronic Portfolio in Teacher Education (pages 1 – 3)

Norton-Meier L.A. Journal of Adolescent  & Adult Literacy. Newark : Mar 2003. Vol. 46, Iss. 6; pg. 516

This article discusses the rise of electronic portfolio system in teacher education.  One benefit of the portfolio process, whether in electronic or paper form is that it shows what students do know rather than what they don’t know.  The process of efoliation, the peeling back of layers of learning and presenting it in an organized electronic format, holds tremendous promise.

Benefits of Electronic Portfolios

·        Economy of a portfolio compiled and save to a compact disc

·        Documents oranized in the form of a web page and focus on goals

·        Students produce a narrative response to each goal and embed hyperlinks within their narratives to all manner of supporting artifacts

·        Students bring own creativity and talents to the portfolio documents (efolio)

 

If to exfoliate is to remove an outer layer of something, then to e-foliate might be to peel back the layers of learning in an electronic or technological format.  

 E-foliation  allows educators to rethink aspects of their practice and how students reveal their learning. Efoliation forces teachers to rethink writing, technology and assessment. (page 1)

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Rethinking Writing and Reflection

  Question:  What kind of writing is included in an electronic teaching portfolio?

·        At times it may be a personal narrative, a memoir or technical writing, a web page

·        Unlimited set of other forms collected as artifacts: a digital video. Multimedia presentations , journal entries, Internet web sites developed by the student, lesson plans, student work standardised test data

·        Students must write narratives to tell the story

·        Part of the reflection process is the way that students incorporate graphics, the way the artifacts are linked together, even the color scheme selected

·        Students create their own sense of the interconnections of the artifacts – leading to a much richer understanding of themselves and of the standards against which they are being measured

  Question:  Who is the audience for the efolio?

·        Can an efolio be used to document a student’s learning throughout a teacher education program also be used to help that student find a job?

·        Portfolio assessment is compact, easy to store and has a variety of opportunities for analysis

·        Question:  Could students (Junior/High School) also use their portfolios  to find a job, apply for a school or post-secondary institution? (page 2)

  Rethinking Assessment

·        Major benefit of the portfolio is that it shows what students know rather than what they don’t know

·        Process of collecting artifacts, selecting appropriate artifacts that document learning in relation to program goals and the writing and reflecting by the student on how the artifact contributed to their development, are all ways to capture the process as opposed to the final score of a standardized test

 

To efoliate or not to efoliate?

·        The process of efoliation, the peeling back of layers of learning and presenting it in an organized electronic format, holds tremendous promise

·        It supports and encourages an experience that combines reflection and technology and is linked to how we know learning occurs

·        Each efolio has a story to tell – no two look the same

·        Combines technological prowess, thoughtful reflection in a variety of genres and a celebration of learning throughout a lifetime

 

References:

ASH.  Creating and Using Portfolios on the Alphabet Superhighway. Retrieved

            February 8, 2004 from the Internet:

www.ash.udel.edu/ash/teacher/portfolio.html  

 

Barrett, H, C. (2001). Electronic Portfolios – A Chapter in Educational  

           Technology. Retrieved February 8, 2004 from the Internet:  

            http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/encyclopediaentry.htm

 

Norton-Meier L.A. To Efoliate or Not to Efoliate: The Rise of the Electronic

Portfolio in Teacher Education Journal of Adolescent  & Adult Literacy.

Newark : Mar 2003. Vol. 46, Iss. 6; pg. 516

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