Using Online Porftolios...More Than Digital Scrapbooks

Last week I attended a "How to make Online Portfolios more than Digital Scrapbooks" Roundtable hosted by Ben Wilkoff. I am very glad I had this opportunity to hear what others had to say about Online Portfolios because this is one of my passions. I was also able to make connections with some great educators who share this passion.

As an Ed Tech Coach for Aurora Public Schools, one of my goals is to assist more teachers in helping their students create online portfolios. As a teacher, I had my students create online portfolios. Since I taught in a Career and Technical Education program, our focus was using the online portfolios for finding employment or applying for college. However, I see many additional uses for online portfolios.

The main takeaway from this roundtable for me was the importance of making the online portfolio reflective. To be effective, online portfolios must be reflective and get feedback from others. The teacher should not be the only audience of the online portfolio. The audience should also include other students, teachers, and parents. One of the quotes from the roundtable that I liked best is "Portfolios should be a bridge to content; not just a storage place."

I believe when I first started with online portfolios, I really did use them as a storage place. I have started changing that practice. However, after being part of this roundtable, I will put more of an emphasis on making portfolios more collaborate and reflective for teachers and students.

Another great quote from the roundtable was from Mike Muir, guest speaker. He stated "What is the evidence of your learning vs. what is the evidence of your completing the project?" This really stood out to me because I feel we often put more emphasis on the end product then we do on the learning that took place. Instead of creating a final product and moving on, the reflection should be built into the unit. I plan to explore the resources provided by members of the roundtable in order to be able to make this concept clearer for teachers and students.

Next week I am going to start an online portfolio project with an 8th grade Literacy class at South Middle School. They are using this as their final project. When collaborating with the teacher and introducing the project to the students, we will discuss that students will only include their best work in the online portfolio. In addition, we will discuss sharing and setting up comments. Another requirement will be for the students to write a reflection for each piece. I will work with the teacher to determine what she feels is important to include in the reflections. Some examples shared during the roundtable were:  

• What do you know? What can you do? So What?  
  
• What did we just learn, and why did we learn it?
• 3-2-1: 3 things you learned, 2 things to share with someone else, 1 thing you still want to learn

One of my goals is to work with teachers at the beginning of the school year to start online portfolios with students. The students can then add evidence of learning throughout the school year. This will with help students show growth over time, especially students with special needs and English Language Learners. I would also like to see student sharing these online portfolios with their parents throughout the year, especially at parent-teacher conference.





In a future blog, I hope to share some awesome online portfolios created by students at the schools I support.

If you are interested in watching the session click on the link below:
Link to Session

Some resources shared during the roundtable:

• Distributed PD Project (Auburn, ME) - http://distributedpd.wordpress.com/
• Helen Barrett’s eportfolio site http://electronicportfolios.org/
• Kathy Schrock, The Connected Teacher, http://moodle.washoeschools.net/mod/book/view.php?id=342
• Inside the Black Box, Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, King’s College London School of Education
  
  
  
  

 

Chromebook Deployment at South Middle School a Success

210 Chromebooks arrived at South Middle School. Debbie Renaud, Tech EA, and I were excited and ready to get them out to students

We decided to unpack one set of 30 at a time.

Steps:

Unpack

Insert battery

Open and login to check

Exit Session

Record Number on back

Add Label on front

Inventory Tips:

• If you have a barcode scanner, you can use it
• Can contact Wendy in purchasing to receive a spreadsheet with the APS tags

Carts Arrived

A La Cart User Guide

Cart tips

• Number the slots
• Add Chromebooks into slots
• Works best to have two people working on cords--one front of cart, one back of cart
• Add cords to bottom first place cords
• When attaching cords to top level, we discovered we could wrap two cords on one and connect those cords with the velcro

Make sure all four power poles are set to on

Turn off the main power switch on the outside of the cart before plugging in

Turn on the main power switch

Only two power poles are charge at a time. 

It rotates from bank A to bank B every fifteen minutes

Chromebook Carts were then delivered to classes

The teachers receiving the Chromebooks have been meeting with me (Ed Tech Coach)  in order to prepare for using the Chromebooks with students

South Chromebook Cohort Site

The teachers then introduced the Chromebook to the students and explained the expectations for using the Chromebook. Previously the students had received Chromebook contract that required a student signature.

South Chromebook Contract

Intro to Chromebook Presentation

We also had the students complete a Student Roster form in order to collect gmail addresses and other information to use with gClassFolders.

Student Roster Form

Directions for Completing Student Roster

Teachers and students will continue to use Chromebooks to enhance their classroom assignments.