As an educator it is important to keep up with emerging technology. New forms of technology may have many applications in the classroom. It is important to research all aspects of a technology before bringing it before students. Some things to take into account are cost, effectiveness, usefulness, and support.
E Portfolios as an Emerging Technology
E Portfolios are an emerging technology in education. They have been used in higher education for several years, but are now starting to find their place in the K-12 classroom. An e Portfolio is similar to the typical portfolio used in classrooms over the years. The e Portfolio is a focused collection of work that demonstrates a student’s growth over a long period of time. The difference between the typical portfolio and the e Portfolio is the information is collected, stored, and displayed electronically. Similar to a typical portfolio, an e Portfolio can focus on a specific objective or several content areas. This makes it appropriate for any grade or skill level. The e Portfolio achieves its goal of demonstrating growth by containing carefully selected artifacts. These artifacts can be digital photos, audio files, scanned and electronic documents, and videos. The e Portfolio’s main purpose is to authentically evaluate student achievement. This is attained by demonstrating how and what students learn. Students should be actively involved in selecting the work to place inside their portfolio. The act of selecting their own work allows them to take ownership in their education, as well as allowing them to learn about self reflection and personal growth (Daniels Brown, 2008.)
There are three common types of e Portfolios. The first is the working portfolio. It shows current or recently finished student projects and work. Next, the display portfolio showcases a sample of the student’s best work. Finally, the assessment portfolio contains a collection of work that demonstrates that a student has met specific goals and that they have reflected on each artifact. All portfolios including the e Portfolio has a process that goes through many stages. A portfolio begins with developing standards by which artifacts will be chosen. For example, a special education teacher may want to demonstrate a speech goal on a student’s IEP. She will develop objectives to meet this goal. The next phase of portfolio development would be to collect artifacts that follow the objectives selected. For example, the special education teacher would select audio and video recordings to place in the e Portfolio. After this she would reflect on the artifacts and think about setting future goals. The final phase in the development of the portfolio includes the activities of placing hyperlinks that connect each other, publishing the e Portfolio, and providing an opportunity for feedback. Due to the e Portfolio being electronic and published; parents, administrators, teachers, and the students would have easy access.
E Portfolios can be fun and easy to create. To create an e Portfolio you will need the proper tools and training. Some tools a teacher might need in creating an e portfolio are a pc with as much memory as possible, a scanner, a camera (still and video), audio software, and publishing software. Training and time is the most important tool in the development of an e portfolio. Each piece of equipment or software used in their creation requires skill. After learning how to use the tools needed, a teacher must then decide what to include in the portfolio and how the portfolio will look. In order to accomplish this, a teacher could create a storyboard or flow chart (Abrenica, 1998). Once the aesthetics are decided upon, a template must be built. This makes the e portfolio easier and faster to complete because artifacts and reflections can be inserted into pre-created pages. Each portfolio template should include a title card with the student’s information (name, age, and subject), a table of contents, standards used, and artifacts. These artifacts should show student work over a period of time and include writing, graphics, and pictures. To keep from falling behind in developing the portfolio teachers should place artifacts in the e Portfolio on a regular basis (Abrenica, 1998). There are some companies that sell e Portfolio software or services such as EdCube, DIGIcation, Filemaker Pro and Student Jotter (free and pay). Schools do purchase this software, but many teachers have found free tools to use on the internet. Google offers many applications that help create portfolios and all are free of charge. These include Google Calendar, Google Books, and Google Photo, and Google Docs which can be used to create presentations, documents, and forms.
There are many benefits to using an e Portfolio. The largest benefit is that it is space efficient (Abrenica, 1998). A typical portfolio is stored in binders and folders. These portfolios must be stored in the classroom where storage space is limited. The e Portfolio solves this problem because they are stored on computers, CDs, or flash drives which take up very little if in any extra space. The typical portfolio also becomes very bulky, messy and may not be able to store some of the student’s work. The e Portfolio resolves this issue because every artifact is in digital form. Large science projects can be photographed on a digital camera, art projects, can be scanned, and dramatic play can be a digital video. An e Portfolio also allows access too many different artifacts in many different ways. Teachers and students can modify content to fit specific goals and objectives easily. Artifacts can also be linked to each other through hyperlinks making the flow of the portfolio better. Last, all artifacts in a portfolio can be duplicated. In a typical portfolio the artifacts are originals, but since everything is digital in an e Portfolio they can’t get lost, damaged, and multiple copies can be made.
While there are many benefits to using e Portfolios in education, there are also drawbacks. First, the expense of technology and training could be out of reach for schools in lower socioeconomic areas. Also, as the e Portfolio becomes more widely used, technology companies will start seeing the ability to make a profit and the companies could start requiring schools to purchase upgrades or licensing fees to access students’ e Portfolios. In today’s difficult economy this could have a negative effect on schools in lower socioeconomic areas. The e Portfolio is lauded for its flexibility, but as they become more prevalent they could fall victim of to standardization (Williams, 2007). The biggest threat to e Portfolios is the issue of privacy. How do teachers make student work available to as many people as possible without violating a student’s privacy? This could be a security concern as well since student names, grades, and pictures are available for every to see.
I believe that e Portfolios have a place in the classroom. I definitely plan on using them when I become a teacher. I think that in conjunction with grades portfolios are wonderful assessment tools. They can represent to students, parents, and teachers in a tangible way that progress is being made. E Portfolios are great for parent teacher conferences and parents would have access to student work on a regular basis. Parents could also be given a copy of the portfolio at the end of the year. I also believe that teachers should engage and empower students. When students are able to take responsibility for their education they become more actively involved. Also a teacher I can use my student’s e Portfolios to reflect upon my instruction. I can look from month to month and year to year to see the effectiveness of my instruction. This would allow me to make changes if there are negative trends as well as letting me know what is working.
E Portfolios are an emerging digital assessment tool in education. They have long been used in higher education and are starting to become more prevalent in the K-12 classroom. They allow teachers, schools, students, and parents to communicate, authentically assess academic skills and encourage personal growth of a long period of time. Rather than relying strictly on formative assessments they allow students to show showcase their growth in a personal way through photos, scanned journal entries, and art. E Portfolios have many benefits such as preserving documents, saving space, and increased availability, but security and cost can be an issue.
Bibliography
Abrenica, Y. (1998, November 06). Electroninc portfolios. Retrieved from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596r/students/Abrenica/Abrenica.html
Barrett, H. (2010, November 9). ePortfolios with GoogleApps. Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/Home
Daniels Brown, M. (2008, August 25). Electronic portfolios in the k-12 classroom. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech111.shtml
Williams, B.T. (2007). I'm ready for my close-up now: electronic portfolios and how we read identity. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(6), 500-504.
