Reading Five- Electronic Portfolio

Electronic Portfolio. I did not fully understand that short phrase until I finished reading June Ahn's article titled Electronic Portfolios: Blending Technology, Accountability, and Assessment. I was familiar with what a portfolio was because during my elementary ed. student teaching assignment the particular school used portfolios. At my school each student had a 3 inch notebook, which was provided by the school, in order to showcase pieces of their work during student-led conferences. The portfolios were also a way to show how the students met the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme requirements for each grade level. The portfolios "followed" the students as they proceeded to each grade level. I thought that idea was pretty neat, and then I read Ahn's article and it made me realize that maybe that school should switch to the electronic portfolio method, in order to fully reap the benefits of using a portfolio in the first place. I think that it is important for me to describe what an electronic portfolio is before I can talk about the advantages. After reading Ahn's article my own definition of an electronic portfolio is a digital online showcase of student work and reflection, having to do with student and teacher standard-assessments. The goal that creators of electronic portfolio software companies want to achieve is to come up with software that can be seen as an alternative to standardized tests. Ahn's article focused on a collaboration that was between a public school and an educational software firm in order to create a e-portfolio to meet goals that combined student work with standards-based assessment. While reading the article, I realized that there are three main advantages to using electronic portfolios. The first advantage is that the actual process of creating e-portfolios can guide the whole school community to clearly establish its learning goals and expectations. So, everyone is involved in this process which automatically can create a new learning within the entire school by collaborating with one another. The second advantage to e-portfolios is that when creating the e-portfolio students can reflect upon their own learning throughout the e-portfolio process. What better way is there for students to learn than to be reflective upon their own product and understanding? There isn't a better way in my opinion. The third advantage is that when using e-portfolios teachers have the opportunity to encourage their students by providing detailed feedback on their students work. Wouldn't it be nice for teachers to have to ability to provide detailed feedback to students? I can remember just getting red marks and grades on my papers with no feedback, whether good or bad, from the teacher. Even though this technology is in the early stages of development (according to the article) the improved learning aspects of e-portfolios is that both teachers and students can clearly understand the standards and the structure that is needed to meet those standards. Also, students can learn how to be more effective in the organization and reflection of their own work. A teaching situation that this technology can address is definitely assessment. The e-portfolios are designed to be an assessment tool that teachers use in order to see what standards a student has or has not met rather than using a multiple-choice type of assessment. The e-portfolios can create learning opportunities that did not exist by providing the opportunity for students to publish their work on-line, available for all Internet users to see. So let's say a student of mine has a relative that lives in California, or a parent that has to travel to a different country or state a lot, well that relative and that parent can see their child's/relatives work right on-line. Now that kind of learning opportunity would not have existed without this type of technology. The digital divide that can keep some people out of the loop would be their inability to be active participants in the understanding of what an electronic portfolio is in the first place, more less the software that is needed to create one. A way to remedy that would be to provide as much information as possible describing the purpose of the portfolio and why they are used in medias such as class newsletters, class web pages, or even through a web-based scavenger hunt.

I think there there is a place for the technology in the classroom. I think that the electronic portfolios are a great instructional use in order to showcase student work, reflection, and feedback. However, there are a few concerns that I have about implementing e-portfolios within the classroom. I know we have to think about concerns other than time but for this technology time is the main thing I would be concerned with. There is some really extensive planning that has to go into just getting e-portfolios started. Other than time being my biggest concern, I also worry about giving the public the ability to access student work, even though this can be a benefit to parents, relatives, the student, etc. It could be very risky for students to post their work on the Internet for so many reasons, most of which are common concerns that we as teachers and parents have already. Hopefully, while this new technology is "in-the-works" as I would say the software companies will consider the privacy concern that I have and think of a way around the public having access.

The type of classroom activities that could be enhanced by using the e-portfolios is any activity in which the teacher wants each student to pick their own work and post it and reflect upon their work on-line. Also, the students could share their work with others while conducting dialogue with one another based on the work. I would say that most any activity can be enhanced by using the electronic portfolio since ultimately everything we teach comes right from a standard. It's up to the teacher and the students to decide what they want to do within the portfolio. At least that is the way I see it. I think that electronic portfolios are going to become more and more popular and widely-used by a lot of school systems. Just like any other new technology it just takes time to develop quality technology. The funny thing to me is as soon as the "new technology" comes out and we understand it something new and improved comes out. That's really just the way it is but I am excited to see where electronic portfolios will be in the future and the role that they may take upon within my own classroom. Thanks to Ahn's article I have an understanding of what e-portfolios are and hopefully I'll be ready to use this technology in the near future.