Tuesday, February 5, 2008

What is an ePortfolio?


An eportfolio, also known as an electronic portfolio or digital portfolio, is a type of learning record that provides evidence of student achievement. The eportfolios were originally used in arts, music, and architecture instead of traditional exams. Today, eporfolios are used across the curriculum in K-12 and higher education. ePortfolios are widely used in schools, higher education, continuing professional development, as well as for job applications and professional advertisements.

I have my professional portfolio at Interfolio. This online portfolio offers one place to store cover letters, resume, confidential reference letters, transcripts, etc. and to distribute these materials on demand to any organizations and institutions. I also have my personal eportfolio, which includes my resume, educational philosophy and teaching goals, transcripts, recommendation letters, samples of my work, and samples of my student work. I have it online and more extensive version on DVD. ePortfolio allows to present your work during an interview or show it to a potential employer online. This is also a useful tool for self-assessment, self-promotion, and advertisement.


How to Create an ePortfolio? 



Based on the Rubric for Electronic Portfolio, the process of an eportfolio development could be divided into 7 steps:

Step 1.
Selection of Artifacts and Written Communication
All artifacts and work samples should be well-organized and directly related to the purpose of the eportfolio.

Step 2. Reflections
All reflections should identify and describe short-term goals and include goals for continued learning as well as effectively critique of work.

Step 3. Use of Multimedia
All of the high quality photographs, graphics, sound files or video should enhance ePortfolio. All files should be properly linked and displayed. They should be easily viewed or downloaded.


Step 4. Captions
Each artifact should be accompanied by a caption that explains the importance of that particular work including title, author, and date.

Step 5. Ease of Navigation
All of the portfolio navigation should have links back to the main table of contents or Home page. All external links should connect to appropriate websites.

Step 6. Layout and Text Elements
The ePortfolio should be easy to read. Fonts, point size, bullets, italics, bold, and indentations for headings and sub-headings should enhance the presentation. Horizontal and vertical white space should be used appropriately. Background and colors should enhance the readability and aesthetic quality of the text.

Step 7. Writing MechanicsThe text should have no errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.



What to Include in a Teacher's Professional ePortfolio?



I. Background information
  • resume
  • background information
  • educational philosophy and teaching goals
II. Teaching artifacts and reflections documenting
  • overview of unit goals and instructional plan
  • list of resources used in unit
  • two consecutive lesson plans
  • lesson podcasts
  • videotape of teaching
  • links to websites, blogs or wikis
  • student work examples
  • evaluation of student work
  • reflective commentary by the teacher
  • additional units/lessons/student work as appropriate
III. Professional information
  • list of professional activities
  • letters of recommendation
  • formal evaluations

Tools for Creating ePortfolios


Microsoft Word -- word processor
Microsoft PowerPoint -- presentation builder
PDF document
Websites in iWeb or Dreamweaver
Audio – recorded in GarageBand or online program Audacity
Video – edited in iMovie, Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere
WikiSpaces.com -- wiki
WordPress.com -- blog
GoogleDocs -- online word processor
Google Pages -- online web site builder
GoogleDocs -- online presentation builder
ProtoPage -- web 2.0 web page

My Portfolio -- online software


ePortfolio Examples

Scott Merrick's portfolio includes his teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, professional development evidence, and even a teacher toolbox page to share resources with other teachers.


Need More Information about ePortfolios?

Helen Barrett's site - Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling for lifelong and life wide learning. This site provides links to information about electronic portfolio development, digital storytelling and other useful resources.


Image
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cawood/485487270/

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