I
understand that the e-portfolio can be a more accurate way to demonstrate a
students’ learning and become the assessment “of” and “for”
learning. I have stated before that I am not a supporter of
standardize testing because I feel that it is not a true representation of a
student’s knowledge. The stress and anxiety that students feel
knowing a test can prevent them from graduating is an antiquated form of
torture for many. This torture is not limited to the students. Teachers
in my school continually complain about having to teach to a test! And the
students admittedly memorize information for a test and typically forget the
information for the future. Testing does not support a
student-centered learning experience in a way that portfolios (paper or
electronic) can.
Paper
portfolios have been in existence for a long time and have been used to exhibit
a person’s talents for a variety of areas. For example, models have
a professional portfolio of pictures and an architectural student might have a
portfolio of building designs to present to future employers. In my
first few years of teaching CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) the students kept a
paper portfolio of their drawings. The advantages of switching
formats to e-portfolios are staggering. E-portfolios give the
students an opportunity to collaborate with other students who could possibly
be in another country and learn in their own terms. E-portfolios are
also a much more efficient way to collect and organize artifacts for a
portfolio. Both paper and e-portfolios have a table of contents, but
with paper the user must flip through pages to gain access to the information
they seek. With an e-portfolio the table of contents is hyper
linked, and data is available with the click of a mouse. Additionally,
students do not have to worry about losing their e-portfolios like they could
with a paper portfolio or have a cup of coffee ruin their
work. E-portfolios can be stored on a cloud server and be accessible
from anywhere even if it were not published for the public to view.
I
looked at three different Wiki sites: Wilispaces.com, Wikidot.com, and
Pbworks.com. Wikispaces advertises that it was designed specifically
for classroom use and is a social writing platform. The advertisement on Google
piqued my interest, but when I tried to view the site, I found that it had
closed in January 2018. Wikidot seemed difficult to navigate and I
got confused on who could edit versus view the work. For this
reason, I would definitely not choose Wikidot. Pbworks is geared
more for business than education. Overall, I do not believe I would
choose a Wiki platform for my portfolio.
In
addition to searching the internet on my own in search of a portfolio site, I
decided to ask the opinions of other teachers I know who teach web
design. Between my search and suggestions, I came up with
Myefolio.com, Weebly.com, and Google sites (sites.google.com) as the top three
runners for an e-portfolio site. Myefolio is geared towards
education of all levels from kindergarten through college and beyond. With it
being geared to all ages I found it was reasonably user
friendly. This is my second time visiting Weebly because I played
with it before making a blog host choice. Weebly has a lot to offer,
but I still feel it is harder to use than Myefolio or Google
applications. Affordances appear to be equal for Myefolio and Google
sites. I need to experiment with both locations before making a
final decision for a host site. I am honestly leaning towards Google
sites because of my familiarity with using other Google platforms. I
know that my students at school are more comfortable with Google applications,
which would lead me to have them use Google sites for their e-portfolios.
The
TPACK model is also new to me. But from
my reading I have started to understand how the teacher’s content knowledge for
the subject may include knowledge of concepts, evidence, and theories for that
subject. It also should include and
educational/organizational framework that leads to the best approach in
communicating the content knowledge to students. Pedagogical knowledge in is my understanding
on the best methods regarding teaching.
This requires that I consider student learning styles while practicing
classroom management skills, produce lesson plans, and conduct student
assessments. Technological knowledge
references my knowledge of and ability to use varied technologies and tools to
use in the best manner to scaffold student learning. I also learned how the technological content
knowledge will help me in understanding how content and technology influence
how I should/could communicate information through different educational
technology platforms and influence which is best for specific classes/subjects.
E-portfolios
can support all areas of the TPACK model when the correct tools are used. It provides affordances for the student to
use critical thinking skills, creativity, and gives the student opportunities
to present their knowledge through the use of educational technology instead of
proving what they know through standardized testing. I truly believe that demonstrating their
knowledge through activities is a better representation of what a student is
capable of than passing a test.
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