There is a wealth of infomation on how to develop and use electronic portfolios. I like the way Dr. Barrett said that an electronic portfolio is a "living history of of lifelong learning," and that it is a purposeful collection of work.
Student portfolios, which I have used for many years, are used to document what a student knows, what they are able to do, student outcomes and assessments as well as credible evidence for parents to see what their child has achieved throughout the school year. I find that this is also helpful in showing parents that their child may have a problem learning. The evidence is right there in the child's porfolio. I take the portfolio to the family study team meeting so we can look at the students work.
For older students an electronic portfolion can be a vehicle for enhancing student awareness of learning strategies and help them take ownership in their work and motivate them to learn.
Some ideas to help students get started on creating digital portfolios they can practice blogging, develop simple websites, or use content management systems which there are several online.
This is all great information to share at staff meetings with your colleagues.
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I like how you are using portfolios in your classroom. It is so important to have a paper trail of student work for many reasons. For sure it is good to have when point out a learning issue. Other purposes might be to show administration what you are doing. I honestly think they have no idea what you’re doing in your classroom and what your students are achieving there. I think I forgot one of your first points that portfolios are about lifelong learning. Many of the articles alluded to this one way or another, but it is one of the key benefits in addition to metacognition being nurtured in our students.
I didn't even think of the portfolio's use in diagnosing learning disabilities! I do this too!! The list continues to get longer and longer as to the benefits of such a creation. It is student centered, drives both learning & instruction, gives kids a since of pride over what they have done as well as a concrete example of how to next time make it better, and parents have evidence of classroom learning! Who needs TerraNova, Galileo, SRI & AIMS in the wake of such a phenomenal display of educational learning taking place?? Phooey to standardized testing! Up, Up with authenti assessment! Thanks Harriet for giving such a clear example of how Portfolios can help ALL students!
I send home weekly samples of student work with a slip that gets signed and returned. It's not electronic yet, but it could be. Thanks for the idea.
"Living history of lifelong learners"! I love that quote! Portfolios are great assessment pieces as well as great tools to use in parent teacher conferences. They help guide my instruction and provide factual evidence if a student understands a concept (move on) or if they need more help (pull a small group). I think most of us use portfolios of some kind with our students, but it is important to keep up with our own progress as educators with updating our professional portfolios.
Harriet, I totally agree! After this class, I am ready to toss out all those stupid paper portfolios and start moving my kids to the electronic world. There are so many advantages, and even though it may be a bit of work up front, in the long run, it can be a tremendous time saver.
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