Running head: REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

Reflection on ePortfolio Process and Advice for Future Students

Collette Sanchez
National University

REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

Abstract
This paper contains a reflection of my PDQP ePortfolio and discusses my journey throughout
this course, the achievements and frustrations that I experienced, as well as a rationale for the
changes I made to my ePortfolio and the positive impact that had on my personal marketability
as an arts educator.

Also included is advice for future students of this course in terms of

preparing a PDQP, sharing its content and being a positive community learner.

REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

Reflection on ePortfolio
This journey has been eye-opening and rigorous, but the effort has shown to be
worthwhile. I now have a substantial amount of evidence in my ePortfolio that supports my
practice of teaching arts education. I am proud of myself for taking careful consideration of the
artifacts I chose because the feedback I have solicited from my peers in this course, colleagues
from my workplace, friends and family has been overwhelmingly positive. I can confidently
state that I hold a Masters in Education, a Single-Subject Credential in Art, use best practices in
my teaching and develop curriculum aligned with the Common Core (2015) effectively as
evident from my PDQP ePortfolio.

I also look forward to using the 5-year professional

development plan to further my mastery teaching and accomplish my teaching goals. I excelled
my skills in using Weebly.com because the amount of revisions needed to complete the PDQP
ePortfolio was endless, but the hard work paid off and I believe my ePortfolio looks organized,
visually pleasing and is a strong representation of my teaching experience.
I made a lot of changes to my PDPQ ePorfolio throughout the course. I also had to write
numerous papers reviewing supporting literature and reflecting on my progress for this courses
assignments. Although these tasks were rigorous I have become a better writer because of it. I
am excited to continue populating my PDQP with evidence of my teaching and student work,
especially to others who are reluctant to believe that the arts support core 21st century skills like
creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration and technological literacy.
My achievements are evident by my skills in website organization and photographs of my
students artwork and the creative environment of my classroom.

The only frustrations I

experienced were due to my confusion of the course expectations, mainly how to write Literature
Reviews. I learned that communication with my professor in the beginning of the course versus

REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

towards the end of the course would have given me more time to implement the tasks correctly.
Time management was an important aspect to maintain for this course. I also saw the positive
effects of having a concise structure of artifacts rather than populating each domain with too
many artifacts. The ePortfolio should be an excellent representation of my teaching practice.
Too much evidence appears scattered and is unclear in meeting the domains of each Teacher
Performance Expectation (2013). The mantra less is more was instrumental for me in regards
to remaining orderly, organized and intentional about the artifacts and rationales I chose to
populate my PDQP ePortfolio.
I have learned that I need to continue to photograph student work as I teach and also
photograph students working (writing, creating, collaborating) in my classroom in order to show
how I have implemented what I have learned in the last two-and-a-half years at National
University. I also need to provide Photo Permission Slips to my students so that I may have the
freedom to publicize their artwork and pictures in my PDQP ePortfolio so that I can maintain
ethical and professional obligations.
Advice for Future Students
My advice for future students who are beginning this course is to choose Weebly.com as
the technological format for the ePortfolio. Most people in my course agreed that it was the most
flexible format for including various types of artifacts, such as images, documents, timelines and
videos.
My advice for future students would be to view the expectations for each of the four
weeks when the class begins and create a rough outline of the types of artifacts that will need to be
included. That way there wont be moments of confusion, like I experienced when I realized that
certain artifacts would be better placed in other Domains. I spent a lot of time reorganizing my

REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

ePortfolio pages, which was not entirely a bad thing because the revisions became more precise and
intentional, but it would have saved me a lot of time in the long run if I was aware of the
expectations for each week before they occurred.
In terms of sharing a PDQP I think the websites are best viewed for feedback by the
individual versus being presented during the class meeting required in Week 3. There is quite a bit
of lag associated with the presentation and I did not think my peers were able to view the quality of
my PDQP because the viewing format was too slow for scrolling through the website.
One thing I have really learned from taking courses at National University for my
credential and masters is that a positive learning community really helps alleviate anxiety for
acquiring new learning material. I found that my peers and especially my professors, for most of my
courses, were extremely supportive of the fact that there is a large range of learning curves for the
development of different skills for each type of learner. I enjoyed supporting peers who were new at
using technology and I really appreciated my peers and professors who supported my developing
writing skills. My own teaching philosophy reflects positive discipline and positive collaborativelearning, therefore it was a breath of fresh air to also feel supported while I was a student at National
University.
My greatest takeaway from completing this course was developing an actual product that
will support my growth as a teacher for years to come. The PDQP ePortfolio can easily be revised to
meet the needs of an Entrance, Showcase, Exit, and Interviewing Portfolio (Constantino, 2009) as a
much more robust and rich experience than a typical resume. I can also use my PDQP as a way to
evaluate and self-reflect on my teaching practice by continuing to modify existing artifacts and
populating additional artifacts that represent my present journey as a teacher.

REFLECTION ON EPORTFOLIO AND ADVICE FOR FUTURE STUDENTS

References
Constantino, P.M., De Lorenzo, M.N. (2009). Developing a professional teaching portfolio: A
guide for success. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Teacher Performance Expectation (2013) Retrieved January 30, 2016, from
http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-prep/TPA-files/TPEs-Full-Version.pdf
The Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2015). Retrieved January 30, 2016, from
http://www.corestandards.org/