Folio Thinking-

Using eportfolios as an assessment of learning provide a broader

representation of the learner’s understanding and application of knowledge.
Traditional assessments have a place in assessing student learning but do
not provide a complete picture. Many traditional assessments that are given
require an answer that is correct or incorrect. Students are able recall
information however this type of assessment does not demonstrate a
complete understanding or the ability to apply the knowledge. A collection of
student selected works in an eportfolio showcases student growth,
application of information and understanding of content over time. The
affordances of having an electronic platform as an assessment is the student
is able to access the information at any time, select the artifacts included
that best represent their knowledge and skills, provide analysis of works and
have the eportfolio as a showcase for future needs such as other classes or
employment.
As a learner pursuing a graduate degree, I think articulating what I know
and have learned about educational technology from my academic,
professional, and other experiences and provide evidence of that learning
with a collection of artifacts I’ve created would be more meaningful to my
academic and professional goals. Answering questions is the more traditional
assessment and honestly requires less thinking, decision making and
time…..however, I don’t feel that I would learn as much in the process. I
refer to the blog assignment as an example, had I read about blogs, visited
blogs and answered questions I would leave with a basic understanding of
the idea and technology. The experience of creating a blog and creating blog
posts to has connected the dots for me.
 
Physical and electronic portfolios key similarity is they both allow you to
select artifacts that showcase your growth, learning experiences and content
development. The key differences are an electronic portfolio has more media
options available to better represent the artifacts such as videos, images,
text, audio, maps and charts. The electronic portfolio allows you easily edit it
as needed and to save it for future use. 
 
When researching tools for creating my eportfolio I played with Wix,
Site123, Weeble and Wordpress. I explored the Site123 and discover it was
fairly easy to use but did not provide any templates. You were given a basic
page and selected from a few layout options and color themes to choose
from. You could upgrade to a paid site for more options. Wordpress also had
a small number of template options to choose from. Again, you could pay
and have more templates available. Wix had a large number of templates for
a portfolio. I started the process of building a portfolio but ran into issues
editing the template. It was easy to get the images and text moved from its
original alignment. I played with the Weeble portfolio templates and found
one that has a layout that I felt best matched my vision. It was easy to
manipulate the text and image boxes as well as add pages. I have used
Weeble to create my eportfolio. I have since found Google Sites and really
like how easy it is to add and edit features. It does not give a large amount
of templates to choose from but the templates that are offered are universal.
I’m still playing with this one but feel it is a strong site that I may switch to.
I’m not sure I completely understand what a Wiki is and that I truly found a
site that represents Wiki.  
 
Although I like Weeble and Google Suites. I would select Google Suites for
student use to create eportfolios. The templates are simple and easy to edit
and add information. Students do not require a strong knowledge of
technology to use this platform. They can easily add selected media to
support their learning such as text, images, videos, audio, charts, slides and
maps. These features allow the alignment of eportfolio to any subject
matter. Allowing students to create an eportfolio as a form of assessment
helps achieve deeper understanding of subject matter as well as develop and
use critical thinking skills needed to evaluate their selected artifacts. 
 
TPACK
Content-The learning objectives:
 Identify and explore elements of poetry
 Write poems using all types of poetry forms
 Read all types of poetry forms as poets
 Understand the different poetic elements, forms, and expressions
 Further analyze and critique poems during the unit
 
Pedagogy-
 Build background knowledge by listening to and reading poetry
 Participate in reading different forms of poetry conveying different
emotions and feelings
 Respond to poetry individually
 Brainstorm and write poetry using different types of poetic forms using
rules
 Present and publish poems
 
Technology-
The use of technology will reinforce and supplement the classroom
instruction by providing the students a new fun way to organize and publish
their works. The eportfolio supports the pedagogy by providing the students
the opportunity to select, analyze and publish their poetry through
technology. 
 
I could enhance student learning by allowing the students to publish their
poetry using an eportfolio. The students would respond to specific prompts
on poetry read aloud as group as well share their thoughts and feeling
towards the poems. The students will collect the poems they have written to
represent the different forms of poetry and publish to their eportfolio. The
students would create their own illustration to represent their favorite poem
selected for their portfolio.
 
To take this further I would have the students analyze and critique the
poems they selected to be published in their eportfolio.
 
TPACK
Content-The learning objectives:
 Conduct a science fair experiment using a standard process or
scientific method
 Generate a question, gather information, conduct an investigation,
record the finding or conclusion and create a presentation suitable for
the science fair
 Develop a basic demonstration of how the world works through
research, observation, and experimentation
 Analyze a scientific occurrence with an investigation 
 Use technology by using pull down menus, icons, etc. for a resource to
locate information
Pedagogy-
 Develop their own experiment based on personal interest
 Learning from experimenting or learning by doing
 Encourage reflection about the experiment to develop new skills, new
attitudes and a new way of thinking
 
Technology-
The use of technology will reinforce and supplement the classroom
instruction by providing the students a platform to share and discuss
their scientific process. Using an eportfolio as the platform for
presentation the students apply critical thinking skills in determining
schedules, lessons, work examples, and forms to include in the
portfolio. Students analyze, critique and make changes to experiment
process based on results. Student revisions are encouraged after
feedback is provided. 
 
I could use an eportfolio to transform student learning by allowing
the students to publish and analyze their experiment question,
gathered information, conducted investigation, record the finding or
conclusion and present results. They will share their thoughts,
questions, successes and challenges encountered in the experiment
and analyze results to determine changes to make during the process.
The students would create their own form of media to best represent
their experiment selected for their eportfolio.

Assessment OF Learning-An eportfolio can be used as an assessment

of learning. When used in this capacity in involves the lowest level of
student involvement or thinking. The student is putting together a
selection of works they have created. This collection could represent
a unit of study, a semester, or several years. Depending on the use.
The only action of the student is to collect. They are not learning
anything from this process just presenting the works.

Assessment FOR Learning-An eportfolio can also be used as an

assessment for learning. In this instance, the students will still put
together a collection of their work but the process is much more
involved. This requires the student to use critical thinking skills to
determine which works should be included and provide a reflection of
their reasoning and provide a connection between the works
selected.  The students require more actions than just to collect.
They are making decisions about the works and deciding what best
represents their knowledge and skills as a learner.

The eportfolio provides teachers an opportunity to observe a student

using the information learned. Many assessments that are given
require an answer that is correct or incorrect. Students may be able
to remembering facts and information but are they able to put the
ideas together or apply them. The collection of student selected
works in an eportfolio for learning showcases student growth,
learning experiences and content development.

An eportfolio documenting “lifelong” learning includes formal learning

by an educational institute over an individual’s lifetime. It is
presented in a linear format. An eportfolio documenting “lifewide”
learning would provide much more information about the person as a
whole. It would include any type of clubs, sports or organizations the
individual was a part of. As well as jobs, training/seminars, family
life and community involvement. You get a representation of the
individual as a whole.