This blog is a platform for me to share my professional ideas and reflections within ICT / Inquiry, also other curriculum areas within my classroom, syndicate, whole school and other networks of learning over and above the classroom. If you so desire please leave a comment, collaboration is the key to all future learning opportunities!
In 2012 it was time to open my classrooms doors and allow the world to be a valuable part of my daily / weekly teaching programme. Collaboration with another like minded passionate teacher whom I worked with the last 2 years provided the basis for the journey ahead. After a number of conversations and ideas we decided to take our journal writing approach in our classroom to the next level.
This is what we did and how our students were empowered by this learning approach...
WHAT:
Thursday morning I was fortunate enough to hear Tania Coutts speak at a CORE Education breakfast in Invercargill about ePortfolios.
SO WHAT:
It reinforced alot of my thinking about ePortfolios as this has been an area I have wondered about exploring. Yes it is an opportunity to open your students learning to the their whanau and wider community, even the wider world. However it is yet again one of those questions - Does this fit with my school community? Will all my students parents have access to a computer / internet connection etc. I know for sure my students this year are ready for ePortfolios but are their parents ready? A way to get around this hurdle could be to have school computers "Computers On Wheels" etc available to parents at a specific time on a specific day of the week.
However something like this approach needs to be adopted by everyone to work - in reflection majority start something but if no expectation is in place it drops off the Must Do list when integrating ICT into the daily programme.
We haven't as yet begun using three way interviews. I do believe you could use a dedicated teacher and an enthusiastic classroom to skip the traditional three way interview and go straight to using ePortfolios as a part of the three way process.
I really like the suggestion that Tania had to use your blog page - however the students work is much too public I think for an ePortfolio / three way interview approach. Another suggestion she had that I thought was wise for a school when beginning the journey of ePortfolios - When putting ePortfolios in place have a case group e.g., 6 students in a class or 1 class in a school.
NOW WHAT:
Next term my students will upload all their video / voice footage etc to our blog page labelled ePortfolio and each upload will feature their name as my next step forward to using the ePortfolio approach.
"Reflection is the heart and soul of a portfolio" Helen Barrett
