Thursday, December 8, 2011

e-portfolios, what do you think?

Next semester some of us are going to have the students create e-portfolios using Google Sites.  Our vision is that students will have a page for each major project/unit of learning that includes:

1. Sample of the work (picture, video, link, etc.)

2. Reflection on the work (like a blog post)

3. A list of the most important concepts learned in that unit (which would become a study guide for the final exam)


I am very excited that there are other teachers who are interested in this project. It started in a conversation I was having with a colleague (Melissa Padgett @PadgettMelissa on twitter).  She was saying that she wanted to have the students create their own study guide throughout the semester that they could use for the final.  Well, I had been thinking about having students make a portfolio collection of their work from throughout the semester. We both teach American Government so it seemed natural for us to combine these things into an e-portfolio project.

Our semester starts when we return from Christmas break in January so we need to figure out all of the details by then. Some of our questions are:

1. How do we grade these?

2. How do we keep students motivated to complete them?

3. What information should we require be included?


Have you ever done anything similar? Any feedback or tips you can share?  Comment below or reach me on twitter @MattBaier1234

2 comments:

  1. Great idea!
    I used to do portfolios with my fourth graders - before google sites, so we were non e.
    One thing that I learned worked well was to have a set learning goals that captured the big ideas for the unit, hand a a rubric for each learning goal at the beginning, and then show exemplars of proficiency. Thins gave students a clear idea of what they were shooting for.

    I'm interested in hearing how your e-folios work.

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  2. Thanks so much for your feedback. We are currently working on what our learning goals will be and how we will measure them.

    I will be sure to share our progress.

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