Educational Digital Portfolios: Instruments and Assets

Digital portfolios are nice instructing, studying, and evaluation instruments. In at the moment’s publish we’re specializing in the training half and are e-portfolios from a student-centric perspective. To find out how academics can leverage the highly effective of portfolios of their instruction, try Arter and Spandel (1992) paper (see reference checklist on the backside of this web page). By definition, a portfolio, in line with Arter and Spandel, ‘is a purposeful assortment of scholar work that reveals to the coed, or others, her efforts or achievement in a number of areas’ (cited in  Baki and Birgin, 2007, p. 77). The important thing phrase right here is ‘purposeful’, a portfolio is totally different from a folder in that it has a goal and is guided by quite a few studying targets and anticipated outcomes. With out intentional planning, a portfolio turns into a mere receptacle of 1’s work.

Three processes are concerned in portfolio creation: assortment, choice, and reflection. Every of those processes trains college students in quite a few expertise. Collectively they supply college students with the suitable mindset to assist them take accountability of their studying and thrive as budding life-long learners.

There are quite a few advantages college students will acquire from incorporating portfolios of their studying. Here’s a summarized checklist of some these advantages based mostly on readings we did on this regard (see sources checklist on the backside of this publish).
Portfolios allow college students to document their studying and doc their development over a time frame.
They Present college students with a venue by which they will showcase their studying.
They can be utilized as a device for self-assessment, self-reflection and private growth.
They assist college students give attention to the method of studying somewhat than the tip product.
They promote deeper studying as college students actively have interaction within the studying course of.
They develop college students metacognitive expertise (reflective practices) and assist them take management of their studying.
They empower college students’ voice.
They’re a ‘methodology of self-discovery and confidence constructing’.
They assist college students develop private and tutorial identities.
They help college students in finding their strengths and weaknesses and plan for future enchancment.
They invite academics’ suggestions and friends’s enter.
They assist college students develop their writing expertise.
A portfolio presents a concrete proof of your work and achievements to potential employers.

There are a number of net instruments college students can use to create digital portfolios. We’ve already reviewed quite a few them over the previous couple of years. However in case you are to ask us in regards to the ones we suggest essentially the most, we’d direct you to the next:

We’ve created an infographic model of this publish. Try right here.

1- Google Websites
This is without doubt one of the finest platforms we’ve been recommending for academics over the previous couple of years. College students can use it to create and host their very own digital portfolios. The location is straightforward and simple to make use of they usually can arrange their new web site inside minutes. They will create as many pages as they need, then add their content material, and share with others. Web site Assist has every thing college students have to successfully use Google Websites.

2- Weebly
That is one other good web site  college students can use to create digital portfolios. Like Google Websites, Weebly offers customers with a easy drag and drop editor that means that you can design your web site the way in which you need. No HTML or coding information acquired. You merely choose a template, customise it with your personal content material and publish it to the online.

3- Google Slides
Google Slides can be utilized to create digital portolios within the type of a presentation. There may be truly a pre-made template for that. This Portfolio template offers college students with a tentative format and construction to construct their very own portfolio.

4- Seesaw
Seesaw is a strong device to assist college students create and share digital portfolios. It permits them to seize and showcase their studying in a number of codecs. They will embrace movies, drawings, textual content notes, hyperlinks, and several other different supplies to their portfolios. Lecturers and fogeys can simply entry and test college students work.

5- Evernote
That is one other sensible possibility for creating digital portfolios. College students document their ideas utilizing notes then improve these notes utilizing issues reminiscent of images, audio recordsdata, hyperlinks, and attachments. Evernote offers numerous organizational options that allow customers to successfully arrange their work so it may be simply searched and accessed throughout totally different units.

Sources:
1- Arter, J. A. & Spandel, V. (1992).  Utilizing portfolios of scholar work in instruction and
evaluation. Academic Measurement: Situation and Follow, 11(1), 36-44.
2- Baki, A. & Birgin, O. (2007). Using portfolio to evaluate scholar’s efficiency. Turkish Science Training, 4(2), 75-90. Accessed from https://recordsdata.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504219.pdf
3- 41 Advantages of An e-Portfolio (Steady Transition).
4- The Advantages of E-portfolios for College students and School in Their Personal Phrases (Affiliation of American Schools and Universities).
5- Introduction to Utilizing Portfolios within the Classroom (by Charlotte Danielson and Leslye Abrutyn, ASCD).