E-Porfolios for student learning

"A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the students efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection; the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection. An electronic portfolio includes the use of electronic technologies that allow the portfolio developer to collect and organize artifacts in many formats (audio, video, graphics, and text)."Create your own Electronic Portfolio

I began looking on the internet for information about creating an electronic teaching portfolio and found so many articles and resources relating to electronic student portfolios that I thought I would write another post about it and collect some of the more useful sites on this blog. I particularly like this image I saw on DigitalArchive4Life
This image represent our 'Digital Archive for Life' - how we might collect artifacts over time in various formats as the story of our lives.

"Eportfolios offer many benefits for learners as they seek to create and reflect on life experiences.

• Personal knowledge management
• History of development and growth
• Planning/goal setting tool
• Assist learners in making connections between learning experiences (his may include formal and informal learning).
• Provide the metacognitive elements needed to assist learners in planning future learning needs based on previous successes and failures.
• Personal control of learning history (as compared to organizations controlling learner history)." (taken from elearnspace)
  

For students it is useful:

• increased learning effectiveness
• model professionalism
• enhance information technology skills
• gain academic credit for learning beyond the classroom
• reflections on artifacts as well as how they match goals and standards
• help students make connections among their formal and informal learning experiences
• prompt learners to articulate their learning goals from different perspectives
• allow individuals to display learning in ways overlooked or undervalued by other assessment means" (taken from (ePortfolios Portal)
  

Resources (Student and Teacher Portfolios)
Dr Helen Barrett - E-porfolios online
Professional Portfolios (HSC Online NSW)
E-Portfolio (EDNA online)
elearnspace
ePortfolios Portal
Designing E-Learning (Australian Flexible Learning Framework)

Electronic portfolios

I am on school holidays at the moment and am using the time to get to all those things that I have wanting to do but have been too busy to do so. I have to complete my Critical Professional Commentary (based on my practicum experience) but this will be a pleasurable experience because I have such fond memories of my school. Secondly I have to do some work on my next essay due for Literacies for Learning (the first one was posted last friday thank goodness). I am also looking at developing my Electronic Teaching portfolio and to this end have found some guides on the internet (see below). This is like a summary of what you have learned, your teaching philosophy, work experiences and such like. In terms of education, I also want to focus on going through the History and Geography textbooks so I can be prepared to teach my year 7, 8, 9 and now 10 hopefully classes next term from the 19th May (when my colleague goes on maternity leave). So, a busy holiday but it is great to have time to do these things and really just not have to worry about being somewhere or doing something...just taking my time and enjoying the projects. Plus, if I do a lot now, I know I will be less stressed when I actually have to start teaching and writing school reports!

Guides to Electronic Teaching Portfolios
Adelaide University Guide - Developing your teaching portfolio

My Teaching Portfolio ( A Work in Progress)

Management speak....

I must say I really don't like the way management speak has infiltrated Education so much. This article in the Age Newspaper regarding the Australia 2020 Summit interviews "Nicholas Gruen, chief executive of Lateral Economics and chairman of Peach Discount Mortgage Broking" who says, "We need to empower the consumers of those services to know something about their quality so that … the value-add that schools are making is monitored and made public," - 'consumers' means I supposed parents and their children, the school students or 'learners' as they might be called elsewhere....and 'value-add' is a nice way of saying extra stuff that they have at their school - computers, pools, overseas exchange programmes etc....I suspect, but am not sure. See the full article here:
Education Hot Topic of Summit

Other news is that I only have two more days of practicum left. I have really enjoyed my time at South Sydney High School and will miss all of them there when I go. They have a really great department and that helps a great deal when you are teaching - support of others. I think it will really affect the way that I deal with students from now on, taking a much more individualised approach - attending to students outside of class so that there is a personal relationship on which to build a student-teacher relationship as well. You get so much more out of teaching when you invest this time with the children - I have seen it work. I just hope I can follow in my prac supervisor's footsteps.
Final news is that I finished my 1st essay for Literacies for Learning. I have found it hard to concentrate on this whilst doing prac which is so much better because you plan and then actually teach...rather than just write about it....but I feel pleased with my efforts in this assignment which were focussed on re-evaluating a lesson with reference to literacy support. I used one of the old lessons from my first curriculum method subject 2 years ago and it was good to revisit it.

Right, onto my photos - went to Woronora General Cemetery in Sutherland today with my partner and took some great shots there. Am sort of obsessed with the little objects that people put on cemeteries and have taken lots of pictures of all sorts of oddments. You can see this and other information about cemeteries I have visited on my new blog site: Cemetery Curiosities

first one in while

Practicum is going very well. It is quite a challenging school but that is perfect because i want to work on my classroom management skills more. It is great to that I have a very supportive, enthusiastic and very student orientated prac supervisor who is teaching me lots, giving me great advice and encouraging me to take risks. The other great thing about it is watching other teachers and getting some tips. Finally, I like the fact that I have to come up with lesson plans - even though they take forever - it forces you to get out there and be creative - to find something that you and the students will be interested in.

Two more weeks to go and then back to my school for a few days. Then it is the school holidays. Hopefully I will be able to update this site with some of my useful sources from the practicum and generally catch up on my life - and prepare for the next challenge - teaching in Term 2.

update on practicum

Randwick Girls High School did not work out but thankfully South Sydney High School has and I start there today. I really have not much of an idea as to what I will be teaching, but Legal Studies and Geography (Year 11) were mentioned! This weekend, I just collapsed at home. I had been so stressed by organising the practicum and tying up things at work that it all caught up with me. Stayed in bed and slept. Feel much better today and am really looking forward to seeing this school. It reminds me a lot of my own state school - which was one of the biggest in WA (Willetton Senior High School). It has a lot of the same facilities and I think it quite big. It will be good to get out and try something new.

Found this rather scary story this morning whilst eating breakfast. White flight leaves system segregated by class SMH

Also - solidarity with the striking Victorian teachers - let's hope the government listens to them. End lip service and pay up Mr Premier.

A