Digital Portfolios…..why?March 18th, 2008

Jill Reading – Teaching & Learning Consultant, eLearning

Western Metropolitan Region reading.jill.z@edumail.vic.gov.au

What are your experiences?

• Have you seen digital portfolios?• Have your students constructed

any type of digital portfolio?• At what year level?• For what purpose/audience?

What are digital portfolios?

• Collections of student work that richly represent the learner

• Provide experience of learning• Typically include some student

selected material• Include evidence of student self-

reflection and goal setting

Assessment with the following purposes in mind

• Assessment for learning• Assessment as learning• Assessment of learning

This approach is recommended in the Blueprint for Government Schools and has benefits for both students and teachers

Digital Portfolios - Why?

• Purpose - Why are we doing this? • Are the tasks authentic?• Pedagogy - What opportunities are there for

higher order thinking and engaging students in conversations about learning?

• Assessment - What is the best way to capture and provide evidence of what learning took place?

• Technology - What new things are the digital portfolios enabling us to do?

• Learning - What learning did we value? What unexpected or unanticipated learning occurred?

Effective purposes

• Capturing and explicitly showing student learning over time

• Provide a structure to set and track progress towards learning goals

• Develop students’ ability to reflect on their learning

• Promote a conversation about learning

Purposes…cont’d

• Represent what, how and why a student is learning

• Assist and inform transition between year levels by communicating where students are at to new teachers

• Enhance assessment• Provide evidence when reporting to

parents or conducting 3-way reporting

Portfolio considerations

• Student privacy• What equipment will you need?• How regularly can you access this

equipment?• What type of data will you include in the

portfolio?

Tips for Teachers

• Clarify the purpose• Start small• Develop focus areas• Include opportunities for goal setting,

reflection & feedback• Develop classroom management

strategies• Provide opportunities for students to

communicate to interested audiences

Resources

• Digital Portfolios CD & DVD sent to schools in 2006

• On WMR wiki - http://wmrict.wikispaces.com (Digital Portfolios section)

• ePotential Showcase - http://epotential.education.vic.gov.au/showcase/

• Digilearn - digital learning resources - https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/dlr/Pages/default.aspx

Questions you might ask

• What worked well?• What needed improvement?• What would you change next time?• What management tips would you

highlight?• Did you start with a template? (Student or

teacher created?)• How do you coach students to reflect on

their work?

Some examples

• Essendon North PS - Helen Otway• Parkwood Green PS - Martin Jonas• Wedge Park PS - Rebecca Woodward• Kings Park PS - Jodi Park• Deer Park West PS - Michelle Thompson• St. Albans SC - Mark Micallef (Jill)• Digital Portfolio disk exploration