Module 5: Solutions to Archiving Student Work

Scenario: The teachers at your school have been told that evidence of student learning must be archived. The teachers have turned to you to design a simple process that all teachers and students can follow. Your school has access to a variety of Web 2.0 digital tools. Items that you must consider:

•     What tool will be used?

•     How will the artifacts be organized?

•     How much time will be required of teachers?

You realize that you must introduce your solution to teachers without overwhelming them. Describe your process and considerations in a handout to teachers. The purpose of the memo is to introduce the teachers to the idea, not to provide training.

 

            The tool that I would recommend to organize and manage Digital Portfolios for my school district is Weebly. Weebly is a website and blog Web 2.0 tool that allows teachers to create, manage and control students websites and blogs. Students can use Weebly’s webpage and blogging features to store the various requirements of a digital portfolio. When creating a Digital Portfolio for my school district, an easy 2.0 web tool that would allow my students to create, add and manage artifacts at an early age is a critical feature. Digital Portfolios that are created will be based on a growth digital portfolio model. The focus of the portfolio is demonstrating how student’s skills and knowledge have grown and developed from Kindergarten through 8^th grade.

            Students can use the Web Page feature of Weebly to store and organize artifacts. For my school district the best way to organize student’s artifacts and tasks would be by grade level. Each grade level could have a separate web page, allowing all grade level artifacts to be organized together. All webpages, blogs and artifacts can be made available and unavailable for viewing, editing, and commenting at teacher discretion. Students and teachers also have the availability to send and receive surveys and forms. These assessments will provide opportunities for teachers and technology integrators to evaluate students on the International Society for Technology in Education for Students standards. Common Core and other critical tasks could also be assessed and stored in each student’s Digital Portfolio.

            The reflection component of the Digital Portfolio can be done in the Blog feature, a separate Digital Portfolio reflection web page, or on the grade level web page with the artifact(s).  Teachers and students have the ability to create a reflection that is age appropriate at the student’s grade level. During beginner elementary years, students may use voice recording equipment and software to record Digital Portfolio reflections. By 8^th grade students should be capable of adding, maintaining, submitting and evaluating artifacts within their Digital Portfolio with little to limited assistance from teachers and peers.

            A fair amount of classroom and preparation time would be spent incorporating Digital Portfolios into the primary classroom of each student. Currently portfolios are created only within the computer class. A major advantage to classroom teacher is that students already have portfolios that are created, marinated and prepared by someone other than the classroom teacher. This allows the classroom teacher to focus on helping the students add and maintain to their portfolio, without requiring them to set up the initial portfolio. By having all portfolios created within the computer lab, this allows the school district to ensure all portfolios are created the same way, with the same formats and requirements.

            Requiring classroom teachers to create lesson plans and projects that incorporate technology would drastically change and affect numerous teachers’ lesson plans and curriculum. Many teachers within my building do not incorporate technology in their classroom, or only use technology very limited and sporadically. These teachers would need to work with the technology integrator to create lesson plans and projects that incorporate technology to fulfill the teacher’s standards and expectations, the State Education Standards and the International Society for Technology in Education standards.

            Teachers that already use technology in their classroom would be better prepared and more comfortable with the Digital Portfolio transition. All teachers would have to create rubrics and evaluations that include the International Society for Technology in Education. Additional time would also need to be spent outside of the classroom evaluating Digital Portfolio artifacts and critical tasks.

            Overall, the additional time that would be spent on Digital Portfolios would depend upon the requirements and expectations of the student’s portfolios. At the current time, there is no expectation for classroom teachers to contribute to the Digital Portfolio. The principal, technology committee and the technology teacher would have to work with teachers to provide opportunities for them to learn more about Digital Portfolios, and how to create lesson plans and requirements that demonstrate and show technology usage and competency. Providing teachers with resources, trainings, networks and support will allow teachers to feel more comfortable approaching and engaging in the creation of student’s Digital Portfolios. Each teacher will have a different comfort level with Digital Portfolios; therefore, all teachers will learn and embrace the challenge differently and in a different amount of time.