Wk 2-eportfolio Tools

Task Discussion

• 
  fotologic   July 20, 2012, 8:47 a.m.

  My ePortfolio comprises resources held in a variety of locations online rather than a single site. I have used several tools, chief among them Weebly and Tumblr. I have a resume of sorts on LinedIn. I really like the recommendations function here. My students also tend to create their ePortfolios using a range of tools but I am very impressed by the functionality of Weebly as an online web design tool.

  Here are a couple of examples that have a media arts focus:

  http://gemmaportfolio.weebly.com/

  http://billyrowlinson.weebly.com/

  I think it's really important that students develop a sense of ownership of their portfolios so I have encouraged them to create their own sites rather than using institutional solutions.

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 17, 2012, 9:45 p.m.

  Option 2 - Do you (or your students) have an eportfolio? If not, have you seen or thought about what tools might be most useful to build one? What are the important criteria for you in considering a tool? 

   

  In thinking about which tools might be useful for eports I have come across this list of criteria for eports. It seems to capture some of the points that are emerging in our discussions and really helped me to  consolidate my thinking. Has anyone else come across any suggested guidelines for Eports?

  Eportfolio must have's

  1.Ownership & Organisation

  2.Formatting & Rich Media

  3.Widgets & Tracking

  4.Personal Data & Security

  5.Collaboration & Feedback

  6.Scaffolding & Support

  7.Longevity & Evolution

  8.Flexibility & Portability

  9.Multiplicity & Interoperability

  10.    Practicality & Accessibility

   

  Collaboration and feedback is one point that I really need to think about and get some ideas. Does anyone know of an example of an eport that has a feedback loop in it?

• 
  karen   July 16, 2012, 6:58 p.m.

  Option 1 - Do you (or your students) have an eportfolio? If so, post a link to it here. What tools have you used to build e portfolios? What have been its advantages, or disadvantages? Do you have strategies that you have used to organise, build and maintain a portfolio that could be helpful to others?

  I have an eportfolio in Mahara. It is here.

  I created this a while back and found this tool to be easy to use. I like the fact that it can link to continuing professional development activities (though I haven't dones this yet.) There are a few navigation issues that I'd like to work on but haven't yet. A challenge has been that I have not really kept this up as an ongoing portfolio.

  I have also done student eportfolios and used Wikispaces for that.

  Option 3 - Look at some different tools for creating eportfolios from the post above. Which do you think might be most attractive for you, and why?

  I am really interested in the idea of having one large collection of work artifacts and other items with different "views" or interfaces for different puposes. I'm not sure what tool would work best for this, but I'm thinking of one tool for storage (maybe Evernote or Wordpress) and then something for different displays (Wordpress or just web pages or even interactive video guides?).

• 
  Beca   July 16, 2012, 9:21 p.m.
  In Reply To:   karen   July 16, 2012, 6:58 p.m.

  Very nice eportfolio.  You did much better with Mahara than I did.  

  I also would like to have one repository, so to speak, for my collection of artifacts and then be able to create showcases for particular purposes.  Mahara would probably be the better choice for this.   It would be nice if the product also did not have too big of a learning curve ....  Now I'm probably asking too much?

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 17, 2012, 1:31 a.m.
  In Reply To:   karen   July 16, 2012, 6:58 p.m.

  Option 1 - Do you (or your students) have an eportfolio? If so, post a link to it here. What tools have you used to build e portfolios? What have been its advantages, or disadvantages? Do you have strategies that you have used to organise, build and maintain a portfolio that could be helpful to others?

  I recently created an eportfolio for some jobs. It used wordpress. You can check it out here.  I used the open source version.

  Advantages

  • easy to navigate
  • lots of themes
  • multimedia friendly
  • lots of widgets
  • visually pleasing
  • has the potential to include comments, feedback etc from others ( didnt use but important I think)
  • easy to build/change/update - flexible

   

  Limitations

  • to gain maximum advantage I would get a domain and hosting services .
  • think about if you are going to need to print ( hardcopy) as can be problematic.

   

  i used wikispaces for student portfolios in the earlier days too.

  Look at some different tools for creating eportfolios from the post above. Which do you think might be most attractive for you, and why?

  Wordpress is my 'go to' site at the moment for eports however I dont know how I would use it for storage. I agree that keeping up to date is a challenge.

  Im attracted to visualise.me  which now connects with linkedin and automatically transfers some data to create an infographic.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• 
  Bob A   July 16, 2012, 2:35 p.m.

  I am confused about how to navigate P2PU and the process of creating & responsing to postings. Anyway, here are links to a free eportfolio site and links to guides for teacher's portfolios.

  Free eportfolio site:

  K12: http://corp.epsilen.com/k12/eportfolio/

  Higher-Ed: http://corp.epsilen.com/higher-ed/eportfolio/

   

  Guides for teaching portfolio from universities:

  A Guide to the Teaching Portfolio, Spring 2001 Edition

  http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~ablumer/portfolio.html#committee

  Developing a Teaching Portfolio

  http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/portfolio/developmental.html

  Teaching Portfolio Resources

  http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/resources/portfoliotools.html

  Teaching Portfolios

  http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/reflecting/teaching-portfolios/#electronic

  Examples of Portfolios on the Web

  http://trc.virginia.edu/Workshops/Teaching_Portfolio/Web_Portfolios.htm

• 
  karen   July 16, 2012, 6 p.m.
  In Reply To:   Bob A   July 16, 2012, 2:35 p.m.

  Thanks for the links, Bob.

  You can respond to posts or tasks on P2PU by Post Comment just as you did. You can also edit the actual task (original post) if there is something you'd like to add or correct. (The idea of peer learning is that everyone contributes -- even to the "teaching" part of the group.:)

  You can reply to others' posts by clicking reply. If you are getting email notifications, there is also a new feature that lets you reply to a post through email.

  Let me know if this doesn't help clarify things. You might also want to check out the introductory videos under Wk 1-Using P2PU.

• 
  Beca   July 14, 2012, 10:41 p.m.

  Option 1 - Do you (or your students) have an eportfolio? If so, post a link to it here. What tools have you used to build e portfolios? What have been its advantages, or disadvantages? Do you have strategies that you have used to organise, build and maintain a portfolio that could be helpful to others?

  I have a very rudamentary portfolio that I'm organizing in Google Sites.  I'm using that tool for a couple of reasons.  First, its very easy to use.  I used Mahara for about six months, but found it took me too much time to design and little time for actual reflection.  I didn't particulary like the aesthetics either, but that's probably more a reflection on my programming skills than the program.  Second, our school has a Google Education account along with the Google tools and I use Sites already for webquests, unit webpages, etc.  Finally, I will be having my physics students keep a physics portfolio in Google Sites this year and I wanted to have mine in the same program.  I do think that other programs probably make a more visually appealing site and of course there are limitations to securing information on Google Sites.  You can choose who has access to the site, but I don't think its easy (or perhaps even possible) to choose who has access to pages or sections of it.  At this point, the portfolio  is serving its purpose of providing me with a slate to work on.  It needs to be presentable by the end of the 2012-2013 school year.  Right now it is more a collection of partially completed projects & ideas.

  Rebecca Falin's Digital Portfolio

  I will be providing a very simple GoogleSites template for my physics students to use.  I want them to be able to take ownership of it and pick the layout, format, etc., themselves.  There is a portfolio page & refection page for each project as they will need to compose both of these at the end of each project..  Again, its still a work in progress.... 25 days and counting until the first day of school.

  My Physics Portfolio

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 14, 2012, 1:16 a.m.

  Just a quick reference Jonas is suggesting nixty.com in our synthesis task this week.

  Has anyone used Mahara? It's the endorsed one where I work in TAFE NSW. I;ve had a quite look and wasnt very excited. But maybe I should have done further exploration.

  I used Wordpress to create my first ever e portfolio. I used the open source version but now Im faced with a change. I need to produce a hardcopy. yes really does defeat the purpose but sadly the organisation is not accepting e portfolios yet.

   

• 
  karen   July 16, 2012, 6:52 p.m.
  In Reply To:   Liz Renshaw   July 14, 2012, 1:16 a.m.

  I've used Mahara and liked it. (I used a free installation at Foliofor.me if anyone wants to play there.) I especially liked the ability to link to continuing professional development activities (which I haven't used yet...hmmm....)

  At any rate, I'll do a separte post wiwth what I did at Foliofor.me.

  Having said that, I love, love, love Wordpress as a web site creation tool. It isn't just for blogs!

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 17, 2012, 1:36 a.m.
  In Reply To:   karen   July 16, 2012, 6:52 p.m.

  Just had a brief look at Folio for me. It has an online repository- good feature for storage. Will be interested to read Karens post on her adventures with this one. Also love to hear from anyone who else who has had a play.

  I agree with Becas comment- I need something that's very userfriendly and doesnt require a steep learning curve..

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 14, 2012, 12:59 a.m.

  I love Leah's site. For me its got a really open and accessible 'feel' to it and seems to invite exploration. I also love the idea of having access to a rich variety of themes, as Leah suggests.

   This has prompted me to think about the aesthetic component of eportfolios. In some recruitmenting processes in which i have been involved there have been endeavours to standardise the resume presentation calling on applicants to eg use word doc, size 12 arial font, etc etc ......

  I think e ports will provide a great opportunity for people to develop their own aesethic or artistic stance. Im a bit uncomfortable with the word 'brand' as i dont want to see people conceived of as 'products'. There is already a dreadful repositioning of teachers as 'human resources'... in some areas...

  I've used Wordpress for an eportfolio recently but used the open source version of wordpress. A limitation is you cant use plugins and this really limits the options available.... so Leahs option for hosting etc is advisable if you really want to create a 'whiz bang' creative eport...

   

   

• 
  Leah MacVie   July 11, 2012, 1:58 p.m.

  Option 1 - Do you (or your students) have an eportfolio? If so, post a link to it here. What tools have you used to build e portfolios? What have been its advantages, or disadvantages? Do you have strategies that you have used to organise, build and maintain a portfolio that could be helpful to others?

  www.leahmacvie.com

  I can't imagine using anything other than Wordpress as a platform for eportfolios. You can shut off the blog and use it as a Web site. I have my own domain and install through GoDaddy.com. I have a $39 subscription to elegantthemes.com who gains me access to 77 premium themes= less work for me. These are the two resources I would recommend for anyone looking to develop an e-portfolio. 

• 
  Liz Renshaw   July 20, 2012, 4:58 a.m.
  In Reply To:   Leah MacVie   July 11, 2012, 1:58 p.m.

  Hi Leah, I'm really interested to find out where you store your artifacts that go on your eportfolio? Or do you have your 'things' in lots of different places and access them as needed? Im not sure where a One stop repository might be the way to go? What are your thoughts?