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Wk 1-Mindmapping of goals


In the planning of this course, the organizers identified the following course goals as a starting point for our planning:

  • To discuss the uses of eportfolios as a professional development tool for teachers
  • To look at different tools for assembling an eportfolio
  • To begin thinking about and/or building your own eportfolio (optional)


How do these goals align with your own purposes or aims in this course? Map*^ your goals for this course here. Feel free to “talk back” to the course goals above, or forget them entirely for this exercise and reflect on what you hope to learn, discuss and do in this course.

 

 

* Admittedly, participants may not see themselves as “mappers” and may prefer to simply list or write their goals. Participants might also take this opportunity to write about the benefits of different types of mapping, or even debate the worthiness of an organizer directing participants to set goals in a specified (though open-ended) format. For what it is worth, this organizer/participant recognizes the merits of both a discussion of mapping and a philosophical rejection of mapping in the name of self-directed learning. Still, this organizer/participant would like to focus this group on the rich potential of a diverse collection of maps that could grow like a digital flower garden below this introduction. No maps, no "garden."

^Another possibility arises in an online mapping activity: participants might experience technical barriers in trying to complete the activity. “How the heck am I supposed to map my goals and get them on this discussion board?” participants might say. If this is a concern of yours, I would encourage you to map your goals on paper and scan or photograph the map. Then, if you choose, you can try out some of the tools other participants use if you want to revise your map later in the week or at any time during the course. You can also leave the photographed, hand-drawn map unrevised. It is your flower, after all.

Task Discussion


  • Mrs. Dow   July 24, 2012, 9:59 p.m.

    Lots of things going on in my world this school year.  I would love to have a way to bring it all together with an e-portfolio.

  • Beca   July 14, 2012, 8:57 p.m.

     

    Sorry for the lateness of the post; got my power back on Thursday after 12 days and just now getting caught up...
     
    I created a quick mind-map in Popplet.  I am a third year chemistry & physics teacher (after a 25 year career in industrial & academic research) and will have to have a portfolio complete by the end of this year for my transition to  teaching program.
     
     
    I'm finding that I use my current rudimentary portfolio quite a bit already for reflection and organization.  I also think it will be very useful as a professional evaluation tool, particularly with the new educator evaluation program in our state.   I'm looking foward to getting more ideas on this process.
  • Liz Renshaw   July 15, 2012, 3:02 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Beca   July 14, 2012, 8:57 p.m.

    Interested to hear your thoughts about eports being used for the professional evaluation tools, I think they have real potential in this area not only for new but for the more established teacher too. Love the mindmap.

  • karen   July 12, 2012, 1:24 p.m.

    Here is my map. Very low tech. :)

    There are two main areas I am interested in for this course: 1) Exploring eportfolios as a tool for teachers, particularly as they related to guiding personal learning and receiving formal credit and 2) my own eportfolio.

  • mtillson   July 18, 2012, 1:23 a.m.
    In Reply To:   karen   July 12, 2012, 1:24 p.m.

    I'm thinking along these lines too.  For my students; what are the requirements I'd like to see... sketches, all electronic? How do I incluide that aspect in the grade book when not all people think in the same way.? Does a list count the same as a map? The subjective/objective meeting has been an issue for me.

  • Selim   July 12, 2012, 12:33 p.m.

    I am not sure how to paste my mindmap into this post - If someone could show me I would appreciate that  -  In the meantime I can share a link to it (I think it's public - I am not particularly web savvy so any help would be appreciated)

     

    http://popplet.com/app/#/373956

    <object width="460" height="460"><param value="http://popplet.com/app/Popplet_Alpha.swf?page_id=373956&em=1" name="movie"></param><param 

  • karen   July 12, 2012, 1:07 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Selim   July 12, 2012, 12:33 p.m.

    P2PU allows embeds (4th button on the second row of the toolbar), but unfortunately Popplet isn't supported.

    In lieu of that, you could make a screenshot of your map or just provide a link as you've done. :)

    I like the way you've mapped out artifacts/work samples you might include and also included challenges. I find that keeping my eportfolio up-to-date is difficult.

    Thanks for sharing!

  • Selim   July 12, 2012, 1:43 p.m.
    In Reply To:   karen   July 12, 2012, 1:07 p.m.

    Thank you Karen 

     

    I will work on that - I appreciate the help.  

    I am concerned about the difficulty of maintaining an eportfolio for two reasons 

    1. if it is difficult for me what can I possible expect of my students?

    2. I don't want to overcomplicate my work, I am hoping to use this as a mechanism to simplify my work, both in the long run and in the short term.

  • Mrs. Dow   July 24, 2012, 8:58 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Selim   July 12, 2012, 12:33 p.m.

    Your mindmap is so helpful to me.  I love that you see several directions you would like to go in: 1) Career 2) Student Work 3)Personal Work. 4) Teaching Artifacts.  

  • Jason Dillon   July 11, 2012, 7:39 p.m.

    I'm using Popplet to develop my goals and thinking related to this course. I'm having trouble embedding the map, but you can follow the link here.  If I figure out how to embed it, I'll do so.

    Have a look,

    Jason

  • karen   July 12, 2012, 1:07 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Jason Dillon   July 11, 2012, 7:39 p.m.

    See above on embedding.

  • evan williams   July 11, 2012, 6:50 p.m.

    I tried out some mindmapping, but I'm more of a lister. 

  • Leah MacVie   July 11, 2012, 1:22 p.m.

    Hi everyone, 

    Well, I already have an eportfolio, so I thought I'd map out what I believe one should be composed of instead. This is a great conversation to have with my insructors (I'm sort of an educator- I describe what I do as teaching teachers), so this resource will really help me to help them. It's a great starting point for this discussion. 

  • Liz Renshaw   July 10, 2012, 2:46 a.m.

    I find that rather than creating goals I outline some questions that I would like to ponder throughout the course. I've used Wallwisher as a brainstorming tool with the intention of adding further ideas as the discussions progress.

  • Anonym   July 9, 2012, 3:28 p.m.

    A list of goals is much easier to work with at the onset. 

    First and foremost I would like to define E-Portfoilio as a digital resume, including past present and future development and tasks created in the process. The question is the above true?

    How are we to see E-P in our own development professionally? 

    If I use E-P as a tool for future growth then I would add to it Media recording my successes

    and ?failures?...  My job content my lessons, lesson plans, videos of lessons presented (best?)

    As you can see I made need iCloud storage of 1 or more tb...  As any portfolios you must bee selective. So am I mind mapping what I include or only what I want to become?

    Can I have more guidance in what am I to map?

  • Liz Renshaw   July 10, 2012, 2:53 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Anonym   July 9, 2012, 3:28 p.m.

     Hi Dmitte. This is a great set initial questions and hopefully throughout the discussions you will find some suggestions from our participants. I too have used the initial question technique as a starting point for this course. Basically Im wondering how we can avoid spending all our time in creating, maintaining,curating, sorting, archiving the content of our portfolios. It does seem like it could end up taking heaps of time and focus. In Australia currently we have a very strong focus on testing and teaching to testing rather than on learning.... I just hope that portfolios dont start consuming our time.

    Make sure to tap into the wealth of experience of participants in finding answers to your questions and be sure to share your experiences too...

  • karen   July 11, 2012, 4:30 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Anonym   July 9, 2012, 3:28 p.m.

    Interesting questions. An eportfolio certainly can be a digital resume, but it can also have many other purposes.

    For myself, I'm thinking about various purposes and even wondering if there might be multipe eportfolios...or many different "lenses" through which different ones are displayed. For example, I could have an underlying collection of works and have one "display" for job seeking, one for my own development tracking, etc.

    At any rate, I think we each can map whatever is useful to us.

  • Liz Renshaw   July 12, 2012, 3:34 a.m.
    In Reply To:   karen   July 11, 2012, 4:30 p.m.

    I agree with you Karen, Im starting to see E portfolios as being very dynamic/fluid 'items' that can change shape according to which purpose/context/audience we want to use them.. They are a living 'document' ....... which we can then curate.

    It is not uncommon for people to submit the same old tired resume for each job,,, no matter what its focus.. Ive done heaps of recruitment and lots of people are now paying resume specialists to write their resumes... What I am seeing is the same layout/words/approach/etc and for me they are just a total waste of money.

    I would really enjoy seeing a personalised portfolio where someone had thoughtfully mixed and matched their 'content' to the job/ skills required.

  • fotologic   July 9, 2012, 3:15 p.m.

    A while ago I created this mindmap of my Personal Learning Network. I tried to be as expansive as possible, including all the people I learn from, the tools I use regularly and the evidence this generates. My main goal for this course is to review and refine my understanding of the link between a Personal Learning Network like this and the role of the professional ePortfolio. I'm keen to understand how colleagues are creating their own evidence base for professional impact and how to best map and represent the multitude of online (and physical) documents that might form part of a contemporary professional ePortfolio.

    PLN mindmap

  • Joe Dillon   July 7, 2012, 11:55 a.m.

    http://prezi.com/ihe5dzlhmonq/e-portfolio-goals/

    I created this map using Prezi. I intend to update it throughout the course and possibly map my learning in this course on this Prezi as I go. 

  • Liz Renshaw   July 10, 2012, 2:55 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Joe Dillon   July 7, 2012, 11:55 a.m.

    I like your approach Joe I've tried a couple of times to learn Prezi so I'll be interested in how you go. Are you starting from scratch to use this tool?

  • Joe Dillon   July 10, 2012, 8:42 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Liz Renshaw   July 10, 2012, 2:55 a.m.

     I've used the tool for a while. I like it for a few different applications:

    • as presentation tool substitute for power point
    • as a concept mapping tool that works with multi-media maps
    • as a space for collaborative composition or collaborative notetaking (I have a strange goal to replicate the work in this video

    Are there any specific challenges you are running in to as you try to learn it? 

  • Liz Renshaw   July 12, 2012, 4:27 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Joe Dillon   July 10, 2012, 8:42 a.m.

    Joe can you send me the name of this video as Im not able to access it... at the moment.

    As for any specific challenges I might try and do a synthesis of a topic on the p2pu week. Not sure which one yet.

    Interested that you used it as a presentation tool ( not powerpoint)....... death by powerpoint is an extremely excruiating disease !

     

  • Joe Dillon   July 22, 2012, 9:19 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Liz Renshaw   July 12, 2012, 4:27 a.m.

    Hi Liz,

      The video is titled Prezi real time meeting - developing ideas around the notion of creativity.

     

    Here is the URL: http://youtu.be/z4kvBTNri90