Learner Engagement

I try to keep my personal life out of my blog, but I will make an exception this week, since I am working with my grandchildren on their e-portfolios covering the last school year (3rd grade and Kindergarten, respectively). My older granddaughter (age 9) wanted to learn how to scan, so we are having a great time together, digitizing her work, using digital camera and scanner. This week they are both coming over to my place, when we will figure out how we are going to organize their portfolios, but the older one will be much more engaged than in years past. She remembers some of the things we did last year, including typing reflections into iPhoto on each artifact instead of writing them out on sticky notes, and doing "cool" titles in iMovie. So, more good times together to come! We are going to try new tools for organization, like Kidspiration. More new things to learn! It also tells me that the power is in the process and the relationships that are enhanced! They could not do this alone, and I would not put in this much work for just anybody's child!

I appreciate the new resource I found online in the ERADC forum on Engagement Theory. I also need to find my book on Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, since I think that has a lot to do with learner engagement as well.

Just found two new articles on portfolio assessment in teacher education, published by Education Policy Analysis Archives at ASU: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n32/and http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n33.