REAL Portfolios

I have a new title for one of my presentations: REAL Electronic Portfolios: Reflection, Engagement and Assessment for Learning. The presentation will focus on the role of these three elements in portfolio development. I'm really into acronyms these days... acronyms that also have literal meanings, such as the REFLECT Initiative using those same concepts: Researching Electronic portFolios: Learning, Engagement, Collaboration through Technology.

A Successful Day

On February 25, 2005, I led a day-long ePortfolio Dialogue Day: Digital Stories of Deep Learning for Students and Faculty for Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Arizona. Following on the success of the ePortfolio conference on Reflection at the University of British Columbia, the Maricopa organizers selected five students to participate in a panel, and then show their portfolios over the lunch hour, along with five faculty members. The audio recording of the student panel is also online at the Maricopa site.

I also received very positive comments from the conference evaluations, which showed that the faculty participants gained a lot of practical knowledge and many were looking forward to a later hands-on workshop using Maricopa's home-grown MyePort tool. I was really pleased that we were able to walk through a simple planning process and give them an organizing tool to list, categorize and reflect on their artifacts in preparation for the upcoming workshop.