ePortfolios in Ireland - Day 3 workshop

On the last day of the ePortfolios in Ireland conference, I provided my favorite workshop on digital storytelling.

Digital storytellingdublin2016 from Helen Barrett

ePortfolios in Ireland - Day 2 workshop

On the second day of the ePortfolios in Ireland conference, I led a workshop on Reflection as part of the theme for the second day, Process.

Dublin2016 reflection from Helen Barrett

ePortfolios in Ireland -Day 1 Keynote

 I am in Dublin, Ireland, providing the keynote address for a national conference sponsored by the Dublin Institute of Technology. Here are my slides.

Dublin2016 balancing from Helen Barrett

Fresno State University Keynote & Session

I had the privilege to provide the keynote address at a faculty development workshop at Fresno State University on August 20:

Fresno2015 balancing from Helen Barrett

My colleague and fellow ADE Otto Benavides, took this photo where I am showing the Google Site that I set up for the workshop:

 After the keynote address, I provided one of my favorite presentations on digital storytelling and reflection (Know Thyself):

Fresno2015 reflection from Helen Barrett

I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet new and old friends, and to continue to share my knowledge and passions for ePortfolios, reflection, and digital storytelling.

Pathbrite ePortfolio Tool

As part of my preparation for the keynote address that I am providing to faculty at Fresno State University, I created the 42nd version of my online portfolio using Pathbrite.

Here are my impressions of this free tool (for students), which has been adopted by Fresno State. I understand that there is a fee for institutions to gain access to all of the integration and assessment tools.

• Free accounts with 2 GB storage limit, and links to most types of uploadable files as well as online sources - Examples of file types: Image, Text, Video, Documents, Web Link; Import Files from external services: YouTube Videos, Vimeo Videos, Google Drive Files, Facebook Photos, LinkedIn Recommendation, Khan Academy Badges, Parchment Transcripts, Credly Badges.
• Multiple showcase portfolios can be created using uploaded content.
• Relatively easy to use - there is an intuitive interface for both editing Style & Settings, and Adding Work.
• Publishing online - the system creates a URL for each showcase portfolio, although it does not appear that the user has any control over how each view is named (the "YouTube/GoogleDocs" model of assigning file names)
• Single screen view - there is only one web page for each portfolio, although Categories of entries can be used to create sub-views of content
• Each artifact has a title and "Story behind this Work" which can be used to provide a description/brief reflection.
• Student and Faculty access Pathbrite from inside their Blackboard accounts, and faculty can set up course portfolios that provide templates for students
• The system has an assessment system where faculty can see which students have completed specific item in the assigned portfolios, and assign points. Reports can be generated, but I did not see this feature (no access to their Blackboard)
• The system is designed to work with tablet browsers (although I set up my portfolio using my MacBook laptop).

My overall impression: I can see some of the advantages, and if I were a faculty member, I would appreciate the back end (assigned course portfolios, assessment system for collecting and aggregating data). I understand that this system would be available to students after they graduate, and students can create any number of showcase portfolios for a variety of audiences, including potential employers. The system has only been available for the last two years, and has an impressive number of institutions and users who have independently set up accounts. I am also impressed with the integration of a variety on online sources for adding existing content. The ability to work with mobile browsers (but no specific app) makes it more compatible with the growing use of mobile devices in K-12 and Higher Education.

Some of the disadvantages I saw from my brief experience with the Portfolio tool: I only tried the 2-across Grid Layout, not having time to figure out how to use the other layouts provided (Patchwork, Bricks, Pyramid), so it was a pretty boring layout visually. The single page approach makes it easy to navigate, but very limiting in terms of creativity. I did find the Categories helped in creating partial views of the content, and a single artifact can be easily assigned to multiple Categories. To add reflection to the portfolio required either creating a separate text box, using the limited caption, or linking to a blog, as I did to this blog.

I was asked which of the 42 tools I liked the best. For myself, I still like my updated Google Sites portfolio, although I have seen great things done with WordPress and its K-12 versions (EduBlogs, Kidblog). I can see some advantages of Pathbrite in the institutional environment. I just wish it had more flexibility in presentation.

CUE2015

I'm attending the CUE 2015 conference in Palm Springs, and these are the highlights for me:

• Skitch app for annotating images uploading to Google Drive & lots of apps
• Shadow Puppets EDU for creating narrated slide shows (with lots of images available from web)
• Glogster for creating posters 
• Google Storybuilder https://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com - creates a story in Google Docs (with characters "speaking")
• Vine for iPad
• Canva - design app for iPad
• Thinglink - to annotate images or movies: https://www.thinglink.com/

Hamilton, NZ Keynote

I am in Hamilton, New Zealand, presenting the keynote address at WCELfest2015. These are a great group of educators and it has been fun to share my ideas and see what they are doing with both ePortfolios and digital storytelling. Here are my slides:

Waikato2015keynote from Helen Barrett

It is fun to follow my Twitter feed of comments. Here is a sample and a few images:

• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan
  encouraging students to be creative taking on a persona and telling stories #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 36m36 minutes ago
  Helen Barrett @eportfolios reflecting on the road taken. Her journey of choices in a digital story #WCELfest
• Ursula ‏@UrsulaEdg 38m38 minutes ago
  @eportfolios great keynote #wcelfest thank you! #storytelling #elearning
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 40m40 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  https://aboxofthistles.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/28daysofwriting-day-10-digital-story-telling/ … my first attempt at a digital story #wcelfest #eportfolios @eportfolios thank you
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 45m45 minutes ago
  The challenge what story will we tell #wcelfest
• Kristina DC Hoeppner ‏@anitsirk 45m45 minutes ago
  #wcelfest helen barrett: reflections & relationships are the heart & soul of an ePortfolio and not the technology.
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 46m46 minutes ago
      @eportfolios with an important reminder #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 46m46 minutes ago
  The heart and soul of a portfolio is the relationships, the conversations, the interactions #WCELfest @eportfolios
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 48m48 minutes ago
  Range of tools for capturing, reflecting, sharing, learning. We are spoiled for choice #WCELfest
• Noeline Wright ‏@enrite 49m49 minutes ago
  @easegill @difo38 #wcelfest yes- article still being cited 4 yrs later. Must have been one of first in education
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 50m50 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Eportfolios or Mportfolios - capturing the learning moment using mobile devices. So powerful #eportfolios #wcelfest
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 50m50 minutes ago
      @eportfolios mPortfolios site https://sites.google.com/site/mportfolios/ … #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 50m50 minutes ago
  The essence of reflection: here's what, so what, now what? #WCELfest
• Stephen Harlow ‏@stephenharlow 51m51 minutes ago
  .@eportfolios remembering meeting @arrowbound & Janice McDrury, authors of Learning through #Storytelling: http://waikato.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=393722 … #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 52m52 minutes ago
  mPortfolios - reflecting in the moment #WCELfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 52m52 minutes ago
  Mobile the future of eportfolio capturing the moment of learning #wcelfest
• K Gilliver-Brown ‏@kgilliver_brown 53m53 minutes ago
  #wcelfest Dr. Helen Barrett: Coming to the realisation that the journey is as important as the destination.
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 53m53 minutes ago
  “@robeanne Process is more important than the output, that is where the learning is #wcelfest” #waitalk
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 54m54 minutes ago
  The process is much more important than the product. #learning #WCELfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 54m54 minutes ago
  #WCELfest portfolios & stories help us to recognise impt themes & patterns, informing decisions
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 54m54 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Who learns more in the classroom? The teacher or the students? #wcelfest #eportfolios
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 55m55 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Process is more important than the output, that is where the learning is #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 56m56 minutes ago
  'Making the focus of my portfolio the reality of my existence' Finding purpose in life #WCELfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 56m56 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  #wcelfest our students need to know why and how they are learning and where they are going. #eportfolios
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 58m58 minutes ago
  Stories, ours and others, shape our memories #digitalstorytelling #WCELfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 58m58 minutes ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Whole idea of learning through story telling is very powerful and exciting #digitalstorytelling #eportfolios #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 59m59 minutes ago
  Reflection how we learn, hold on to our stories, giving us our sense of self #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 59m59 minutes ago
  #wcelfest Telling stories is a way to deeper learning
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  Portfolios should be persuasive #ePortfolios #WCELfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Experiential learning and portfolios. Learning from reflecting on experiences #eportfolios #wcelfest
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 1h1 hour ago
      “@traceymorgan: @gibbisons capturing the moments #wcelfest ” love this pic!
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 1h1 hour ago
  @eportfolios Reflection4Learning Google Site https://sites.google.com/site/reflection4learning/Home … #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  @gibbisons capturing the moments #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  Getting a shout out at #WCELfest is @cogdog and his elephant thanks to @eportfolios
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Digital stories to promote memory recall for Alzheimer sufferers #wcelfest #eportfolios
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  Eportfolios as part of your digital identity. What do you find when you Google yourself? #WCELfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  wcelfest what starts as well-being evolves into managing self and then to acting autonomously http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/var/tki-nzc/storage/images/media/images/kl-images/key-competencies-cross-sector-alignment/3717-1-eng-NZ/key-competencies-Cross-sector-alignment.jpg …
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Portfolios have to be formative not summative or it won't be student ownership or investment #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Fascinating cultural study of parents who upload pictures of children on social media #eportfolios #lifelonglearning #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Scrapbooks of life experience activities of eportfolio #wcelfest
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 1h1 hour ago
   @eportfolios URL #jisc Effective Practice with ePortfolios http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/e-portfolios-tools-for-21st-century-learning-09-sep-2008 … #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  Students need continuous personal development and we must encourage and enable that. Universities are learning institutions #WCELfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Eportfolios not just a storage space. A place for learners to find their voice #eportfolios #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Dialogue at the centre conversation of eportfolio #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Eportfolios are laboratories where learners construct meaning #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  #wcelfest [people] who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient ... NZC 2007 http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Key-competencies#M …
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  “@difo38 And of course self management is a key competency in the nz curriculum #wcelfest” And should be a graduate attribute #waitalk
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Students constructing meaning #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Questions for forming personal growth portfolio to help recognise learningfrom Peter Drucker #eportfolio #wcelfest
• Teresa Gibbison ‏@gibbisons 1h1 hour ago
      @eportfolios 'Know Thyself" #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Know thyself, life long learning, the magic of reflection via the portfolio #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  The starting point has to be the learner building self awareness and understanding #eportfolios #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  And of course self management is a key competency in the nz curriculum #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  Eportfolios are like the Blind Men and the Elephant. Stand back and understand the bigger picture of eportfolios #WCELfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Showcase, assestment, development, personal ownership #folio #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  Why? Depends on which part of the elephant we perceive #wcelfest Fundamentally about student choice & voice
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Eportfolios for showcase, assessment and reflection. It is all that things #wcelfest just like the blind men and the elephant
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  Self, artifacts& reflection - digital storytelling and eportfolios with @eportfolios Helen Barrett #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
  “@difo38 Making thinking visible, archive of evidence, multi-purpose, multi-tools #wcelfest” The multiple facets of eportfolios
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Hear the learner's voice through digital stories in eportfolios #digitalstorytelling #eportfolios #wcelfest
• Stephen Harlow ‏@stephenharlow 1h1 hour ago
  "#ePortfolios make thinking visible" @eportfolios @visiblelearning #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 1h1 hour ago
  Hearing the learrners voice #wcelfest
• Dianne Forbes ‏@difo38 1h1 hour ago
  Making thinking visible, archive of evidence, multi-purpose, multi-tools #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 1h1 hour ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Eportfolios and digital story telling go hand in hand. Possibilities for deep learning #eportfolios #wcelfest
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 1h1 hour ago
      Dr Helen Barrett delivering the #WCELfest keynote at Waikato University #WaiEvents
• mel ‏@melchivers 2h2 hours ago
  Eportfolio as both a workspace and a showcase. #WCELfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 2h2 hours ago
  Collecting of artifacts, leonardo, making Thinking visible #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 2h2 hours ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Portfolios make learning visible #wcelfest #eportfolios #davinci
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 2h2 hours ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  A portfolio has a different meaning for every walk of life #wcelfest what does it mean to you?
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 2h2 hours ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Portfolios for lifelong learning for identity development #WCELFEST
• Nigel Robertson ‏@easegill 2h2 hours ago
  Portfolios not just for students, teachers should use them too #WCELfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 2h2 hours ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Rewired rather than retired - love it! @eportfolios #wcelfest
• Anne Robertson ‏@robeanne 2h2 hours ago Hamilton City, New Zealand
  Building stories for reflection through #eportfolios recognizing how much we have learned @eportfolios #wcelfest
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 2h2 hours ago
  My hero helen barrett creates Google site #wcelfest
• Stephen Harlow ‏@stephenharlow 2h2 hours ago
  .@eportfolios tuning up the #WCELfest audience @waikato with her keynote: Know Thyself: #ePortfolios & Reflective Stories of Deep Learning
• tracey morgan ‏@traceymorgan 2h2 hours ago
  Dr Helen Barrett about to give us the lowdown on eportfolios & reflective stories #wcelfest

Resurrecting this blog

For the last two-and-a-half years, I have been ignoring this blog. The reasons were both personal and professional. My elderly mother came to live with me in 2012, and my attention was diverted to more retirement activities; I bought a Kindle, then a Kindle Fire HD, activated my Audible account and have accumulated some wonderful ebooks and audio books! My professional travel has also been greatly reduced (I am no longer MVP on Alaska Airlines -- sniff!). But today is my birthday; I received many wishes on my Facebook page, and I received a very interesting email from a K-12 school district, which made me realize that there is still interest in my ePortfolio expertise.  So I decided to get caught up with posting past presentations and other communications that I thought worthy of sharing.

While I won't post as often as in the past, I think it is time to pay more attention to my blog. I expect to post more interesting weblinks that I have just been uploading to my delicious account. Next week I will leave for a week working with Waikato University in New Zealand. After the webinar that I participated in through the Center for Digital Storytelling, I became energized by using the WeVideo tool. So, I am preparing a proposal to work with a local school on digital storytelling with teachers and high school students using WeVideo, I hope! It is time to rewire rather than totally retire!

Inquiry from K-12 Technology Coordinator

Here is an excerpt of an inquiry from a K-12 administrator for a school district in Texas:

I am the Director of Instructional Technology at the -- School District in --, TX.  Our district would like to implement electronic portfolios as a digital collection of evidence for learning.  There has been various committees that have worked on this program for several years and have struggled getting it off the ground.  Several teachers have implemented portfolios in their classroom, but we are wanting a solution that can be implemented district-wide.  During my research, I found your site and have shared it with the committee members.

During our meeting yesterday, it was suggested that I contact you and to discuss ways you can lead and support us in this journey.  We are a Google Apps for Education district and have decided that Google Sites would be our platform for our portfolio system...

I would love the opportunity to discuss how you can help us fulfill this goal of providing our students with a repository for their work.

Here is my response:

Have you found my online course on ePortfolios with Google Apps? https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/
Since you are a Google Apps district, you also have Google Drive to establish a digital collection of student work (the first level). You can use Blogger (or Google Sites Announcement page type) to support students maintaining a reflective journal (the second level). Google Sites provides the framework for a showcase portfolio (the third level). Are you using either Hapara’s Teacher Dashboard or Google Classroom to help teachers manage student collaboration work?

I am a believer in student-centered portfolios, where students use their portfolios to learn about themselves by reflecting on their own work. There are multiple purposes for developing e-portfolios, but self-understanding as reflected in the work products themselves, as well as reflections that the students write about their own learning is, in my opinion, the heart and soul of a student-centered portfolio. There are trade-offs between institution-centered goals (graduation requirement, standards, etc.) and student-centered goals (more of a learning journal that becomes a “laboratory for constructing meaning”). I am doing a keynote address at a conference in New Zealand next month with the title, “Know Thyself: ePortfolios and Reflective Stories of Deep Learning.” 

I have worked with other states and school districts to help them implement ePortfolios; i.e., New Hampshire, New York City Schools, Eastern Sierra USD (CA), Richland SD2 (SC), ASB (Mumbai, India). Here is a success story from ASB: http://teachingsagittarian.com/2010/03/asbup2010-journey-into-the-world-of-eportfolios/ and http://www.asbtechintegrationbook-digital.com/asbtechintegrationbook/2012#pg47
Between 2009 and 2013, I worked with the White Oak School District there in Texas to help their teachers implement ePortfolios (they use both Google Apps and EduBlogs): https://sites.google.com/site/woisd2009/

Have you looked at other schools who have successfully implemented ePortfolios? My favorite is the High Tech High schools in the San Diego area. http://www.hightechhigh.org/digital_portfolios.php (some schools use Google Sites, others have students create their own websites using their school web server). From my visit to their schools, I found that the portfolio process is infused throughout the curriculum (and the students I talked with LOVED their DPs—digital portfolios). They use their portfolios to support three Presentations of Learning a year (PoLs) and student-led conferences. Here is a case study written for me by teachers in a high school in the Boston area: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11lcG4vOkUiuvU1Jiu7a66SLfWTynBAlNWu85rHYEpHM

How many schools and teachers are supporting the portfolio development process (and how many of them have their own ePortfolios)? At what grade levels are you wanting to implement ePortfolios? Where are you in the process? Do you have an implementation plan for your ePortfolios? I focus on building an implementation plan in my online course noted above. I looked at the websites that you provided, and each can be a framework for student and teacher portfolios. You will notice that one option in the lessons in my course is for the learner to construct a professional ePortfolio.

I am available to work with your committee and teachers if you like. I can help your committee set up professional development for teachers (beginning with their own professional portfolios???).  I can start with a free single hour-long Skype/Google Hangout with your committee or I can do face-to-face meetings or workshops with your teachers. I could even facilitate a customized version of my online course for your teachers. It is up to you and your budget and what kind of PD works best in your district.

Workshops at Radford University

I just finished a second day of workshops at Radford University in Virginia (August 2014 and January 2015). I created this website to support these workshops:
https://sites.google.com/site/radfordreflections/

Digital Storytelling with WeVideo

I just finished a webinar series sponsored by the Center for Digital Storytelling on creating digital stories with WeVideo. I went through the process and learned to use the tool, and I am VERY IMPRESSED with this online video editing tool. It reminds me of the version of iMovie that I loved (and Apple ruined--iMovie6).

This website provides a concise description of creating a digital story with still images:
Create a photo story with WeVideo

Here are some tutorials on the WeVideo site: 
Personal Narrative & Digital Storytelling with WeVideo [Part 1]
Personal Narrative & Digital Storytelling with WeVideo [Part 2]
Personal Narrative & Digital Storytelling with WeVideo [Part 3]
WeVideo Academy on YouTube (tutorial videos)

I created a very personal family story using WeVideo, so I will not post it here in my professional blog. However, I will work on another story that I will be able to post. I also hope to work with students and educators on creating digital stories for deep learning.

Divergent Purposes for K-12 ePortfolios

I received the following inquiry about ePortfolios from a K-12 educator:

Our school is implementing e-portfolios using Google Apps. I was reflecting on the information given to the students during advisory and was thinking about what students are preparing. I was expecting the portfolio to be standards based and to show knowledge and skills students have gained showing they are career and college ready. Career and college ready is one of our district goals. It seemed students were informed differently to make it sound fun and be accepted. The students are creating a yearbook of sorts. If so, the yearbook I have is in a box in the garage collecting dust. I want the portfolio to extend into their lives past these four years of experience. So, I was looking for information on how to approach e-portfolios from a standards approach and to make them useful past high school. I am not sure we are all on the same e-portfolio page at our district.

Here is my response:

Regarding the “purpose and function of e-portfolios” I would ask one question: Whose purpose? Student or school? Let me tell a story from my experience with e-portfolios in teacher education programs. For the most part, teacher education students create portfolios that are standards-based, showing that they have met the teacher education standards. And many of these students are so turned off to the process that “portfolio” is a dirty word and many student teachers won’t subject their own students to the process after they graduate (plus, universities don’t use the same tools that are used in schools). After leaving their teacher education programs, some of them create portfolios that are more of a showcase to apply for jobs.

One thing I did not read in your message was the concept of reflection. There are multiple purposes for developing e-portfolios, but self-understanding as reflected in the work products themselves, as well as reflections that the students write about their own learning, is, in my opinion, the heart and soul of a student-centered portfolio. There are trade-offs between institution-centered goals (graduation requirement, standards, etc.) and student-centered goals (more of a learning journal that becomes a “laboratory for constructing meaning”).

I always advocate for a balance between the two approaches. Several years ago, I watched/helped my own granddaughter complete a paper-based high school graduation portfolio… a process that she saw no purpose in, other than busy work (documents created in Word based on a template provided by the district, using an outline/requirement provided for her, rather than created by her). She left if for the last minute (of course, and at the end of the evening). I tried to help her find the meaning in the process. I asked her if she learned something about herself by going through the process. She grudgingly admitted that she did, but I’m afraid a lot of her fellow student were not fortunate enough to have teachers or family members that helped them find meaning in the process… just complaints about “jumping through hoops!” In some school districts in this state (Washington), students build a bonfire and burn their portfolio notebooks after graduation!

So, you have a choice: create a process that involves students and invites ownership, or create a process that feels a lot like standardized testing. As I said, finding a balance is the challenge.

You want the students to continue developing their portfolios after they graduate, but they have to be intrinsically motivated to do so. I did a TED talk about intrinsic motivation in the ePortfolio process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcSegrwjkA and a PDF paper with the script: https://db.tt/5rgf5nEG
You might also look at a PDF paper I wrote on “Balancing the Two Faces of ePortfolios”: https://db.tt/QuuKITBy

The underlying philosophy of two models of assessment (Assessment for Improvement paradigm vs. Assessment for Accountability paradigm) can be found in this article by Peter Ewell: http://www.learningoutcomeassessment.org/documents/PeterEwell_005.pdf (p.8)
Where do ePortfolios fit within these two paradigms? I prefer to see portfolios used for continuous improvement, rather than for accountability. This approach puts the student at the center of the process, and in charge.

This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but I think ePortfolios have been hijacked by the accountability movement in higher education (especially teacher education). Portfolios-in-education began in K-12 education under a constructivist paradigm of learning. Now, some K-12 educators are trying to implement portfolios under a behaviorist paradigm, to emulate/replace standardized testing, and in my opinion, the benefits of the true portfolio process are lost in the behaviorist/accountability model. I believe there is an opportunity cost when we approach portfolios from the “testing” approach (we lose the opportunity for deeper student learning). There are some early papers published on portfolios that discuss the “portfolio as story” (rather than the “portfolio as test”). ERIC document ED 377 209 Paulson & Paulson (1991) “Portfolios: Stories of Knowing”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jZAS8N6pVt8UwM2yqE5mnDgjaiUKR-RqOMaj2HGP8-E
(this is the article on my Google Drive)

In my research, the best implementation of DPs (digital portfolios) is at the High Tech High schools in the San Diego area. I have interviewed students there about their portfolios (they love them!) and you can see examples on their website: http://www.hightechhigh.org/digital_portfolios.php

If you want to review one of my most recent presentations, you will find it here: http://www.slideshare.net/eportfolios/epic2014-balancing
One of my favorite slides is Slide 43 (the underlying purpose of portfolios that goes back 2500 years).

I hope all these resources provide some insight into the dilemma your students face.  I also offer a free self-paced online course on ePortfolios using Google Apps: https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/  (even more resources!)

Faculty inquiry about ePortfolios in higher ed

I received the following email from an educator:

I am very interested in learning more about ePortfolios.  I can think of so many advantages to using them and find the idea very appealing.  However, I don't really know where to start.  I tried to connect with our IT people on campus this last summer and they don't have any expertise in this area.  Your website looks like a great place to start reading and learning for me.  Can you tell me when there might be an online course offered next, or a workshop in the general vicinity, please?  I am very interested in the topic.

Here is my response:

Thanks for the inquiry. Are you interested for your own students, or for the entire campus community? If for yourself, then you can start with a minimal investment of cost, time and effort. An organizational implementation involves a lot more planning and infrastructure.

Did you find my free self-paced online courses on developing ePortfolios (designed for K-12 teachers)?
https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolios/ (generic online tools)
https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/ (Google Apps)

Your students need to have some type of online space for their work (Storage). If your university has Google Apps for Education, your problem is solved. If not, your students will need to adopt an online storage space. I also like the free WordPress.com software for storing and organizing student work. There are links in my online class that discuss turning blogs into showcase portfolios. I like blogs because they are a great space for ongoing reflection on work. Here is a website that I developed to identify free online tools:
http://electronicportfolios.org/eportfolios/tools.html

I have several Sites that discuss developing ePortfolios with these tools:
https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/
https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioswp/

I believe that adult students should own their own online ePortfolio webspace, rather than using a customized system owned by the university. Here is a link to the website at Salt Lake City Community College, where they support students using one of these free online tools:
http://www.slcc.edu/gened/eportfolio/

www.weebly.com
www.wordpress.com
sites.google.com
www.jimdo.com
www.wix.com

You might contact the folks at IUPUI in Indianapolis. They have a very well-developed ePortfolio program, although they have specific assessment goals and use customized tools.
http://academicaffairs.iupui.edu/PlansInitiatives/Initiatives/ePortfolio
You might contact Susan Kahn at IUPUI. They have an event planned for November.
I am not familiar with any universities in Ohio implementing ePortfolios.

There are also some events planned by AAEEBL (the professional ePortfolio organization for higher ed): http://www.aaeebl.org

Hopefully that gives you some place to start. Good luck.

EPIC 2014

Here is the page that I developed to support my three presentations at the Electronic Portfolios and Identity Conference (EPIC 2014) held in Cambridge, England, on July 9, 2014.
https://sites.google.com/site/mportfolios/workshops/epic

1. Balancing the two faces of ePortfolios: emphasis on process/learning or product/evidence
2. mPortfolios (using mobile devices to support reflection)
3. ePortfolios to replace standardized assessments

This is the twelfth European ePortfolio Conference where I have made a keynote/presentation/workshop. Their emphasis is now more on Open Badges.

ISTE 2014 Poster Session

Here is the page I developed for my poster session at ISTE 2014:
http://electronicportfolios.org/posters/index.html

Using Mobile Devices to Support Reflection in ePortfolios.

It was a great opportunity to share my resources on mPortfolios and to meet other educators.

EPIC 2013

Here is one of the presentations that I made during the Workshop day at EPIC in London, July 8, 2013:

ISTE 2013

Here is the page that supported my ISTE workshop entitled: Create Interactive ePortfolios using GoogleApps: Docs/Drive, Picasaweb, Blogger, Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/syllabus/workshop-outline

Google appsiste2013workshop from Helen Barrett

I received some great feedback from a participant that he posted to his blog:
ePortfolios and Three Outstanding Options for Student Learning http://shar.es/1bMphq

I also led a Birds-of-a-Feather session on Supporting Reflection in Electronic Portfolios where we had some great discussions.

Workshops in Mexico

I just finished conducting two three-day workshops in Monterrey and Mexico City on implementing electronic portfolios for English Language Learners (to replace the TOEFL requirement). I put together a Google Site to support the training:
https://sites.google.com/site/eportfoliostec/
Here are my slides:

Google apps2013workshop from Helen Barrett

Couldn't agree more!

Just spent 10 days in Mexico, helping a university learn how to use Google Apps to create English Language e-portfolios for student learning and as an alternative or supplement to the TOEFL! Then I saw this cartoon! 

(Posted from my iPad with the Blogger app)

Schools of the Future Conference 2012

Here are my presentations for the Schools of the Future Conference held in Hawaii on October 23-24, 2012.

SOTF mPortfolios from Helen Barrett

 

Sotf interactive e portfolios from Helen Barrett