e-portfolios for dummies (blog post 1)
e-portfolio, what's that?
According to UC Berkeley, an e-portfolio (electronic portfolio) is a collection of works that may "showcase student's learning progression, achievement, and evidence of what students can do." (in the world of education/schooling) E-portfolios may be created and updated by teachers, students (more advanced of course), or even parents in some cases. (home-schooling or extracurricular activities) In short, an e-portfolio might be used to display artwork, pictures, stories, or even just updates on what's going on in the classroom. (in the case of a teacher moderated portfolio) It [e-portfolio] may be as basic as a literal folder of work and can be as advanced (techy) as a fully animated website with slideshows, videos, pictures, and sometimes even games!
how in the heck do I set an e-portfolio up?
There are a plethora of online e-portfolio providers and if you're more advanced (than me) then you could even create an e-portfolio from scratch using your techy background and a simple web hosting service. Google Sites, Weebly, and SeeSaw were a few of my favorites and although I'm not very tech-savvy, even I managed to navigate all three in hopes to try and give a little insight into the pros/cons, ins/outs of each. Using any of these sites makes the initial portfolio creation a tad easier and has easy-to-use guides and how-to's to help get you started.
WEEBLY: [My 2 cents]
- Easy customization.
- Integration with other apps and add ons.
- Intuitive and easy to use.
- Affordable.
- Constantly improving and adding new features.
- Meets standards for security and cookies.
- Has an auto-save function so your work doesn't get lost.
- Many template options to use as a starting point.
- Offers a strong support community to solve problems and find ideas.
- SEO settings are easy to implement and update.
- Sometimes the platform can be glitchy and needs a refresh.
- Some formatting and placement options are not customizable and this may be frustrating to some users (especially those coming over from WordPress).
- When you are uploading photos, you have to wait for the upload to finish before working on another part of your site or your work won't save (I lack patience so this bothers me).
- Detailed customization in the HTML is possible but may create over-confidence in users - especially those that don't have coding experience.
Google Sites 😬😬😬
Pros: easy to use and offers many tools to customize your website.
Cons: It isn't a real website builder.
SeeSaw: (my) final 'cents'
Pros: Intuitive for students and teachers. Tons of ideas up for grabs in the Activity Library.
Cons: In the paid skills feature, skills and standards must be manually entered.
why should you [I] consider an e-portfolio?:
With an e-portfolio:
A teacher can demonstrate the learning process of time.
Reflect on your work
Display via web accomplishments
Display a plan
