In the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology article Engagement with Electronic Portfolios: Challenges from the Student Perspective the authors point to student disillusionment with the fact that they all too often are being asked to do something, create an eportfolio, which most instructors have not done. The following response from a student focus group session reveals students frustration in the fact that instructors are talking the talk but now walking the walk when it come to using eportfolios:
In terms of promotion the problem is the people trying to explain it have probably never used it so in a way they have no clue what they are talking about, basically. To put it frankly – after listening to them you would be like, Okay so you as an outsider who never even used it is telling us we should do this because it is the best thing since sliced bread but you have never used it – you can’t find someone who did use it – you don’t have enough information to tell us how to use it – and now you’re telling us use it and we’ll grade you on it – this kind of makes it hard for students to accept or appreciate it.
I have been keeping an eportfolio since the late 90’s. Unfortunately, my earlier work was maintained on sites that I did not control and when I left those organizations I was not able to take my work. Therefore my current site www.harapnuik.org archives only go back to 2009. Lessons learned — take control of your domain and site and ensure that you can take your work with you.
Rather then attempt to explain what goes into an eportfolio I am going to offer the following list of examples. You will note significant diversity in the way the sites are setup, the content that is covered and the levels of sophistication. The common factor is that each of these eportfolios highlights the authors personal, professional and social interests and passion for sharing their ideas and experiences.
This post/page will be a work in progress and as I find additional examples they will be added. The examples are broken into the following categories:
Primary & Secondary Students
Undergraduate Students
Graduate Students
Teacher & Principals
Professors/Instructors and Academic Professional
Primary & Secondary Students Eportfolios:
Levi Harapnuik – My Life as an Extreme Athlete. Levi’s started his eportfolio in primary school and after graduating from high school started to shape his portfolio to help him gain sponsorship for his Down Hill Mountain Bike racing career. The following post and video point to the advantages keeping an eportfolio
http://www.levibikes.com/how-my-blog-has-helped-me/
Levi’s main site:
http://www.levibikes.com
Undergraduate Students Eportfolios:
Vance Holms
http://vanceholmes.efoliomn.com/metro_state/
Urban Planning Portfolio
https://zakcq.wordpress.com/
Andre Malan
http://andremalan.com/
Jesse Lee
https://learn.uwaterloo.ca/d2l/eP/presentations/presentation_preview_popup.d2l?presId=509947
Karen Bell
http://karenbell.myefolio.com/Home
Graduate Students Eportfolios:
Roselynn Verwoord’s Electronic Portfolio highlights and shares the work that she is doing with a diverse community of educators, community-based practitioners and researchers, and policy makers, at both the local and international level.
http://blogs.ubc.ca/rverwoord/
Savita Malik – Masters of Public Health Portfolio
http://savitamalik.myefolio.com/
Rebecca Lynn Taylor – Graduate student teaching portfolio: Graduate student developing a portfolio for professional development
https://rebeccalynntaylor.wordpress.com/
Teachers & Principals Eportfolio Examples:
Sean Robinson – On The Side of Technology – His post Who Needs a Digital Portfolio points to the postive benfits of having a digital portfolio.
http://seanrtech.blogspot.ca/2015/06/who-needs-digital-portfolio.html?m=0
George Couros – The Principal of Change: Stories of learning and leading
http://georgecouros.ca/blog/
Related Youtube Video – Blog as Portfolio #leadership20
Joe Bower – For the Love of Learning
http://www.joebower.org/
Erin Klien uses her background in teaching and program development to create ideas to infuse technology enhanced activities that directly correlate to the common core national standards.
http://www.kleinspiration.com/
Professors/Instructors and Academic Professional Eportfolios:
Tony Bates personal site for resources in online learning and distance education. Perhaps one of the best Academic Professional sites.
http://www.tonybates.ca/
Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D. spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and will tell you the truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure.
http://theprofessorisin.com/
Wesley Fryer – Moving at the Speed of Creativity
http://www.wesfryer.com/
Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues.
http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
Kevin Corbett’s site highlights his professional interests as they relate to the Internet, education & media technologies.
http://kevincorbett.com/
Michael Stephens – Tame the Web site focuses on emerging trends, tools and processes driving change in library and information communities.
http://tametheweb.com/
Tony Karrer’s eLearning Blog on e-Learning Trends eLearning 2.0 Personal Learning Informal Learning eLearning Design Authoring Tools Rapid e-Learning Tools Blended e-Learning e-Learning Tools Learning Management Systems (LMS) e-Learning ROI and Metrics
http://elearningtech.blogspot.ca/
Alec Couros – Open Thinking and Digital Pedagogy is Alec’s personal and professional blogging. Alec is a professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina.
http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/
Dr. Helen Barrett – No list would be complete without an acknowlegement of Dr. Barretts work with Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling for lifelong and life wide learning.
http://electronicportfolios.org/
Luke Wroblewski – LukeW is an internationally recognized digital product leader who has designed and built software used by more than one billion people worldwide. The simplicty and elegence of Lukes site is impressive.
http://www.lukew.com/
Innovative Educator – Lisa Nielsen is currently a director of digital engagement and professional learning and an advocate for changing the future of education. Her blog is a great example of a professional eportfolio.
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.ca/
Tony Wagner – Transforming Learning
http://www.tonywagner.com/
References:
Tosh, D., Light, T. P., Fleming, K., & Haywood, J. (2005). Engagement with electronic portfolios: Challenges from the student perspective. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology/La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie, 31(3).
