Class 5: Chapter 1 & setting up your web-portfolio

Please sign in when you come to the class. I have your late pass quizzes back to you in those folders on the table at the door. Please get your own quiz and the late pass.

You should have already sent your pictures to me. If you have not done it, please email me your picture as soon as you can.

Today we have two tasks: talk about chapter 1 in our textbook; setting up your web-portfolio. You should have already set up your Gmail account and you should also have the three digital pictures ready for your autobiography page.

This textbook was written by Dr. Recesso and Dr. Orrill. Both of them are faculty members in the LPSL lab of our department. It gives k-12 teachers abundant ideas of integrating technology into their classroom instruction and imbedding the requirements of the state and national standards. The authors believe that class instruction should be learner-centered, encouraging collaboration, and inquiry-based. It is a very good book and you will find more useful resources at the end of each chapter after the SUMMARY section.

Plus, you will also have the access to the online resources of this textbook by logon to the website here with the password provided in the back of your new book. You will have the access to the web links related to each chapter of your text, glossary flashcards, HM Video case and case studies. It was said that the password will be expired six months after first use, but we usually use it in the class and I can send certain materials upon request.

Why do we need a web-portfolio?

What is web-portfolio? How to use it? Web-portfolio, some people also call it electronic portfolio, which is e-portfolio as short. It is a new format for traditional paper-based portfolio.

Traditionally, as Philippa Butler said in his a review of the literature on portfolios and electronic portfolios, “very simply put, a portfolio is a collection of evidence that is gathered together to show a person’s learning journey over time and to demonstrate their abilities. Portfolios can be specific to a particular discipline, or very broadly encompass a person’s lifelong learning.Many different kinds of evidence can be used in a portfolio: samples of writing, bother finished and unfinished; photographs; videos; research projects; observations and evaluations of supervisors, mentors and peers; and reflective thinking about all of these. In face, it is the reflections on the pieces of evidence, the reasons they were chosen and what the portfolio creator learned from them, that are the key aspect to a portfolio. ” Kimball goes further, arguing that “neither collection nor selection of pieces to be incorporated into a portfolio are worthwhile learning tasks without a basis in reflection. Reflection undergirds the entire pedagogy of portfolios. ”

Two other key elements to portfolios are that they measure learning and development over time, and that it is the process of constructing a portfolio, rather than the end product, that is where the learning takes place.

To do list:

1. Send me the web address of your autobiography page.

2. Assigned reading: Please read chapter 4 of the textbook then discuss in groups on webCT. Every group member should post at least once on your group discussion board of webCT. On Friday, you will present your discussion results from the discussion board as a group. Each group will have 4 minutes to present. You will need to address the main concepts of the chapter, certain implications of the chapter content in your future teaching and some possible challenges of embedding these standards to your classroom.

• Group 1: Kelly, Avery, Erin Clay, Melissa, and Callae.
  
• Group 2: Erin Dunn, Kyle, Jennifer, Haley, and Jamie.
• Group 3: Katharine Kerce, Chelsea, Courtney, Michael, and Jeremy.
• Group 4: Katherine Sheetz, Amy, Robert, Wesley, and Angela.
  

Reminder: your resume is due on Friday. Please remember to submit your resume on WebCT before the class!