Creating an E-Portfolio Remix
Overview
You would have to simulate a scenario where they have graduated and are preparing themselves for the workforce.They will be reflecting among themselves to identify the experiences, character traits, goals and objectives that are closest to them. They will use these items that they have identified and look towards creating an interactive medium. They will look for you on feedback to improve the interactive medium that they have created, to see if it's relevant to the learners or not. You will have to be familiar with the rapid growth of educational technology, these include platforms that will showcase the portfolios
- Pathbrite - An easy way of creating an E-Portfolio and placing your reflections and experiences into.
- About.me - This is an easy portfolio builder that acts as a start up page to link you to your videos or images. It even provides a free email signature as well
- Weebly - Weebly is a drag and drop no frills web page builder. It is really easy and intuitive to use. A presentation of how to navigate and download Weebly for the smartphone is included.
- Wix - Wix is similar to Weebly, it is also a page builder for building up your own web page.
- Wordpress - Create a wordpress site that stores all the relevant information available on the site.
It will also include interactive media that will be used to create different forms of videos, animations and images.
Preparation
Instructors will have to go through the idea of understanding the following area.
- 5 words to describe yourself - How to narrow down strong traits that the learners possess. You will have to break down the character traits from a list of 50 different ones created. Refer to the task below for more information.
- The power of reflection - How you should be reflecting on your experiences that you have gained in your educational life. Reflecting on experiences to allow the learners to understand the journey they been through in life, and what is ahead of them are equally important.
- What are your goals? - This will be uncovering your goals and objectives that you have in life that you will place in your E-Portfolio site.
- Exposure to educational technology tools such as Powtoons and Canva.
- Access the students at your own discretion. Creativity is judgemental and should not be fixed.
Understanding your personal character traits.
Ask the students to watch this video to understand what kinds of traits are successful traits.
Ask them to grab a chair and form a circle around, show the slide as shown below, inform the learners to begin with 10 character traits that they possess. Ask them to list down and write on a piece of paper. From there, tell them to name 5 character traits from the list that they created.
List down 10 character traits associated with you and write on a piece of paper. Share with your instructor what are the 10 character traits that are most meaningful to you.
Create a video using Powtoons to describe themselves
Using the 5 character traits that they have identified, create a video using Powtoons.com. An account is free to create, provide the learners 1 hour to complete this exercise. Tell them to use any form of resources if they needed to, but please inform them to attribute or credit any other person's work.
An example as follows:
Suggestions
Provide the learners some time to think and reflect on their most memorable experience. It can be related to an experience that was years ago, or a childhood experience that they treasure a lot. Encourage them and hand hold them in this session, to allow them time to be reflective in this session.
Here is an example of how you can create a video to describe yourself further. You can also think of interactive or engaging ways that you can do for the video. Reflect on the 5 character traits that you have chosen earlier, now take this opportunity to create a video out of it.
The requirements for the videos is as follows:
- 1 minute video introducing yourself and your hobbies. NOTE: maximum timelength of 1 minute 30 seconds.
- Pictures that represent your character traits must be placed in the video.
- Use a whacky music, but it must not be offensive as you are showing it to your future employer.
- Register an account with Powtoons.com to begin the process. Please use your desired email to register for one.
Define your goals and objectives using SMART
The objective is to explain to them how does SMART Goals actually help them. Explain to them each of the term SMART. Refer to the following diagram for more information.
Use examples such as these to understand SMART Goals better.
“I want to know 15 more operational expenses in a retail industry within the next three months by interviewing 5 existing retail managers and researching 10 case studies on retail operations .”
“I bought a new management accounting software for my personal expenses and I want to understand 75% of the features within the next three months.”
“Within a month, I am going to get set up to sell personalised card designs on Etsy, which will allow me to benefit financially from my favorite hobby. Within six weeks, I will have an inventory of 30 seasonal card designs to sell and aim to sell a minimum of five cards per week, building customer relationships through Facebook,instagram referrals and other local networking. “
Suggestions
Provide the learners some time to think about what they want in life, their goals can be extrinsic or intrinsic depending on their different needs that they have. Motivate them to have a goal and purpose in life. From there, guide them to believe that they have a goal and purpose in life.
In this section, you will be concentrating on building your goals and dorections you have in life. This will fit in closely to your main page as your profile, it will help define not only who you are, but also what you want to achieve in life. To help you achieve a better understanding, the use of SMART goals will be used. Use this picture to obtain a foundation of what SMART goals are, and put them to use in your profile, stating what you hope to achieve in your E -portfolio page. Also, you may want to use this video to find out more about SMART goals.
Allow your learners to digest the information on SMART Goals. Give them additional references in case they get lost in the concepts. Refer to this link to find out even more on SMART Goals
Your task is to consider the following aspects in SMART Goals:
- What will be the questions you need to ask yourself when you consider a SMART Goal?
- What is defined as SMART goal?
From these reflective questions, construct 3 SMART goals sentences and share with your team mate to see if they are relevant and SMART.
Writing a reflection, creating the belief and values
Introduce the learners on various reflections and provide examples on how reflections can be written. Ask the learners to write 5 critical statements that are meaningful to them based on the experience that they had. Refer to the student content for the questions. Reflections can vary as shown:
- 50 words essay to describe the experience: Describe and experience that is meaningful to you.
- The theme of the experience, what was the experience that the learner had. The experience may refer to a field trip that they recently went to,a research project that they have done recently or a hobby that they possess. These form the artefacts of the E-portfolio that should be documented into the E-Portfolio
- How relevant is it, why is it important to them?
Refer to some of these examples as shown:
- http://classroom.synonym.com/keys-writing-reflection-paper-2614.html - Writing a reflection: body, introduction, summary.
- http://www.bellarmine.edu/faculty/lsusan/EDUC116/sample_reflection.asp - An example of reflection paper.
- http://people.stu.ca/~oregan/samplerp.html - Critical reflection sample.
Suggestions
Let your learners take it slow from this particular aspect. If they are struggling, take a slow approach towards asking them to create a reflection. Break down the reflections in critical words that are relevant to their experience, and build the reflections from critical words to reflection statements to a complete 50 word essay. Use the interactive media as a form of expressing their thoughts and feelings towards a subject or an experience.
To begin a reflection paper, follow these steps to create a “Belief and values” system in your page.
- look out for the main theme and what are you addressing. (E.g. is it about a person? Was it about a particular experience?) Consider a reflection that is critical, where theories and knowledge are carefully analysed and written down.
- Jot down 5 main points in your reflection paper that you want to address. (E.g. You had 5 valuable lessons that you want to share with everyone. ) Consider that the points are contextualised to the scenario and the setting that you are in, remember the points that you are trying to address as well.
- Find out some key learning points through examples (E.g. You learnt a lot about leadership from being a leader of your team in a field trip, you learnt about compromising and coming to a common consensus as a leader.)
- Write an introduction and provide a proper closure. Closure is to summarise your key learning points, introduction is to provide the context for everyone. Write your desired outcome in its intial stage, and what you have obtained at the end result. Did they match or where there gaps that provided you learning opportunities?
The next step would be to structure the content accordingly. Based on a video by Dr. Barbara Jacoby(Senior Scholar for the Adele H. Stamp Student Union), she shares her methods of critical reflections.
- What informed the writing of your description?
- How did you draw on other courses, readings, or discussions? (i.e. What comes to your mind immediately?)
- Did you think only within or outside the context?
- What attitudes, values, & assumptions are evident in your description?
- Where did these attitudes & values come from?
Based on a video by Dr. Barbara Jacoby(Senior Scholar for the Adele H. Stamp Student Union), she shares her methods of critical reflections.
- What informed the writing of your description?
- How did you draw on other courses, readings, or discussions? (i.e. What comes to your mind immediately?)
- Did you think only within or outside the context?
- What attitudes, values, & assumptions are evident in your description?
- Where did these attitudes & values come from?
Structure the contents that you feel meaningful and introduce the audience the topic and area that you are presenting. Write the contents in the following order:
- Introduction - provide the context with a proper introduction, informing what the audience or readers are expected to view.
- Body - Provide the main content based on the 5 points that you have provided earlier. Form a proper paragraph for it
- Conclusion - Summarise the reflection and conclude with an important takeaway for readers to note. For example, leadership is an important experience in my field trip.
Taking it further
The learners have now completed 3 of the objectives that were proposed. Ask the learners to reflect critically on how they can place these resources in an online platform where they can let all the users have a look.
There are several things to consider when they place materials about themselves on the Internet, so do cover the following aspects with them
- Copyright infringements - Students or learners must make sure they do not infringe any copyright images that is on the Internet.
- Private data - Please inform your students not to include identification numbers, personal photos, addresses into the web platform.
After the learners have created their interactive E-portfolio on their own time, consider awarding the badges as provided:
There are several things to consider when they place materials about themselves on the Internet, so do cover the following aspects with them
- Copyright infringements - Students or learners must make sure they do not infringe any copyright images that is on the Internet.
- Private data - Please inform your students not to include identification numbers, personal photos, addresses into the web platform.
With these areas in mind, consider creating an online E-portfolio using one of the platforms that is available
- Pathbrite - An easy way of creating an E-Portfolio and placing your reflections and experiences into.
- About.me - This is an easy portfolio builder that acts as a start up page to link you to your videos or images. It even provides a free email signature as well
- Weebly - Weebly is a drag and drop no frills web page builder. It is really easy and intuitive to use. Weebly navigation click here
- Wix - Wix is similar to Weebly, it is also a page builder for building up your own web page.
- Wordpress - Create a wordpress site that stores all the relevant information available on the site.
After you have completed the E-Portfolio, you will be awarded a badge on Completion of E-Portfolio