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ePortfolios & Digital Learning

Communicating My Ideas

I believe that my innovation plan will promote individual students learning and motivate them to have a positive outlook on their education. Technology is the future of education, families, students and communities. As educators we must educate students in the area of technology and make sure they are ahead of the game, they must be on top of technology as they continue on into their futures. Educators in the 21st Century must advance their skills in digital learning and transfer what we learn to our students. There is so much change in technology every day, it is important that we keep up with the changes. I have set personal goals to influence technology in education, and guide my students’ into the 21st century of digital learning.     

  

As a school counselor, I have chosen a technology movement that I believe will advance our students to the next level. I plan to have all students 9-12th grade create an e-Portfolio. This ePortfolio will consist of students’ classes they take each year, their work, their grades, accomplishments, basically the students’ educational story. Students will work on portfolios every school year, I believe this will engage them in their personal education plan. A digital portfolio will prove to be effective for all students’, because they will create their own story and have tangible artifacts to share with others. Students’ will take responsibility and control of their personal education plan. The advantages of ePortfolios are endless, it will give students’ the opportunity to share their work with others, compile what they are learning and achieving, teachers can assess more effectively, and each students’ eportfolio is unique to them.

My Innovation Plan includes details of what I plan to do to make ePortfolios successful. I believe that students will be ahead of the game and at an advantage in the area of technology and digital learning. Research has proven that ePortfolios are working, that students do become involved in their education, when tools are given to the student, they will become engaged.    

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UPDATE TO THE INNOVATION PLAN............

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My innovation plan on ePortfolios has progressed substantially. I have learned so much while doing my research. I have come to find that ePortfolios have been around for awhile, they are just not the “trend” , “YET!” I have decided that ePortfolios could be a learning process for all frade levels, but that is a whole different goal for the future. At this time, I will stick with the plan of ePortfolio implementation in grades 9th thru 12th.  Students will reflect on all of their experiences while working and creating their ePortfolios.  There has been a positive outlook on ePortfolios, teachers, staff and administrations are getting on the bandwagon.  This has made the plan even more real and we will be able to import and create the innovation plan more effectively. The innovation plan will work by using many resources, I will continue to use videos’, power-points, activities, research the 4DX Plan and all resources that are available to promote my plan.  I feel that the whole new outlook on professional development will promote positive professional learning and peers will continue to get on board. The research that I have done, has a very positive impact on peers, staff and administrators.  

What worked?

Through my research I have found many schools and colleges that have had success with ePortfolios’ and technology implementation. They have developed a plan, initiated it and followed through with it. They were able to get all stakeholders on board, so this made their plan work.  Students have experienced wonderful opportunities for collaborative learning and reflection. Of course there is always room for improvement and change. There has to be proper planning and organization plans in place for a plan to work. There must be a clear goal in mind, the use of technology can be a challenge, and we must be ready for the challenge of such.  It’s so very important that funding is in place so that we can implement technology. I have learned that we must have the administrators support to implement ePortfolios’, in order to do so, I must provide my research and knowledge of ePortfolios to everyone involved and to those we want to promote the ePortfolios to.

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UPDATED INNOVATION PLAN

Issue:
Students at the MonteAlto High School need opportunities to embrace a growth mindset through reflection.

Solution:
In order for students to recognize their growth and development as learners, I’m proposing a ePortfolio implementation. Students will maintain an ePortfolio that is used in each of their classes at the high school.  Students will use their ePortfolio to organize their degree plans for high school, assignments, plans for the future and career plans. Student’s will also make connections and create opportunities for deeper learning through reflection.   

 

Step 1: Preparing (January 2018-June 2018)

  • Support

    • Administration

    • Staff

  • Training Approval

    • Receive approval for PL and time to train department heads and team leaders

    • Receive approval to model new style of PL in Fall 2018

  • Funding 

    • Funding needed for additional technology (Chromebooks, iPads, etc.)

 

Step 2: Planning (July 2018-January 2019)

  • Platform

    • WordPress.com

  • Student Access

    • Desktop computers

    • Chromebooks

    • Laptop computers

    • Smartphones

    • Tablets

  • Pilot Year

    • Department heads and team leaders will “pilot” the first year of the ePortfolio implementation

    • Department heads and team leaders will be informed about their involvement in the first and second years of implementation

 

Step 3: Implementation

August 2018

  • Introduce implementation to department heads and team leaders during August in-service days

  • Department heads and team leaders will view the following resources:

  • Department heads and team leaders will be given time to discuss:

    • thoughts and concerns

    • grading policy for reflective posts

    • responsibilities of each teacher 

  • Teachers will set up their own ePortfolio pages 

September 2018

  • Send home parental consent form

  • Department heads and team leaders will introduce ePortfolios to their students

  • Spend second week of school having students set up their ePortfolio pages on WordPress.com (this will be done in all Language Arts classes)

    • Students will be told to use their school ID password  for WordPress (same as their Google account)

  • Discuss digital footprint with classes (this will be done in all Social Studies classes)

    • Commenting will be enabled, so this is very important!

September 2018 – May 2019

  • I will meet with department heads and team leaders once a month during PL and discuss implementing ePortfolios into their classrooms

    • Guides will be created for each PL session

  • By the end of the 2018-2019 school year, department heads and team leaders will be comfortable with information and will become “ePortfolio Experts”

  • Department members will discuss progress at each PL meeting, student ePortfolios will be shared for feedback

June 2019-July 2019

  • Request time for PL Sessions in 2019-2020 school year

  • Requested time will be for all “ePortfolio experts” (department heads and team leaders).

  • August 2019-May 2020

  • 9th thru 12th teachers/classrooms in building will implement ePortfolios

  • Teachers will participate in PL sessions throughout the school year

    • Every other month, all building teachers will meet for a PL session (large group)

      • Department heads and team leaders will lead these sessions (I will oversee)

    • In the other months, teachers will meet with their departments (small group)

      • Department heads will lead these sessions.  Team leaders will be available for additional support during this time. 

  • Teachers will be collaborating with their team members throughout the school year so that each student’s team of teachers are consistent with ePortfolio requirements/expectations

    • Because each “team” in the middle school has a scheduled team meeting daily, this will provide support for each teacher during the implementation process

  • Department will dedicate 15 minutes to their monthly department meetings to discussing progress/concerns with ePortfolio implementation 

June 2020-August July 2020

  • Reflect on full-building implementation

  • Make necessary changes to curriculum/ePortfolio expectations

August 2020-May 2021

  • Continue full-building ePortfolio use

 

Other information:

  • I decided to have our building’s “ePortfolio experts” be our department heads and team leaders because they are already in leadership roles. Our department heads and team leaders see groups of teachers in small groups and have a great opportunity to plan/collaborate with these groups.

  • Each teacher in our building is on a “team”. This group of teachers work together and teach the same students throughout the school year.

  • Department heads will see all of the teachers who teach the same subject as them, while team leaders see all of the teachers on their “team” that work together every day. It’s nice for each teacher to have two people that they can go to during implementation so that they always feel supported.

  • I foster collaboration by providing each teacher with two groups that they can work with during the ePortfolio implementation (their teams and their departments). Each teacher will need people to go to during this time. I also feel that the collaboration with people who are not on their team or in their department (during whole school PL) will provide opportunities for teachers to learn from people who they do not normally work with.

  • If a team leader or department head ever needs my assistance, I will be happy to speak to their department/team. Other department heads/team leaders will also be available for this.

  • Not every teacher in the building has classroom technology available. Teachers will be encouraged to share their iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, etc.  Teams can schedule technology and share with one another.

  • I expect some teachers to be resistant to this change. However, by implementing this slowly and with the whole building, I’m hoping the teachers who find success with this initiative help get people on board. 

Powerful Call to Action

An electronic or digital portfolio is a perfect format for collecting evidence of student learning. ePortfolios can facilitate student reflection upon their own learning, in multi-year grade levels, across different curriculum, and across diverse learning styles. Students will be able to set and achieve personal learning goals. ePortfolios provide a broad range of complex ways students are asked to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities for purposes, such as educational planning, class preparation, degree planning, career planning and their future. Our school has the technology readily available, but is not being used as it should be. I believe that ePortfolios’ will be a positive transition into the world of digital literacy. The implementation of the ePortfolio may be complicated, but I have found an abundance of research to help support my implementation plan. While researching and reading several case studies, I have learned what worked and what could have been done better. Technology trends are accelerating in K–12 education, not as fast as it should, but never the less it is on an upgrade. ePortfolios can have a significant impact on preparing students for the careers of the future and their education. “Starting with what we can control now allows us the ability to address the coming trends in technology for education with more efficiency and effectiveness.” (Freeman, A., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Davis, A., and Hall Giesinger, C. 2017). E-portfolios, emerged in the early 1990s, they are a combination of technologies to create and publish a collection of student work, which is stored in digital formats. (Waters, John K.2007) The Plus Delta Evaluation Tool demonstrates success and needed change in a time efficient manner. I can use this tool to evaluate ICT projects of others as well as my own innovation plan. A successful ICT project requires strong vision, expectations, and leadership. (Stowell, C. [cmoeinc]. 2013, July 23).

            My presentation is meant to be presented in our school’s department meetings.  This will prove to be a success in the key principles of effective professional learning. Staff should meet in small groups and discuss topics related to the subjects or grades that they teach. Initial meetings’ with our departments will show how the process will work. Since past professional learning has been seen as a negative, I hope to bring new light to PL. By making necessary changes, teachers will be able to improve their own practices and influence how our students learn. If our teachers are gaining positive understanding, then our students will gain from that. I hope to provide teachers with learning opportunities that are engaging, exciting and useful. Technology is in every students’ lives, and students are very positive toward technology, they are often way over our heads when it comes to technology. Technology has a positive influence on students’ involvement in classes; when technology is involved students’ are usually more actively involved. Students will seek courses that use technology more so than a regular class. (Eden Dahlstrom, with D. Christopher Brooks, Susan Grajek, and Jamie Reeves., 2015) Margaret Honey at the Education Development Center recently testified before the U.S. Senate that one can find ample empirical evidence that technology does have a positive impact when the right conditions are in place (Honey, 2001). She concluded that, if technologies are to be used to support real gains in educational outcomes, six factors must be in place: leadership, solid educational objectives, professional development, adequate technology resources, time, and

evaluation. (Honey, Culp, & Carrigg, 2000). (Rodney S. Earle, 2002)

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