Digital Portfolios: Powerful Tools for Promoting Professional Growth and Reflection / Edition 2

by Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Overview

Digital technology offers powerful tools for educators who wish to develop electronic portfolios to foster and enrich their professional learning. Written by experts in the field, Digital Portfolios, Second Edition, explores the latest methods and techniques for creating electronic portfolios.

In this revised edition, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young and Maureen Morriss demonstrate how teachers, principals, and professors of education can develop high-quality portfolios that reflect personal vision, record professional growth, and celebrate accomplishments.

The authors present a comprehensive framework for portfolio development, from determining the audience and selecting material from a personal archive, to defining, producing, and sharing digital portfolios. This timely resource offers ten easy-to-follow steps and

• Provides the "why" for creating digital portfolios
• Emphasizes the importance of reflection as part of the process
• Presents tips and strategies for using digital technology
• Includes guidelines for evaluating portfolios.

Whether you are a novice teacher or a veteran educator, this practical handbook is your comprehensive guide to digital portfolio development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2901412949308
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	12/12/2006
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Hartnell-Young is a research fellow in the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her interests include teacher roles and professional development, ePortfolios, and using mobile technologies for learning in schools. Her recent experience in developing and managing innovative projects in Australian schools includes the Boys’ Education Lighthouse Schools Project in over 350 schools. Formerly a secondary school principal, Elizabeth has also developed and presented leadership and career development programs for the Australian Principals Centre, universities, and government departments. She is a founder of ePortfolio Australia™, a consortium of educators supporting professional development and research into portfolios, and she has written numerous reports and professional papers, including a chapter in the Handbook of Research on ePortfolios ((2006). Elizabeth is also an honorary fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Maureen Morriss is a 30-year teaching veteran and an author who has held leadership positions in the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association and the Australian Literacy Federation. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in 1977, and later served as a principal, curriculum consultant, and staff developer. Maureen has also worked as a tenured lecturer in Australian universities. In 2000, she joined A.U.S.S.I.E. Inc., a leading provider of customized professional development services for K-12 schools in the U.S. and abroad. She has worked extensively providing instructional literacy leadership support to teachers, coaches, and administrators in New York, NY, Montgomery County, MD, Hartford, CT, and Fairfax County, VA. Maureen created BLISS (Balanced Literacy Informational Seminar Series) for principals, now in its fifth year of use, and has acted as the regional leader for A.U.S.S.I.E. for New York City’s Region 7. Her passion is, and has always been, to make a difference in the lives of children through her work with other educators.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Connecting Ideas to Spur Thinking   Barbara Cambridge     vii
Preface to the Second Edition     xi
Acknowledgments     xiii
About the Authors     xv
Introduction     xvii
Professional Learning, Portfolios, and Today's Technology     1
Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century     3
Professional Portfolios     5
What Exactly Is an ePortfolio?     5
Why Create ePortfolios?     7
Why Go Digital?     13
21st Century Literacies     14
Examples of Digital Portfolios     17
Looking Forward, Looking Back: Integrating Personal Vision Into Your Portfolio     25
Focusing on Vision     26
Knowing Oneself     27
Gathering Material for a Personal Archive     28
Be Prepared for the "Portfolio Moment"     31
Permission to Use Artifacts     33
Reflection     35
A Guide to Reflecting     37
Ten Steps to Producing a Digital Portfolio     39
Establishing a Personal Archive     40
Clarifying and Articulating Values and Vision     40
Articulating Purpose and Context     42
Listing the Elements ThatForm the Structure     42
Selecting Evidence From the Personal Archive     44
Evidence That Is Recent     44
A Range of Evidence     44
Making a Difference     44
Developing a Concept Map     45
Choosing the Appropriate Software     45
Writing an Introduction for Each Element     46
Reflecting on Artifacts and Elements     48
Reflecting on the Portfolio as a Whole     49
Understanding the Technology: Keeping the Portfolio Alive     51
Hardware Used in Creating Digital Portfolios     52
Software for ePortfolios     55
Getting Started     55
Linking Documents and Sites     58
Ownership and Copyright Issues     61
Customized or Off the Shelf?     62
Presenting a Digital Portfolio     63
Considering Your Audience     64
Transportability     65
Public Presentation of Your Portfolio     66
Web Access     67
Verification     68
Security and Privacy     68
Evaluating a Digital Portfolio     71
Evaluation to Support Learning     72
Tools to Assist Evaluation      73
Audience Evaluation     77
Assessing Learning Through Portfolio Development     78
Sharing the Knowledge: Global Networking     81
Tools for Global Communication     82
Web Sites About ePortfolios     84
Enhancing Change Through Digital Portfolio Development     87
New Roles for Teachers     88
Implementing a Portfolio Approach     91
Lifelong Learning Through Technology     92
Glossary     95
Bibliography     99
Index     107

Editorial Reviews

"Teaches you how to build a portfolio and shows the potential benefits of the portfolio process. Qualitative research, which is essentially what portfolios lead to, is beneficial for teachers because it forces them to reflect on what actually happens in their classrooms. I can't think of a more powerful tool for learning and growth."

Erin Powers

"Novices are introduced to the wide scope of considerations regarding adoption of digital portfolios. For experienced practitioners, frames and matrices help to identify their own practices in relation to those of others. "

Barbara Cambridge

"The chapters are crafted for the inexperienced person confronted with keeping and maintaining a digital portfolio, but there are plenty of recommendations for the reader who has some experience but who needs fresh ideas to spice up the portfolio in preparation for an accreditation visit or in searching for new employment."

Teacher Librarian

"Experts in the field provide educators and libraries catering to both education professionals and businesspeople with an excellent survey to creating a digital portfolio that accurately communicates professional goals and achievements."

The Bookwatch

"Novices are introduced to the wide scope of considerations regarding adoption of digital portfolios. For experienced practitioners, frames and matrices help to identify their own practices in relation to those of others."

From the Foreword by Barbara Cambridge