Week 3 Reflections

Portfolio Assessment
Assessment is crucial in education. But after reading the article, Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning, my ideals of assessment broadened and have changed. I am very guilty of using assessment primarily as a means of identifying weaknesses for individual students to discern what steps need to be taken next to help those students succeed. I was in control. My primary use of assessment has been assessment of learning not for learning. I can clearly see that I need to expand my assessment to be learner centered instead of teacher centered. Therefore, the AFL research based principle that I most related with was that assessment “develops learners’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing.”

For the last several years, I have tried to incorporate portfolios into my Business Computer Information Systems class, but I have never been really successful--mainly because the students didn’t buy into the "assignment." I believe that by creating the portfolios using an online source, like Google sites, students will feel more ownership in their assessment. It will be their own “showcase” to the world. I loved the description of portfolios presented in the article: “A portfolio that is truly a story of learning is OWNED by the learner, structured by the learner, and told in the learner's own VOICE (literally and rhetorically).” A great example of this was the link to the “Choices” digital story at the end of the article. The students would love to create this kind of story of their own learning!

I go to workshops every summer to learn new ways of teaching and new technologies that can be used in the classroom. I always go back to school so eager to implement them in the fall. But without having the time to really learn to use them myself, I get bogged down and am only able to implement a couple of new ideas per year—leaving me way behind. This class has given me the opportunity and in a sense has forced me to take the time to learn to use technology to its fullest potential for the students. For this I am grateful. I see the use of creating my electronic portfolio as a means to measure my own learning of new technologies. By my personal increased understanding of the uses of today’s technology for learning, I can allow my students to use and grow their knowledge of those technologies while motivating them in the learning process to create their own digital stories of learning.