RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
I began the session by asking
participants to list the outcomes for the
model of ePortfolio they were working
with, including both what students would
know and what they could do [Fig.1]. For
instance, an ePortfolio outcome might be
demonstration of critical thinking, an
important goal but not an ePortfolio-
specific outcome. Having listed those
outcomes, participants talked with one
another about them. The second task
was then outlined: identifying any
ePortfolio-specific outcomes associated
with their model of ePortfolio, and again,
participants completed the task and then
discussed their responses. Such
outcomes, such as reflecting on
ePortfolio artifacts, required the
ePortfolio. And third, participants were
asked to identify practices that students
need to engage in successfully for these
ePortfolio models to be successfully
completed. After listing those,
participants again discussed them.
Moving to the second part of this session,
participants were asked to think more
generally, not about their particular model
of ePortfolio, but rather about ePortfolios
as a genre that require some formal
learning, or a curriculum, in order to be
completed successfully. What might such
a curriculum include? To prompt thinking,
participants were provided a list of 13
specific practices, ranging from creating
an archive and tagging artifacts to
reflecting on artifacts, designing the
portfolio, and demonstrating digital
literacy or global citizenship [Fig.2]. Not
least, there was an open category so that
participants could add other curricular
elements. As important, the lists, which
were collected from participants (and
returned to them), allowed us to trace the
features of an ePortfolio curriculum that
participants value.
Participants’ Values
Perhaps not surprisingly, the largest
number of participants identified
reflection - “to make selections for an
ePortfolio rhetorically, to serve a given
purpose and audience (e.g., for
employability, for a graduation
requirement, as part of a module)” - as
the practice most important in an
ePortfolio curriculum [Fig.3]. Coming in
second, although with half the number of
Figure 2: List provided for second task
_____ to define and/or create an archive of
artifacts.
_____ to tag artifacts.
______ to make selections for an ePortfolio
rhetorically, to serve a given purpose and
audience (e.g., for employability, for a
graduation requirement, as part of a
module).
_____ to put artifacts in dialogue with each
other.
_____ to curate artifacts (e.g., contextualize
and arrange).
_____ to reflect-- to provide accounts of
process, for instance, or to synthesize
learning across both inside and outside
school.
_____ to create reflective texts in various
media--in video as well as in print.
_____ to use design principles (e.g., font
style and size, color, and graphics) to create
ePortfolios expressing their identities and
meeting the needs of purpose and audience.
_____ to create a ePortfolio for an ill-
structured context.
_____ to demonstrate digital literacy.
_____ to demonstrate global citizenship.
_____ to create social media as part of the
ePortfolio
_____ to integrate various artifacts and
experiences
_____ to ________________________.
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