August 2020
Why use the ePortfolio?
I struggled with the concept of having an ePortfolio before I began the master’s program at Lamar University. As a first-year high school business teacher, I toyed with the idea of having my students create one and ultimately decided against it as I did not understand the significance of using an ePortfolio. You may have read in my previous blog, that the ePortfolio reminded me of the dreadful “show and tell” I experienced when I was a little girl in grade school. My thoughts have been shifting towards acceptance, which is why I became intrigued by what Dr. D. Harapnuik’s blog titled, “Why Use an ePortfolio?” says,
Grades simply do not reveal skills, knowledge and abilities. Students need to be able to show potential schools or employers what they can do and an ePortfolio is one of the tools that many organizations will be looking for to see this evidence of learning and abilities.
If I would have recognized this concept upon my introduction to ePortfolios, I would not have been so reluctant to embrace the thought of using them. What I seem to have missed is the fact that the ePortfolio bridges the students’ analysis and incorporation and deepens their learning. More importantly, the student owns their learning and ultimately, their ePortfolio. Please refer to Dr. D. Harapnuik’s blog Who Owns the ePortfolio where he states, “It is the ownership of ideas that lead to deeper learning” to understand why this is so important when creating an ePortfolio.
The Case of Self-Reflection
If you read my previous blog, you will know that I’m not a fan of self-reflection. I am of the type who likes to complete a task and move forward to the next. Reviewing Why Reflect (Barrett, n.d.) did not convince me that self-reflection deepens my learning, either. Jennifer Moon writes,
Reflection is a form of mental processing – like a form of thinking – that we use to fulfill a purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome. It is applied to relatively complicated or unstructured ideas for which there is not an obvious solution and is largely based on the further processing of knowledge and understanding and possibly emotions that we already possess (based on Moon 1999).
When creating an ePortfolio, how do I self-reflect? There is still more to learn about self-reflection on my ePortfolio journey. I view mental processing as managing new information and not necessarily remembering things of old. Maybe a part of my problem is that I do not know where to begin. I love myself but I still don’t quite understand the concept of implementing self-reflection when creating an ePortfolio and how that benefits me and my classmates or colleagues.
Should we use the ePortfolio?
In my research of ePortfolios, I have come to understand their benefit and after reading 41 Benefits of an ePortfolio, I can begin to appreciate the product, but not necessarily the process. The electronic resume (the product) is “beneficial for Students, Educators, Employers or Corporate Companies”. The final product proves the learning took place and that the experiences happened. When working with other classmates, I think an ePortfolio is a great tool to show others our accomplishments. However, do we really dig deep enough beyond reviewing the final product to see the process of getting there? To be continued…..
References:
Barnstable, K. (2010, September 30). 41 Benefits of an eportfolio. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://kbarnstable.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/41-benefits-of-an-eportfolio/
Barrett, H. (n.d.). Why reflect? - reflection4learning. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://sites.google.com/site/reflection4learning/why-reflect
Harapnuik, D. (2015). It's about learning: Why use an eportfolio? Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6063
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