Friend 1 & Friend 2: "Ya, I could never do that."
Me: "That's what we all thought, too!!"
This is the conversation after sharing my ePortfolio with two friends, at two different times. I had to laugh becauce I felt just as overwhelmed when the idea was first presented to our class. I was motivated to figure it out, though, and I was proud enough to share with them. They could tell I was excited about what had been accomplished, so far, and they were genuinely excited for me. However, they didn't really see the idea sticking for them or for students. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and how sad to think we may be stifling our students' creativity and voice!
If the leaders in the room will allow the learners to play and explore, I think the outcomes would benefit everyone involved. The beauty of ePortfolios is that by giving students the ability to create and save their body of work digitally, we are working smarter, not harder...and killing three birds with one stone, so to speak.
#1. COVA in Action
We are asking our students to show what they know. We are not telling them exactly how to do that. Let's let them be creative when presenting their knowledge earned and gained. As Dr. Harapnuik (2023) mentions, we don't need to provide more funding or more training for ePortfolios to be effective. We just have to recommend and encourage ePortfolios to students or colleagues, and maybe provide a nudge in the right direction.
#2. Modern Learning & Expression
It feels overwhelming to many of us because this in not how we grew up. We have physical scrapbooks, photo albums and notebooks filled with our work sitting on shelves or in storage tubs. So, we DID grow up saving items of which we were proud or important information. We just didn't do it digitally. Today's students and students for the last 20 years have grown up creating and saving details digitally, so we need to keep moving these skills forward.
#3. Buiding Growth and Learner Mindset
To piggyback on #1, students can choose how to present and gather their knowledge base. As we are always learning, we are also always building our ePortfolio. Once they (we) aquire the mindset that the ePortfolio is never finished and is constantly growing and evolving, they will not only be eager to continue to build, they will be eager to take risks and learn how to better grow their websites/ePortfolios.
Overall, as with most things, getting started can be the most daunting task. Decide on a platform and then get to playing, exploring, and discovering!
Harapnuik, D. & Thibodeaux, T. (2023). COVA: Inspire Learning Through Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Experiences. Learner's Mindset Publishing - Chapters 1 - 3
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