EDUC 7730 E-Portfolio Publishing

This blog is being written to announce and present my e-Portfolio. This is still considered to be a work in progress as I want to add the units of study, delivered professional development, and other teaching and learning activities that I become involved in. The purpose of my e-Portfolio is to showcase myself as a STEM educator with a highlight on Technology Education. I am sure this format can and will change as I grow by using and teaching what I learned from the IT & Digital Media Program at UNH. 

I used Wix to create my website. I felt it had a variety of layouts that looked clean and simple. And best of all it was user friendly and easy to make edits, preview the work, and maneuver within. At first I thought it was going to be very difficult but after spending a short amount of time creating my website I was able to easily use this resource. Many of my colleagues used this website so I was introduced to the many features it offered before I began.  

I feel that I have come a long way from the first time I designed a website earlier on in the program. This site has a sleek clean look and that is what I was looking for. It may still need some tweaking here and there but I feel as if this is a good version of what I want to portray about my work. 

Please click on the link to view My e-Portfolio.

Week 6 EDUC 7728 Online Content Construction and Remixing

This week we were to post our rendition of an Auto - Ethnography. Basically, we were to create a video of our life with either text or audio accompanying it. We received numerous resources and video samples to read and view before starting this project and those helped immensely. It was suggested that we write out or plan out what we wanted to portray in our lives and then gather the materials to put into our video. And that was the approach I took. The most tedious part of the task was actually gathering pictures, uploading them onto the computer, and then putting them in a timeline format.

I felt the theme of my Auto-Ethnography was how growing up in my family has shaped who I am today. I feel that I reflected a lot on my parents and how they played such an integral part of my life. This was most likely due to the fact that we recently celebrated their 50th Anniversary. I think through the planning of the celebration I realized how these two such wonderful people influenced me and that came in to play when I was creating my video.

Even though it took  a lot of time and planning, this project was fun and interesting and I would recommend all teachers and staff at schools try doing their own videos.  This would be a great way to immerse teachers into the use of simple technology and then get them excited about teaching it to their students. Through-out this project I not only learned more about the small group of classmates in my IT & Digital Media Literacy Program but I also learned how to use iMovie with much more ease and confidence. I also used the audio and the background music feature that I had not used before. The final project from my classmates were as usual very impressive and I enjoyed watching all of them. For a look at My Auto-Ethnography please click on the link or view below.

ED7730 ePortfolio Map

This week we were required to outline or mindmap the contents we planned to use in creating our ePortfolios. I used Coggle as my on-line tool for mapping. Although the map is at the beginning stages and will need to be tweaked as I move along in the process, I feel that this map will be very beneficial. I did have some thoughts and questions on where I should place my blog, so at tonight Face-2-Face I will ask for input from my classmates.

Or for a closer look at my ePortfolio map please visit the following link: Elizabeth Hick's ePortfolio Map.

EDUC 7730 Thoughts on my own ePortfolio

After learning more about eportfolios and what they entail I realized that I should consider a number 

of factors when making my own. The first would be: who is my intended audience ?  Then, what work do I want to showcase ? Lastly, how should I design or set-up the artifacts that will be included in the ePortfolio.  In my portfolio  I would like to show: the work that I have done in my IT&DML program, the work I have done in school that is related to technology & other STEM content areas, and possibly have it serve as a marketing vehicle for future employment using what skills and knowledge I have learned. I also want it to look aesthetically pleasing, makes sense, and include the appropriate and related artifacts and reflections.

I did like the way Integrative Knowledge Portfolio makes suggestions for ePortfolios (see below). I plan to use and or modify some of these to meet my ePortfolio goals and message.

What does a completed Integrative Knowledge Portfolio  look like?

A completed Integrative Knowledge Portfolio has the following sections and pages:

A Work Showcase – highlights a series of Knowledge Synthesis pages that illustrate how a

student weaves together the knowledge, skills and insights gained from key learning

experiences in life. Each experience is organized into a larger knowledge/skill category which

serves as the table of contents for the Work Showcase.

A Philosophy Statement page - demonstrates a student’s ability to retrieve and articulate the

specific values, commitments, capacities and sources of inspiration that underlie his/her work

A Goals page - illustrates a student’s ability to imagine and articulate an overarching sense of

direction or purpose for work and life as a result of participation in the IKPP.

A Welcome page - demonstrates a student’s ability to capture a readers’ interest and succinctly

introduce his/her portfolio

A Resume page - shows that the student is capable of presenting their experiences in a traditional format.

I also liked their list of essential questions and the outcome or what students learn from the process Integrative Portfolio Process (MPortfolio - University of Michigan) These questions and outcomes help guide students through the process of creating and curating their personal ePortfolio.

The Integrative Knowledge Portfolio Process encourages students to ask questions essential for leadership and lifelong learning:

• Who am I becoming?
• What am I learning?
• What knowledge, skills and strengths am I developing?
• What can I do?
• How will I make a difference?

The portfolio process helps students approach problems strategically and collaboratively. Students learn to:

• Connect knowledge gained from real-life experiences and from academic courses
• Reflect on learning that has occurred both within and beyond the classroom
• Develop the knowledge, skills and awareness needed for professional competence and leadership
• Connect learning with personal values, a sense of purpose and goals for the future

Tonight in class, after I collaborate with my classmates, I believe I will have an even better perspective on ePortfolios and what I would like to include in my own.  

ED 7730 E-Portfolios Part I: Fundamental Elements

As a kickoff assignment to our last few weeks in IT & Digital Media Literacy we were required to research and read about electronic portfolios or more commonly known as ePortfolios. This assignment serves as a preparation for one of our final projects in this 6th year program. So during the past few days I have read a number of articles pertaining to eportfolios; what they are, who uses them, and how they are used, especially within the educational setting.

It is my understanding that an eportfolio is a digital compilation of someone’s work that is either produced or collected. This can include demonstrations, resources, and accomplishments which represent an individual, group, community, organization or institution. Basically an eportfolio showcases quality work, it paints a picture of growth over time, and presents accomplishments based on evidence.  You can think of the collection of work, more commonly known as “artifacts”, as the “building blocks” of one’s portfolio. These building blocks can and should include Word Documents, PDFs, Powerpoints, images, and even short video or audio clips. There should also be what is called a Reflection piece of the work in the portfolio and this serves as one of the most important aspects of the collection. The Reflection allows for analysis of the experiences incurred during the learning.  But more than that, it is a reflection of the thinking that is going on. In addition, Reflections also connect the pieces of the portfolio.

When most people hear the word portfolio, they most likely think of an artists collection of work. So who else uses eportfolios ? Electronic Portfolio’s serve as a personalized profile of achievement for students - at all levels (elementary through postsecondary) in any subject, for faculty, as well as employee’s.

And how do these groups of people use eportfolios? Students can use it as a location to document and display their learning.  Faculty can use it to as "an organized collection of complex, performance-based evidence that indicates one's growth, goals, and current knowledge and skills needed to be competent in a role or area of expertise" (p.151, cited in Heath & Cockerham, 2001,). employees can use eportfolios to demonstrate skills and competence in areas related to their field of work or expertise.

I found that there are a variety of websites/locations such as google sites, cloroflot, behance network, and carbonmade to name only a few that offer free portfolio services.  Through all of this initial reading and learning about electronic portfolios I am excited to begin the journey of creating my own.

EDUC 7726 Week 13 : Leadership in Action: Putting it all Together

Teaching, Learning and Assessing with Technology

The  assignment for EDUC 7726 Week 13: Leadership in Action: Putting it all Together. We were to return to the beginning of this class with a recap of student learning outcomes for the IT&DML program. There were two options to chose from to show how or what we learned connects to or how we can implement or future plan with what we learned. I chose Option 2: Planning.

In addressing Option 2: PLANNING (a.k.a. forward thinking, outlook, projections, opportunities). I decided to use Storify as my technology tool to tell a story of how Teaching, Learning and Assessing with Technology could be implemented into "Designing a STEM School Program" (my Independent project for this course). 

The urban neighborhood school that I currently work in is attempting to become a STEM based theme school. My intent is to become an integral player in the designing of our STEM Program as well as a leader in STEM for our school. My Storify highlights some work that I did in this course as well as reference some of my classmates work. I felt by trying to plan and develop a STEM Program I could use the many resources, materials, and knowledge that I learned through the IT&DML Program. Please click on the link to view my Storify. 

EDUC 7724 Week 12 AT Post-Secondary Education - Discussion Director

As this weeks discussion director for EDUC 7724 the topic of readings and discussion was AT and its place in post secondary education.  Our readings consisted of the article,  The Efficacy of Assistive Technology on Reading by Floyd and Judge which brought us through a study conducted with 6 students identified with LD. Also included in our readings was Chapter 9 - Assistive Technology for Transition to the Adult World of Assistive Technology for All Students (Beard, Carpenter, and Johnson) which talked about why AT should be included in transition planning, its role in post secondary education, as well as its use in employment. Lastly, we read Chapter 8 of Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities -Transition to the Adult World, talks about anchoring instruction. The focus was independent learning & living, and the demand for technology literacy in the 21st Century workplace.  

based on the readings I decided to had my classmates respond to: "What do educational service providers need to know in order to provide effective assistive technology services to students with learning disabilities at the post secondary level? “ (Assistive Technology for Post secondary Students with Learning Disabilities)

So for  the first prompt of the week I requested that they imagine being a student with a disability requesting the need to use a particular AT device in order to succeed in your  post secondary/college life.  The responses were well thought-out, both descriptive in the disability and the AT device needed/used. Many responses were written to their Alma mater's and they investigated the websites by these colleges/universities to determine how to approach that institution with a request for AT use. I appreciated all the work and thought that was put into the prompt responses. It might have even been difficult for some to craft their writing from the perspective/position of a students with a disability.  

My request for Prompt #2 of the week, I wanted my classmates to tweet something they took away from the readings this week. I thought i would bring us back to using a digital tool we were comfortable with but probably had not used in a few weeks. Tweets included:

• AT in post-sec. ed requires transitional prep that starts from age 14. Students must become self advocates.
• AT can provide access to opportunity and advancement in life. #itdml
• LD students must advocate for themselves in college and in the real world. We must teach that skill.#AssistiveTechnology
• "Use of Assistive Technology on the rise for college students, who must learn to self advocate:"https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7u9qK3qfjeKak5PTlRVUHlCdlU/edit …
• Self-advocacy by high school students with disabilities is a step towards taking control of their future. #AssistiveTechnololgy
• AT devices help disabled students accomplish their goals and dreams in college and beyond. #itdml
• Assistive technology design should consider gender and culture - perspective needs. 
•  In college, Students must document their special needs and communicate them appropriately, in order to receive AT support #itdml

Thanks for the responses and the experience to be discussion director for EDUC 7724.