Why Digital Portfolios?
The simple act of having digital portfolios for your students doesn’t necessarily mean they are working. The learners need to own them and see valuable benefits, use them to learn and think about their own thinking. Digital Portfolios are so much more than a digital version of a paper portfolio or someone’s writing journal. The power of portfolios are in revisiting and connecting learning artifacts. The learner does not only share the “best” work, but also captures the process of learning that it took to get to the “best” work of this particular moment in time. Digital Portfolio work raises awareness of and deepens the learner’s “now” literacies and skills.
- Documentation of the learning journey: We all know that “learning” can’t necessarily be demonstrated with a one-time exam. We gain a better perspective of the learner (and also of ourselves as the teacher) when the learner has documented evidence of where he/she has been, what connections they have made, what knowledge and understanding were they able to demonstrate in a variety of ways, and by following along their process. The content is a snapshot of the learner’s thinking, ability, and competency at a given moment in time. Digital Portfolios don’t just highlight a final product, but should and can capture and share the process of learning.
- Visible thinking, reflection & metacognition: The learner makes their thinking visible, experiment with different strategies that allow the creation of content to be shared with others. Thinking about one’s thinking is a crucial component in a portfolio to aid in the learner’s thought process and growth. Portfolio work aids in the process of creating content that makes that thinking process visible. The work presents content that makes ones understanding apparent at different moments in time along the way.
- Assessment can be one of the purposes of a portfolio. Keep learning objectives, standards and benchmarks always at the forefront. Digital portfolios can provide a platform, a strategy, and a framework for amplified evaluations. How can the content that is being created give evidence that these objectives/standards/benchmarks are being addressed?
- Now Literacies & Skills The “Now” literacies are good guidelines for documenting growth and proficiency as the learner is developing content. The Now Literacies include information, media, global, network, basic literacies as well as digital citizenship.
- Communication with parents or colleagues The portfolio owner thinks about how to best connect and communicate their learning to a specific audience. While parents want to be informed about their child’s learning and progress, colleagues benefit from content created in a professional learning portfolio. This contributes to their own learning in terms of documentation, reflection, resource curation, and ideas.
- Branding is no longer reserved for big companies. There is educational and academic branding. Who are you as a learner? What is your story? What areas of innovation, research, learning do you contribute to? What do others in your learning network know you to be a quality contributor/curator for? What is being posted and shared on our professional and our students’ portfolios contribute to our reputation as a school and show what we value as learning.
Why Choose Silvia?
- Silvia has captured and created portfolio artifacts to show the process of learning for over 40 years and has been an avid digital blogger for over 14 years.
- Silvia inspires learners to work with a variety of media and tools to create artifacts that showcase evidence of learning for the portfolios.
- Silvia coaches educators and schools to start and deepen conversations about what learning looks like and what could be considered evidence of learning.
Contact Silvia to set up your digital portfolio coaching sessions (on site and/or virtual). Flexible pricing structure available.
