Week 2 ICT

The focus of ICT Workshop 2 was to create a brochure and ePortfolio using Microsoft Publisher.

Creating a Brochure
The brochure that can be seen below is the one I made during the workshop and is on China. I had not used publisher since I was at school but I found it fun and easy to use. Creating a brochure allows students to practice their writing skills and practice targeting a specific audience. I liked the idea of students making a brochure for a holiday destination as these are of course common media students may have come into contact with in the real world. Through using Microsoft Publisher or another word processing program to publish a brochure students learn and practice using ICT to ‘capture, validate and manipulate data for a required purpose’ (VELS 2010 ICT for Creating). The activity would enable them to create information products (a persuasive brochure) and help them to demonstrate their knowledge of a country (helping them to progress towards the VELS ICT for Creating standards). It would also help them to practice managing their files and to plan the progress of the task if it was extended. Additionally, through students sharing their brochure with the class they also practice reflecting on how effectively they used ICT (VELS 2010 ICT for Creating). I think this sort of task is an excellent way for students to develop their ICT skills and is something I would do with my future class.


ePortfolios

None of the schools that I have been to have made ePortfolios for their students and I have never seen an ePortfolio prior to this week’s lecture. I think an electronic portfolio which has a compilation of students work showing their skill level, development and achievement in an area would be a wonderful thing for students to keep and show their parents. Today we made an ePortfolio using Microsoft Publisher (see below) it was easier to do than I expected.

Anderson (2004) discusses that it is the process involved in creating a portfolio that is the most valuable to the learner. Through this process students learn the skills of how to be a ‘self-directed and life-long learner’ (Anderson 2004). Anderson (2004) argues that developing a portfolio involves four stages: collection, selection, reflection, and projection.

One of the clear benefits is that a more extensive collection of evidence of student learning can be captured through using different multimedia (e.g. images, video and text) (Anderson 2004). To do this it is necessary that technology is used to capture students learning on an ongoing basis. I think in the classroom this would be challenging particularly in the early years with students needing more support to work independently.

One of the areas I also think that would be particularly difficult would be selecting which pieces of work should be chosen to be shown in the portfolio. I agree with Anderson (2004) who suggests that the work which shows the most evidence of the student’s development should be picked.

Another benefit of an ePortfolio for students is that it promotes reflective learning. Through creating an ePortfolio students are able to practice reflection and self assessment. Anderson (2004) suggests they reflect on each piece of work selected for the ePortfolio with students saying why they chose to include it and how it shows their achievement.

The final step in building an ePortfolio according to Anderson 2004, is projection to future. This involves students answering questions such as – “What could you include in your ePortfolio that you did not this time? Where will your learning go from here?” (Anderson 2004). This helps students to set future learning goals.

When I was on placement one of the final lessons I facilitated required students to write what they had achieved over the last two terms and this was to be included in their report. Many students struggled with this and could not remember what they had done. I think if they had selected work that they had done which showed their development over this period their reflections and therefore reflection skills would have been better.

I really like the idea of ePortfolios for students and hope to implement this for my students. Some of their clear benefits are:
- help information become knowledge
- connect assessment and learning and show development over time
- promote reflective learning and self assessment
- help students to learn from their mistakes, set goals and track their progress
- help students gain real world ICT skills
- provide context for learning and assessment
-encourage students to be self directed and life-long learners
- let students creatively express themselves
- students are involved with decision making
- its an holistic approach to individual progress which celebrates the student as a learner
- assist students transitioning between year levels
(Powell 2010, Digital Portfolio Resources 2010, Natcom 3 2010, Anderson 2004)

As the lecture this week pointed out I would consider if the school I am at has the vision, technology, logistics and culture for me to be able to produce ePortfolios for students successfully. The safety of the ePortfolio is an issue that needs careful consideration (Powell 2010). It is also important that students clearly understand their responsibilities regarding the portfolio and using computers – particularly the internet. Students should be educated about the schools internet protocols (Internet Acceptable use Agreements) (Powell 2010). Students’ personal information should not be published on the internet and students should be continually monitored when using the internet (Powell 2010). Ethical considerations also need to be made in the use of ePortfolios including copyright, software use, privacy, hacking, obscenity and respect for others (Powell 2010). Certain logistics such as server and storage of computers in classrooms is something that I feel would prevent some of the classes/schools that I have been in from successfully creating ePortfolios. Despite these considerations I think the process of creating ePortfolios would be very beneficial to students and is something I would like to implement in the future.

References

Digital Portfolio Resources 2010 http://www.hrdesign.com.au/dp/planning-dp.html
Natcom 3 – Project Proposals 2010 http://www.pa.ash.org.au/natcom/natcom3/models/portfmod.asp
Kembler D Smart Classrooms Byte www.education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms
Powell, G. (2010). ePortfolios for Teachers and for Student use in the Primary Classroom.