M101:Digital Portfolio/Case Study/Education

Digital Portfolios in Education

It’s important to understand that the field of education has especially benefited from digital portfolios. As with many other learning styles and life skills, we are successful when we begin learning in a safe, controlled environment, the type of atmosphere classrooms want to offer. Teachers around the world from elementary schools to universities are using digital portfolios to showcase student work. Essentially, this gives students a great base for their future studies or career.

Naturally, the younger the students are when they start using digital portfolios, the more they benefit from having clear documentation of their work and evidence (whether empirically, anecdotally or what have you) that showcases their talents. Students can affirm their early talents in the arts, writing, science or numeracy by referencing early works in their e-portfolio.

Having said that, there’s no need for a student (or a parent) to panic if he or she gets a late start as there are plenty of digital portfolio success stories where the student didn’t start until later in high school or at their university. This provides a great place to archive assignments and reflect on experiences.

Adding to the introspective part, maybe the most boiled-down essence of digital portfolios is that they allow easy access to all learning experiences, making their work far less likely to get lost in the shuffle. In a 2013 Harvard Business Review blog post titled, Dear Colleague, Please Put the Notebook Down, productivity guru Alexandra Samuel laments the fact that pens and papers are still in circulation. She makes the case that whatever benefits, creative or otherwise, are derived by old note-taking methods are easily offset by how time consuming the transferring process is.

My sense is that people with stacks of papers in filing cabinets or terrabytes of e-assignments are gradually embracing Samuel’s point of view. It’s simply too easy to forget unless we have a digital portfolio. As the saying goes, all of the information is at our fingertips. Apropos to this, digital portfolios are another area where people need to get with the times.

In a case study from Hull College, two teachers in training used e-portfolios in the teacher placements. This provided a great space for them to connect with other intern teachers and professors, as well as reflect on experiences in the internship. The video link below offers a more nuanced understanding of what e-portfolios can do for university students.

Examples of Digital Portfolios

Joanna’s site is a nice combination of a blog and a professional portfolio. She has a tab to link to her blog posts, as well as tabs for sample essays and speeches. She doesn’t seem to have her resume posted, but perhaps this is more of a look into her life rather than a job application.

Melissa’s e-portfolio focuses more on her work experience and related materials. It is easy to navigate utilizing the sidebar to easily go from page to page. She doesn’t have much for personal posts, but she does link to her personal blog which she created for her trip to Spain.

James has an easy to navigate website. He doesn’t blog or include notes, but he prescribes to twitter, tumblr, and Facebook feeds. This provides a personal touch and shows visitors where he can be contacted. This site is clean and professional while staying modern and creative without having too much clutter.

Alex has a professional layout and does a great job of showing his skills and keeping his site updated with his notes. He is a web-designer whose skills are illustrated through his creative space online.