Why the hassle of an ePortfolio?

Honestly, I have never heard of an ePortfolio before joining the ADL program at Lamar University. I didn't really even understand the concept behind them when it was a popular choice for student innovation projects. However, that's why I'm in this program. To grow and learn about new and innovative ways to use technology as a tool for learning.

In my last post, I described the difficult process of building an ePortfolio from scratch. Going through the process of just creating this digital platform to house my learning has already proven to become something I am proud of. It reflects my style and personality because it was personally created by my choices.

My ePortfolio focuses on my career, teaching our youngest learners. Through my recent assignments, I have had to reflect on my ideas as a learner and how I can use these ideas with technology to be an agent of change. Since many of our course assignments seem to either build on or refer to one another, it causes me to go back to my previous assignments and analyze my thoughts again. For example, I recently reflected on my growth mindset plan. I have seen where I started and have already found ways to improve or refine my plans for change in education. It has been a great tool to help me reflect upon where I started and how much I've grown in my beliefs in just a few short months.

With this platform being a public resource, I'm hoping that other educators looking for ways to improve learning can find inspiration through my reflections. I have read about how children have created games on online platforms, shared their creations, and then built upon the initial idea by making changes with their own ideas (Thomas & Brown, 2011). What a great way to promote new and exciting ways to grow our learners in the classroom! I know that I have browsed many other ePortfolios to show me various perspectives and opinions on how we can improve the learning experience in a school setting. Learning from others in similar or even different situations is a great way to promote growth in oneself.

I am excited to continue this journey of building my ePortfolio so that I can have one place to organize all of my plans related to innovation in education. I really think having the skill to showcase what I'm working on is helpful because I plan on using this tool to document evidence of how I have met my TTESS goals for my appraisal. I think this is a fun and engaging way for my audience to learn about what goes on in my classroom throughout the year. On top of that, this will be a great resource to go back to when I reflect on what went well throughout my school year so that I can make improvements for the next year!

References

Thomas, D., and Brown, J.S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination

for a world of constant change.