Below is my recent presentation entitled “ePortfolios: An Interactive Inspection of a Primary Teacher’s Journey with ePortfolios from Inspiration to Implementation.” The presentation was given at ULearn09 held in Christchurch, N.Z.
The presentation was broken into three parts; my research, a chance for individuals to look through 7 of my student’s ePortfolios and lastly a look at three ePortfolio perspectives (students, parents and mine).
The video interviews (lasting 6 mins long) with a sample of my Parents is not viewable from the slideshow below. I do not currently have permission to share the video publicly. However if you are interested email me at j_lietze@yahoo.co.nz or if you have a Centre4 login you can view my presentation with the video and notes here.
Recently I chaired my first meeting of the newly formed Primary and Secondary ICT Committee. I am excited that we are already engaging ourselves on meeting our first challenge; developing an ICT strategic plan that will hopefully sharpen the level of eLearning in our school.
This challenge has caused me again to explore current research into ICTand it’s impact on learning. I have been interested in the developments of mLearning so have been looking for research in this area. I put a call out on Twitter the other night and Paula Jamieson responded with some helpful pieces of research:
Victoria’s (Australia) Department of Education and Early Childhood Development released this helpful piece of research entitled “iPod Touch Research Report” (November 2008). I found the recommendations simple but helpful.
In-light of some of the ways that educators are choosing to use mobile phones as covered in this review, it becomes very clear that the technology enables a wide-range of variation for the use of these devices within an educational setting. However, in order to make the most of many of these learning opportunities, it is going to require a fundamental rethink of the way teaching and learning happens. Simply using mobile phones to teach using traditional methodologies will not be effective. However, nor will planning teaching and learning episodes solely focused on what the technology is capable of. From the findings of this review, rethinking when and where learning opportunities can take place and how mobile technologies can facilitate this is fundamental to developing sound teaching and learning practice.
In my mind Toni has ‘hit the nail on the head’. If there is going to be change in our classrooms and effective integration of ICTs to enhance teaching and learning then it is pedagogy that needs to be addressed. If our pedagogy is not rethought we will just keep on teaching the way we have always done it but with modern tools for example; using an interactive whiteboard in the same way you use a whiteboard. This equates to a very expensive whiteboard! So as my school and I go about developing an ICT strategic plan I have in the forefront of my mind the awareness that our biggest challenge is not finance or the teaching of tool tools, but helping to develop sound pedagogy in our teaching staff.
I would appreciate your help. What ways have you found effective in developing Teachers’ pedagogy about the integration of ICT? Do you have any websites that could help us develop an ICT strategic plan?
I am also interested in the use of notebooks in the classroom. Do you have any links to research on this topic? Do you use notebooks in your class? What have you found are positive and negatives about integrating such a tool?
It was exciting to see the report entitled “ePortfolios Celebrating Learning” published yesterday. Commissioned by the MOE this report investigates and encourages discussion on the use of electronic portfolios within the context of NZ schools.
The following was my initial response to the report and the two cents I contributed to the forum:
Hi Paul
Firstly I want to say thank you for commissioning the research paper into ePortfolios. It is a timely paper and has encouraged and informed me (and other teachers I am sure) in our schools pilot use of ePortfolios for the purpose of enhancing teaching and learning.
I also wish to thank Ian, Sandy and Viv in the fact that they carried this research out with the following principle in mind: “ePortfolios are not about technology; they are about pedagogy and learning. They are about life-long learning.” (Pg 17 of the paper) This I believe has kept the report rooted where it should be; on learning.
I do wish to support the report findings and the development of one national ePortfolio tool because there is more to it than just reasons of efficiency, user familiarity, access through schooling and learner ownership. I had a conversation with Lenva Shearing a few weeks ago and she referred to the desire of having an ePortfolio tool that was “an empty box” (I hope I have quoted her correctly). I liked this analogy. So from here I would like to share a few more thoughts and add these to the discussion.
If we all used one tool then schools/teachers will have:
1) Flexibility (They can use this one tool to add what they like into it to meet the individual needs and while maintaining student choice, voice and ownership.)
2) Better communication (Students/Teachers would use “one language” and so work together easier across levels and ages developing their ePortfolios.)
3) Efficencey (Professional development is made easier because we are all using the same language and focusing on the one tool.)
4) Better consistency (One school or teacher will not be considered lower than another because they did not have the expertise or financial support to develop superior ePortfolios. Everyone will have the same building blocks.)
Please don’t get me wrong; I am not advocating for a “straight jacket” type of tool. This one tool would have to be cleverly developed so that it did support different learning styles, user choice, offer flexiblitiy, etc.
