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.
I have been off the “radar” for sometime since becoming a Dad and so am adjusting to this wonderful change. As well as this I have been busy trialling the different Learning Management Systems (LMS) that I mentioned in my previous post.
Below is my final platform analysis. Before you view it please keep in mind the following points:
eFolio is not an LMS but a smaller product compared to the others I trialled. It was built primarily as an ePortfolio platform. However because my trials have focused on ePortfolios I included it in the analysis.
Spike@School has since removed itself from the party of Vendors the MOE had previously identified.
I was unable to trial the MyClasses platform. At first they replied to my initial request but then did not get back to me again until yesterday (9th April). At that stage they informed me that I had contacted their overseas office and that they do not sell directly to NZ schools. They then directed me to contact the NZ SchoolZone Helpdesk. Unfortunately I needed to make a decision before school finished for the Term so time has run out. I would still be interested in reviewing their platform in the near future and will contact them later.
I realise that within months my analysis will quickly go out of date. Vendors are working hard on developing their product to meet the guidelines the MOE has set for them as Development Partners. I therefore strongly encourage you to talk to individual vendors before making your own personal decisions.
Here is how I rated the following products:
Update (7.5.09): There has been some confusion on my behalf in relation to SMS-LMS interoperability versions 1.3 and 2.0. To clear things up, no LMS-SMS at this stage has been approved by the MOE for Version 2.0.
There was more to eFolio’s V2.0 than what I saw when trialling their beta version. I have therefore updated the “Multiple Spaces and Views” to meet this. My apologies to eFolio for missing this.
So what does this mean for my school?
We have chosen Ultranet as our preferred LMS in our ePortfolio Pilot for 2009.
Why?
Ultranet is not the perfect ePortfolio option but it came the closest to meeting each of my criteria. I hope to work with them and help them develop their ePortfolio module.
I believe Ultranet has the cleanest and simplest interface, which I can see 5-18 year olds being able to navigate.
It was in my school’s best interest to go with a product that is one of the 3 development partners the MOE is supporting. This way I knew for sure it was going to be a sustainable option and one that would meet the MOE’s guidelines.
I was impressed with Ultranet’s social networking functionality. Entitled “uSpace”, I believe this feature will be a location my students will use regularly to interact and share their learning with others. It will be a gateway that will lead to greater collaborations and peer assessment.
Each of the platforms were measured against the criteria I set earlier. I have repeatedly gone back and fine tuned my purpose and criteria. The final product is included below for your interest (or click here if it does not display correctly):
Where to from here?
Run the ePortfolio pilot until the end of December 2009 with 4 classes; in Year 1, 5, 6 (my class) and 7.
Organise and plan for Parent meetings to inform and teach them how they can partner more in their child’s learning eg: commenting on their child’s work and interacting with them though Ultranet. Within these meetings we can address Net safety and other concerns they may have.
Watch the Ministry of Education’s moves as they are undertaking some research in June into forming one ePortfolio tool for NZ schools. The MOE have indicated a possible date for this launch in January 2010. Stay tuned!
Is there anyone else that uses Ultranet and would like to become a buddy class?
My thought is this, we all communicate things…some things on purpose…some things unconsciously. I believe it is often the unconscious things we do that our students pick up most. Our attitudes, thoughts and priorities are communicated through our behaviour and words.
So I have been asking myself lately, “As a Teacher what attitudes and behaviours am I encouraging and modelling? What am I communicating?”
At the conclusion of the last two terms I presented a survey to my students to complete. Using Survey Monkey I designed a survey that would:
Give me some detailed feedback on the term from the students’ perspective.
Allow my students to take greater ownership of the classroom and share with me ideas they think would help what we do.
Hopefully give me an insight into how I am teaching and communicating.
To have a look at this survey click on the picture of the clipboard. (I have left it open and made it possible for you to move through the pages without filling anything in.)
Many will think this is a bit crazy but with careful wording it has been most valuable to me. I will share a few points with you that have been beneficial to me and my teaching:
The students felt that I could be better at remembering things (This became my goal for the next term and I enlisted the support of a egg timer which now keeps us better on time.)
A number of students felt I was sometimes unfair. This was something that grabbed my attention as I worked hard on being consistent and fair. I took it back to the class and listened to their thoughts. They were open with me and shared some good points. However I must note that they are students and a number couldn’t see the ‘real picture’ from their own issues.
I was also encouraged in my teaching as they saw some of my strengths to be a good sense of humour and the ability to teach, communicate, stretch them and provide support. (Thanks E3 :+D)
Many felt that homework had become too boring and monotonous. They wanted to do some more projects. (This became another goal for me and so to spice things up I now pop a “Brainer” challenge in from time to time to replace part of the standard homework.)
I will leave you with a thought:
“The problem with communication … is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”George Bernard Shaw
