Electronic Portfolios in the K-12 Classroom

I found an article at http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech111.shtml that discusses Electronic Portfolios in the K-12 Classroom. When searching for this article I was looking for ways to showcase students work using technology. This article goes in depth to present the uses of electronic portfolios and how they can benefit students of all ages. Not only will the site give you ideas, it also will guide you towards building them.

The whole idea of a portfolio is to collect pieces of your best work to show how you have grown, the effort you have exemplified, and all your achievements over a period of time. A portfolio is made to be a resemblance of you and your hard work. This is not the only purpose of a portfolio though; there are three common names of portfolios: working, display, or an assessment. Each of these names serves as a different purpose as to which material it will contain. Each portfolio has a process in which it will be developed. There are five common steps to take including selection, collection, reflection, direction and connection. If these five steps are showcased in your portfolio it will most likely be a success. What I thought was the best part of this whole article was the idea of making a digital portfolio. The benefits of it being a digital portfolio is its ability to be interactive, create hyperlinks, and it can be easily transported or duplicated. Another nice feature of making digital portfolios is it can be developed for any age group. It might take time to teach them how to use the technology but besides time, the rest is all done by the students. They are able to add in what they feel is important to them, such as unique skills, their knowledge, and be able to explain their reasons why they feel that way.

This is the 21st century and students are becoming more and more familiar with the use of computers. They have the ability to use a computer and develop their own unique digital portfolio. This is exciting for students and they take pride in making it their own. Last year, I had my student make a digital portfolio and I thought it was one of the most useful and productive activities we did all year. I burned it onto a disk for them to keep as a memory keepsake when they graduated from fifth grade.