Action 2 - Digital Portfolios
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Action 2: Investigate Digital Portfolios and Implement in middle years classes across cluster schools.
Step 1 – building the concepts:
The first step for the team was to attend a two day introduction to digital portfolios run by Maureen O’Rourke and Kay Fletcher at ACEP (Australian Centre for Effective Partnerships). This was a very successful two days which provided us with both an excellent theoretical and practical understanding behind our initiative.
The majority of cluster schools had already introduced paper portfolios into their assessment and reporting processes. This workshop gave us some new dimensions related to student reflection to consider, and with an emphasis on how digital reflections were a perfect way to supplement hard copy portfolios through capturing a whole range of new skills previously difficult to present.
These areas included:
- Creativity
- Thinking processes
- Enthusiasm
- Engagement and enjoyment
- Enjoyment
- Negotiation
- Peer group and teacher relationships
- Passion and Motivation
- Resilience
- Personality
- Questioning skills
- Techniques
A brainstorming of potential advantages of introducing digital portfolios included:
- A richer, more complete picture of the child
- The student is focusing on themselves as a learner
- The medium gives us the capacity to capture thinking and social processes
- Can provide evidence of learning and change over time
- Multiliteracies – e.g. Provides a focus on the students personality
- Enables parents to have a more comprehensive view of their child through student discussions on learning
- Enables teachers to focus on the process of student learning
- Is more engaging for students
I was around this time that the new Victorian Essential Learnings (VELS) was published, and with the interdisciplinary skills related to interpersonal development such as building social relationships and working in teams, and personal learning being introduced as domains in their own right.
These were the areas the team began work on as a logical focus for their work.
Step 2 – Beginning the trial and building the learning:
During 2005 each school started to develop a digital portfolio framework with a sample of students at the year 5 /6 level. How this was done varied between schools but within the context of the cluster plan. Key features of these investigations included:
- The use of themes such as “Me as a team player”, “Me as a learner”, and “Me as a friend”.
- An introduction encompassing a get to know me section – this usually took the form of a “celebrating me” page, where the students present themselves within the context of What they have achieved to date (past), What they are currently doing (present), and what they hope to achieve (Future)
- The development of a common interface /framewok for the digital portfolio used across a number of schools. Most schools used PowerPoint as the program best used, but
A number of issues arose as teachers as teachers developed the portfolios with their classes. These included:
There was a need to address issues of ICT knowledge and capacity –both teachers and students. Provided a great opportunity for peer coaching and classroom management needed to change –was consistent and supportive of the interdisciplinary skills being reported on.
Support from ICT co-ordinators was seen to be crucial to the process. Whilst schools had a range of resources with different configurations, eg a range from schools with full time ICT teachers and computer laboratories for 30 children, to schools with four computers in their classrooms, there was always a need for added support. In all instances the technical capacities of schools was behind the thrust of the classroom initiatives.
Technical issues in relation to server capacity was a major problem. Storage of these reflections from over a hundred students in each school became a real issue, so investment in additional server capacity was crucial to all schools.
The purchase of appropriate cameras was also problematic due to download issues.
Building the Capacity:
All action team schools implemented digital portfolios across all middle years classrooms during 2006. Many of the issues previously mentioned were magnified as these portfolios were implemented across the board and team meetings were largely devoted to solving these problems.
Teams members were now involved with informing all staff across their schools of their work – some schools had already made a decision to go school wide, and the experiences of their I&E group were in the main guiding these schools.
The development of the Physical Education team who used digital p[portfolios to present a lot of their assessment work, and especially in relation to the “Fundamental Motor skills, added a whole new concept to the portfolios. The portfolios have proved to be an ideal coaching, self assessment and reporting tool in this specialist area.
The team continued to seek additional PD and was involved in an interesting trip to Rangeview PS. This led to one cluster school trying to use digital portfolio for more general work, and possibly even as a replacement for the hard copy portfolio. This meant a great deal of duplication of work and led to a belief that best way forward was to consider the digital reflections as being the digital component of the students portfolio. In this way the belief is that the benefits of both can be maximised.
Use of advanced techniques such as “claymation” were added to portfolio presentations.
What have we achieved?
Evaluation of the portfolios has indicated that students enjoy the development of their portfolio enormously
Parents enjoy selling child in a different context – provides greater understanding of educative process.
Step 3 Going further:
There will be an ongoing need to supporting schools to further expand the concept across all relevant year levels, and especially other specialists at the primary level.
Better use of the reflections within the reporting process – the introduction of the three way conversations / partnership meetings. This is covered under the next action area 3.
Teacher professional Leave In support of the PALT actions:
During 2007 the cluster had three middle years teachers involved in this project through “Teacher Professional Leave”. Funds were available for continuing work on developing the digital portfolios, for developing student filmmaking and for enhancing classroom use of a greater variety of technology. All three teachers were based at the same school and have been working on developing a common unit of work linking their three action areas.