Creating a Culture of Action and Reflection with Digital Portfolios

The best digital portfolios are an integral part of the learning process. They capture the waves of action and reflection that characterize the learning process. On this digital canvas, the results and the processes of learning are intertwined through ongoing reflection. Classes that are developing a portfolio culture have groups of students who are explorers, celebrate the milestones they reach, and understand the discoveries that surround their learning.

Exercises in Reflection: Oh Mirror, Mirror on the Wall ...

Stop and think! How many times have you said that to yourself or someone else who was busy "doing?" Infusing reflection into learning opportunities accelerates learning and makes is more likely to be transferred to new situations in the future. When curiosity is behind learning, a different mental rhythm seems to develop. Here's a set of reflective exercises born out of curiosity that can enhance knowledge-building in a community.

Digital Portfolios: A Dozen Lessons in a Dozen Years

Digital portfolios have more than come into their own in the last twelve years, but not without technology, culture and assessment challenges. In this article, David Niguidula, Gail Rind and I look back on the lessons learned. See the webcast of the talk at NECC 2005 at Dozen Lessons.

Self-Regulation: The Key to Engagement

Do you wish students would take more responsibility for their learning? That they would be more engaged in learning in and out of class? How do you make your expectations clear and inviting, have students care about the criteria for high quality work, want feedback from you and other students, and evaluate their work accurately? How do you use simple (rubrics, discussion protocols) and sophisticated tools (multimedia, portfolios) to develop students' self-regulation and increase their achievement in ways they can see and be proud of? Self-regulation is all the choices a student makes in relationship to a learning situation.

Personalizing Assessment with Digital Portfolios

The term “data collection” seems to turn off many good classroom teachers: The term suggests that all of the information about a student, a class, or a school can be reduced to a few key statistics. The process of collecting data doesn't seem to fit with the flow of teaching and learning. Of course, it doesn't have to be that way. Through our work with districts across the U.S., we have found that it is possible to personalize data.

Student Literacy Portfolios

A five year grant from USDE Technology Innovation Grant supported the development of a technology rich program to increase student achievement, particularly in literacy. Multimedia student portfolios showcase student progress over time and provide evaluation data. Click here to read more about the process of developing digital literacy portfolios with students.