Digital Portfolios
Getting Started with Digital Portfolios
Have you planned out all your Points of Progress for the year?
Are you wondering about digital portfolios? What are they? How do they work? How are they shared? What do you need to do? What can YOUR STUDENTS do themselves?
Do you want to close the loop of digital portfolios and communicating student learning?
Digital portfolios can allow families to see what learning looks like in your classroom in many different ways. They can open the door to your classroom and extend your students' learning with continued conversations and connections.
Siobhan Lane, Brad Epp (SD73 MyEdBC Resource Teachers) and Elizabeth deVries (SD73 Technology Coordinator) are here to help.
Below, you will see five modules that include reflection prompts, how-to videos and suggestions to try with your students. Feel free to refer to those that will support you in your classroom experiences and return to them as you need.
At the end of these modules you will be ready to begin building digital portfolios with your students. These portolios can stand alone or exist within MyEdBC for students to access later in their education, parents to enjoy, and future teachers to access.
Digital Portfolios Module 1: Know Before You Go
Goal: Build a picture of where digital portfolios might be useful in your classroom.
Reflection Prompts (from the video):
What are the moments in a week in your classroom that you would like to capture as snapshots of learning?
Which do you think are the most powerful snapshots of learning? Why do these ones stand out?
For whom is the learning being documented?
Who will be doing the documentation?
Why are you documenting the learning?
How will entries of documentation of learning be made?
What are the strategies for curating student work?
What devices do we have access to for our classes?
This video (10:57) will walk you through the reflection process and share some suggestions for consideration in working with digital portfolios.
Digital Portfolios Module 2: Classroom Routines and Structures
Goal: Make a plan for how to implement digital portfolios.
Students produce many different products in their time in the classroom. Often, these things are sent home. Sometimes teachers attach marks, notes, feedback and curricular objectives to that work. Teachers make observations of student behaviours, interactions, and more, and have conversations with students on a regular basis. How can these different kinds of evidence be shared with parents?
Before beginning the process of digital portfolios, it is valuable to consider what kinds of evidence of learning we have?
This image (click to open in a larger version) highlights the different kinds of evidence of learning we might have, and moves through to how could be collected and shared.
Let's consider the kinds of evidence of learning, first, and think about structures in our classrooms.
Students can be prompted to build a collection of their work. This collection might exist in a physical paper folder or the collection might be held digitally.
Examples: The grade two class has a coil-bound scrap book where they glue their most proud examples of work. The grade six class has a paper folder where they keep the rough drafts of their writing along with the rubric they reference. The grade nine art students take a new photo every day they continue to work on their collaborative painting.
The collection might be the portfolio itself. It might be sent home as evidence of work and learning to inspire conversation and to celebrate growth.
Examples: The grade two class brings home their scrapbook every reporting period to have their parents sign it. The grade six class brings home their rough drafts along with their final written compositions with their mark for parents to see. The grade nine art students share their photos in Fresh Grade.
Also, students might go through their collection regularly; once a month or once a term, in order to select the specific parts of their collection to enter into their digital portfolios.
Students might use a specific focus to consider their work to be included in their portfolio.
Examples: Work I am proud of, Evidence of Core Competencies, Great feedback, Final drafts, etc...
At regular intervals of time, students might be guided through reflection, either individually, with a peer, or with a small group supported by their teacher, where they would select the pieces that they would like to add to their portfolio.
Examples: Once a month, the reading group might record their reading on their chromebooks so that they can add it to a Google Drive Folder. Once a month, the teacher might host a week of stations where small groups meet once in that week with the teacher to look at their collection of work and pick out two or three pieces that really gave them a challenge to overcome, and take a photo of the piece with a reflection about their strategies used. When students have completed the final draft of their composition, they might sit down with a partner and capture a photo of their composition and put it into a Google Slide Presentation.
Students might be given a specific work sample and one or two sentence starters to use when looking at that work sample.
Example: Looking at a written journal entry, students might give themselves two stars and a wish based on their writing criteria or they might complete the sentences "I notice that I... Next time I will try..."
Students might have regular moments when they would take a photo of a rough draft of their work and make some notes on their feedback using a rubric in order to notice some key points at the rough draft moment.
Example: Students might go through the process of a peer review of their writing with their writing rubric and they would take a photo of their work and the rubric after each session to put it into their Google Drive Folder.
Students might have regular moments when they would take a photo of a piece of work and make some notes on the Core Competency featured in their work.
Example: Every Friday afternoon the class might look back at the week and think about where the Core Competencies were evident in their work and then they would write a reflection on that experience in a Google Slide Presentation.
Some suggestions of reflective processes are listed above but this can be anything that you might choose that fits your classroom culture and routines.
What routines do you have in your classroom right now that could fit in a moment to collect evidence? To add in a reflection?
Digital Portfolio Module 3: Digital Considerations - Strategies and Supports for Digital Portfolios
Goal: Learn how to use the technology to create digital portfolios.
Before beginning the process of sharing a digial portfolio, it is valuable to look at the kinds evidence of learning that we have and how can we collect it digitally to share it? Then, how might that evidence be shared?
This image (click to open in a larger version) highlights the different kinds of evidence we might have, and demonstrates a flow of how that evidence might be collected, curated and shared as a collection or portfolio.
In order to make the process of collecting work for a digital portfolio more streamlined, there are some habits and intentions to develop along with your digital considerations.
Google Drive might serve as a digital holding place for work to be collected for later reflection or sharing. You might also have that Google Drive Folder serve as the portfolio itself.
How to load images or other files into your Google Drive https://youtu.be/moDWgVBqdAg
How to curate your digital evidence of learning using Google Drive https://youtu.be/w_i2tZsZoLc
How to create a Google Drive Folder. https://youtu.be/ANuWkSpYn4w
How to share a Google Drive Folder as a Portfolio. https://youtu.be/1lJgBGojYrI
Google Slides is a great holding place because you can insert videos, images and add text to creat a single multi-media document.
Considerations around using Google Slides as a Digital Portfolio, Closing the Loop with Parent Input https://youtu.be/vdkrlBDfq98
How to force a copy of a Google Slides template through the url or through Google Classroom https://youtu.be/BCeI0L1cMdc
Google Slides examples:
By opening these templates you will be making a copy that exists in your own Google Drive. Feel free to modify these templates and change them to suit your classroom community and language. For supports in how to complete this digital work, or how to use Google Slides in other ways, explore the other videos in this collection.
Core Competency Self-Assessment Portfolio with 4 Aboriginal Animals TEMPLATE
Core Competency Self-Assessment Portfolio with 4 Aboriginal Animals and Goal-Setting Focus TEMPLATE
Core Competency Self-Assessment Portfolio with Suggested Reflection Prompts TEMPLATE
Core Competency Self-Assessment Portfolio TEMPLATE
Mes compétences essentielles auto-évaluation portfolio avec les quatre animaux TEMPLATE
Digital Portfolio of Progress TEMPLATE
Digital Portfolio with Proficiency Scale TEMPLATE
Digital Portfolio of Reading TEMPLATE
Google Sites might be your holding place it connects seamlessly to work held in your Google Drive.
How to start creating a Google Site as a portfolio - https://youtu.be/qCj82TC0ST0
How to finish a Google Site as a portfolio - https://youtu.be/hulTmbkvriE
MyEdBC might be the tool that you use as a final avenue for sharing with your audience.
From any device (handheld or otherwise)
How to curate your digital evidence of learning using Google Drive https://youtu.be/w_i2tZsZoLc
How to load images or other files into your Google Drive https://youtu.be/moDWgVBqdAg
From a computer lab, or chromebook
How to use the chromebook and chromebook camera to capture evidence of learning https://youtu.be/PBI8lYkyIiU
How to insert images into Google Slides https://youtu.be/xKtShSkWzMg *chromebooks have cameras to capture images*
How to insert video into Google Slides https://youtu.be/i79HtSw-120 *chromebooks have cameras and microphones*
How to insert audio into Google Slides https://youtu.be/mJDnbMcOAKk *chromebooks have microphones*
Digital Portfolio Module 4: Sharing your Portfolio with your Audience
Goal: Know how to complete the final steps of sharing digital portfolios to parents and guardians.
Supports for MyEdBC
Looking at a Portfolio Example Within MyEdBC. https://youtu.be/C7zHcej3p2o
Supporting students logging in and getting into MyEd. https://youtu.be/pcpaqcEhxGg
Supporting parents logging in and troubleshooting. https://youtu.be/tppFBmeRBBw
Parents - more detail and how to access the student portfolio. https://youtu.be/c3j7byekGVw
Look at Teachers > Portfolios for pdf documents to walk you through the portfolio steps
More to come!
For further support in this work, contact bepp@sd73.bc.ca and slane@sd73.bc.ca
Google Slides Portfolio Stand-alone
How to insert the correct link (or a bit.ly thereof) from a Google Slides Presentation into your student’s report card https://youtu.be/kuyXhkhmV94
Considerations around using Google Slides as a Digital Portfolio, Closing the Loop with Parent Input https://youtu.be/vdkrlBDfq98
For further support in this work, contact edevries@sd73.bc.ca
Supports for Google Drive Folder Portfolio
How to share a Google Drive Folder as a Portfolio. https://youtu.be/1lJgBGojYrI
For further support in this work, contact edevries@sd73.bc.ca
Supports for Google Sites Portfolio
How to start creating a Google Site as a portfolio - https://youtu.be/qCj82TC0ST0
How to finish a Google Site as a portfolio - https://youtu.be/hulTmbkvriE
For further support in this work, contact edevries@sd73.bc.ca
Digital Portfolio Module 5: Closing the Loop as a Digital Point of Progress
Goal: Make sure that the digital portfolio counts as a point of progress.
Reference: Communicating Student Learning
Specifically FOIPOP & Ongoing Communications of Student Learning
and Points of Progress - Guidelines
Criteria considering above references:
1. Includes authentic evidence of learning
2. Explicitly references the learning standards
3. Includes descriptive feedback
4. Includes student voice
Teachers are asked to communicate the above elements in their moments of Communicating Student Learning and then ensure that their parents have viewed the communication. Don't forget to keep track of your communication so that you have a reference of the hard work you and your students have engaged in, and a chance to collect ideas and your own reflections for future work.
If you are sharing a digital portfolio as a point of progress at anytime you might request that parents comment on the work, either digitally or by hand, you might ask parents to email you when they have viewed the point of progress, you might ask that parents complete a feedback document for their child in order to ensure that they have seen the communication.
Examples: Parent Comments on Google Slides as a Digital Portfolio, Closing the Loop https://youtu.be/vdkrlBDfq98
What successes have you had with points of progress in your classroom? What other ideas have you seen or heard? What do you think might be a simple step for you to add to your rouines to support you in Communicating Student Learning for your next point of progress?
For younger students that are able to create work online and are looking to curate reflections using Book Creator. Book Creator works through an app in the Apple store or through an online account at bookcreator.com.
See the page below for resources with Book Creator
