Create your own Professional Electronic Portfolio
using Common Desktop Software Tools

(two day hands-on workshop)

Abstract: Learn strategies to store and organize your own standards-based professional electronic portfolio, which can be a powerful tool to guide your ongoing professional development. Bring your own electronic "artifacts" to convert into PDF or WWW format, as well as the outcomes, goals, or standards you want these documents to demonstrate.

* This workshop is also appropriate for teachers to develop an electronic portfolio that demonstrates teaching standards and NETS-T and for school administrators to develop an electronic portfolio to demonstrate ISLLC and NETS-A.

Workshop Description: As we move to more standards-based teacher performance assessment, we need new tools to record and organize evidence of successful teaching, for both practicing professionals and student teachers. This workshop will introduce a strategy for using a variety of cross-platform common desktop software tools to store and organize Electronic Professional Portfolios. Participants should bring a floppy diskette with files that they want to convert, as well as the evaluation criteria/standards/rubrics they want to demonstrate with their portfolios. The results of the two-day-long activity can be saved on a floppy diskette (without video) or a high density floppy, such as a Zip disk or CD-R disc. A follow-up graduate online class would be available to continue class discussions and develop an implementation plan for adapting this process for students.

Workshop Goals

Prerequisite participant skills/knowledge required: Intermediate computer skills - this is NOT a workshop for beginners.

Prior to the Workshop: Participants should review the preparation video or website and bring the following to class:

  1. a set of goals or standards to be used to organize portfolio reflections and artifacts
  2. a collection of artifacts: electronic files or images to be scanned that are representative of typical and best work -
  3. a digital story (in QuickTime format) created in a prior workshop

Decisions to be made before the workshop:

  1. Preferred digital publishing environment
  2. Preferred Authoring/Hyperlinking Tools (besides Microsoft Office) - Participants need to be familiar with the program - we will only use the software to create the hyperlinked/reflective portfolio Choices:
  3. Publishing format (dependent on item #1 above)

After the Workshop

Finalize portfolios and publish on WWW or CD-R or DVD-R and share URL with other participants or upload to common server. Do not link from publicly-accessible Internet web site without permission of portfolio developer.

Workshop Outline

Day 1
Morning

"Why?"

Participants will:

  • Become aware of the various strategies for authoring electronic portfolios
  • Become aware of the electronic portfolio development process (video available)

Go through the Stages of Electronic Portfolio Development

Stage 1: Design their own personal electronic teaching portfolio (planning doc)

  • Decide on portfolio goals (based on learner outcomes based on standards)
  • Describe the audience for the portfolio
  • Decide on contents of portfolio
  • Decide which software tools are most appropriate

Afternoon

"How?"

"What?"

Stage 2: Create the Working Portfolio, using one of a variety of applications

  • Gather multimedia materials which represent learner's achievement
  • Convert to PDF
  • Discuss adding Audio and Video artifacts to the portfolio (covered in a prior workshop)
  • Create an outline or storyboard with PowerPoint, Word, or Inspiration
  • Create a portfolio matrix (artifacts to standards) with Excel spreadsheet

Stage 3: Begin recording self-reflection on work and achievement of goals

  • Discussion on reflection - review websites on Reflection
  • Create basic content of reflective portfolio using Microsoft Word

Overnight:

Work on electronic portfolios, converting artifacts, editing PDF files & video clips. Optional: Create a short digital video clip to introduce your portfolio, or record an audio file, or include Digital Story from prior workshop.

Day 2
Morning

"So What?"

Stage 3(cont.): Record self-reflection on work and achievement of goals. Discuss using other authoring tools: [Here is where we need to decide on a recommended tool for preparing the presentation portfolio]

  • Database (i.e., AppleWorks or FileMaker Pro)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (no Keynote until it does hyperlinking)
  • HyperStudio or MediaBlender (only for elementary student portfolios)
  • Inspiration or Kidspiration
  • EZedia
  • NoteTaker
  • iPhoto
  • other?

All of these activities are based on my Tutorial for creating an Electronic Portfolio (http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/howto/index.html)

Stage 4: Convert all reflection documents to HTML or Portable Document Format from a variety of applications (i.e., word processing, database, slide show).

[The choice of publishing format depends on availability of software. Use Netscape Composer (free), or download Dreamweaver 30-day demo from Macromedia or install Adobe Acrobat.]

  • Organize with hypertext links between standards/rubrics/goals, student work samples, rubrics, and assessment
  • In Acrobat, create Bookmarks and Thumbnails
  • Insert video clips or record audio to accompany still images.

Afternoon

"Now What?"

Tips and tricks with Adobe Acrobat editing or HTML editing

Stage 5: Present portfolio draft to participant audience and publish portfolios

  • Discuss publishing options, including CD-R, DVD, video and WWW server
  • Demo CD recording or iDVD and have participants burn a first draft prior to or during the final discussion, or upload files to web server, if available.

Discuss portfolio evaluation rubrics

Discuss applicability of process to K-12 education (at different age levels)
Discuss support needed for this process with teachers and administrators.
Discuss planning for implementation with teachers and students

(Those taking the follow-up graduate class will continue these discussions online and develop an implementation plan for developing electronic portfolios with their students.)

Summarize the process and Workshop Evaluation.