ePortfolios Eposide 2

My first instinct in trying out ePortfolios with my students is to use Google Docs.  I am familiar with it, it is easy to use, it is free, and accessible from any computer/device with internet access. The major issue I need to overcome if I decide to use Google Docs is creating student accounts.  I have to adhere to county guidelins related to having students sign up for online accounts, and want to be sure of student safety.  Google Aducation Apps seems to be the best way to deal with that issue, but again, I must get approval form administration and our tech departments.  So . . . I sent an email making the request . . . I feel a bit as if I threw a message in a bottle out into the Atlantic . . . we'll see what resonse I get.

In the meantime, I am exploring other options for using ePortfolios with my students.  I realize I could just do digital portfolios using PowerPoint or Word, but I really want the collaborative ability that a web portfolio makes possible, and the acessibility as well.

As I have been browsing, I came across a web 2.0 tool which I had not encountered before: LiveBinders (http://livebinders.com/ ).  This looks very interesting and quite useful for me.  It is essentially a webspace to organize and save files, webpages, videos, etc.  The neat factor is that you organize your digital stuff into virtual binders with tabs much like the huge paper binders most teachers have lining their bookshelves.  This may or may not turn out to be the best tool for eportfolioing with students, but I have to say that the thought of having all of my binders of teacher resources and so on available wherever I am online, instead of lugging those heavy dusty binders around is VERY appealing!

Based on my first impression, LiveBinders would be a good place for students to store and organize their stuff, although may not allow the collaboration I was hoping for.  Additionally, signing up requires an email, and requires users to be at least 13.  I found an interesting work around for this by using my gmail address plus the students name to sign up. Ex- myemail+studentname@gmail.com    

I'm going to play with LiveBinder a bit more to see if it might work for me.  Maybe I will create a binder of resources useful for ePortfolios?

ePortfolios Episode 1

I am beginning this journey with a vague vision of what using ePortfolios in my classroom might look like, and with great anticipation of how this might promote spectacular learning growth with my students.  I know a little about ePortfolios, and a bit more about using portfolios in general.  I have lots of bits and pieces of ideas bouncing in my mind about tools I might could use. . . but essentially I am staring into an unknown land ready to explore.  I have LOTS of questions . . .

What software tools would be the easiest to use AND most effective?
What hardware will need to be available?
How often should students work on portfolios?
What formats might portfolio entries take?
Will the permissions regulated by my county allow the freedom needed to make this work?
Could I possibly integrate the use of student cell phones and/or other mobile devices?
Where in the world should I start?
Will my daughter be willing to be my guinea pig to help me learn about ePortfolioing?

Yikes!  I have to stop with all the questions. More and more keep tumbling out of my mind, and I'm getting a little nervous about it all.  Time to head to my favorite search engine and see what I can find . . .  

Summer Tech Adventure

With school out for the summer, I am enjoying some much needed time to relax and enjoy my own children.  This also allows me some time to reflect on the past school year, and think about improvements for the upcoming year. Two topics I am currently interested in exploring are using ePortfolios to enhance student learning, and using technology to differentiate instruction.

So I am getting ready to embark on an adventure to learn as much as I can about these subjects and come up with a blue print for how I can incorporate them into my classroom in the upcoming year.  I honestly have no planned route for how I will get there, and I am excited to see what I will discover along the way.  I plan to blog my journey so that my experiences might assist other explorers. 

Wish me luck!

Great Phone App For Teachers

I've got to share about this awesome phone app that I recently found. It is an Android app called document scanner. It allows you to use you phone's camera to scan a document, edit it for clarity, and make it into a PDF file. Even better than that, you can then upload the file directly to your Google Docs, Dropbox, ever note or export to your SD card.

Why am I so excited about it? If I want to scan a document to project onto my interactive whiteboard at school, I have to take the document down to the library, hope no one is on the computer with the scanner attached, log in, start up the scanner, scan and save, then go back to my classroom to project the document. Way too much trouble! With this app,I can scan, edit, and send to my Google Docs and have it up on my screen in about 5 minutes! Excellent timesaver, and great for those last minute changes to lesson plans!

E Learning for Middle Grades Students

Having just completed my masters degree in a totally online distance education program has inspired me to think about how I could adapt and use e learning in my 6th grade classroom to push students to reach higher levels of learning.  I began by checking out a variety of online learning management systems including Moodle, Udemy, and RCampus.  Each of these are great, free tools to host online courses.  Since I am working with sixth graders and facilitating an online course for the first time, I decided to try tools I am familiar with to start in the hopes of keeping it simple for myself and the students.

I ended up basically creating my own course management tool by using several other web 2.0 tools.  The basic course is hosted on a Google Site.  I used the site to post announcements and directions for students.  As they complete each of the 5 lesson parts, there are links to the learning materials they need.  I added to this, a discussion board where students are assigned to post comments on questions related to lesson topics.  The discussion board is actually a blog on Blogger.  I used ClassMarker to create an online graded quiz for each lesson. Finally I am trying out using Engrade to report scores to students.

The biggest dilemma in this adventure for me is making the online lessons easy to access and navigate through for students.  I really would love to spend some more time with the course management programs to make things a bit more fluid and easily accessible for students and myself.  So far things seem to be going well with how I have things set up.

You can check out my online learning site at: https://sites.google.com/site/rockstarsonline/
Once my students have finished the project, I will post my reflections and tips I learn through the process.