HAVE  YOU  SEEN  THE  LIGHT?  

MyPo r t fo l i o

There  is  no  ‘absolute’  definition,  but  ePortfolios:    

1. are  outcomes-­‐based  

2. support  an  online  working  environment    

3. are  a  repository  of  artefacts*  in  various  media#  formats  

* Artefacts – goals, process work, reflections, feedback and feed-forward, evidence of activities, assessments, achievements etc

# Media – any combination of: text, charts, graphic images, sound, video 4. are  an  approach  to  teaching  and  learning

Some  reminders  –  what  is  an  ePortfolio?

5. is  able  to  combine  artefacts  in  various  ways  to  produce  different  ‘views’  or  ‘pages’  for  specific  audiences  

6. allows  students  to  retain  the  artefacts  for  as  long  as  required,  continually  adding,  subtracting  and  remixing  for  the  appropriate  use  and  specific  audience  

7. strongly  encourages  reflection,  feedback  and  feed-­‐forward  

8. is  learner-­‐owned,  managed  and  controlled;  although  ownership  is  very  much  a  function  of  age

In  addition,  an  ePortfolio:

So to understand and appreciate ePortfolios it is essential to think of them as a verb (an approach, or method), as well as a noun (support structure and repository) to teaching and learning.

• More  than  1300  schools  

• More  than  90,000  accounts  –  about  ½  of  these  are  active  

• It  is  also  used  by  several  University  Teachers’  Colleges  

• Provisionally  registered  teachers  

• He  Kakano  

• Aspiring  principals  

• Language  Teachers’  Association  

• Teacher  appraisal  and  professional  development  

• NZQA  moderation  

• Youth  Guarantees

Users  include…

The  Ministry’s  involvement

In  2008,  the  Ministry  eLearning  unit  offered  schools  the  opportunity  to  use  MyPortfolio  free  of  charge  for  six  months.  

• At  the  end  of  that  time  they  sent  out  a  questionnaire  to  determine  schools’  views  of  the  service.  

• However  of  the  50  schools  that  supposedly  had  tried  MyPortfolio:  

• less  than  20  completed  the  questionnaire  

• only  one  response  gave  us  the  information  we  needed  

• the  school  it  came  from  had  no  students!  

• the  person  was  Mark  Osborne.  Mark  had  recognised  the  potential  of  MyPortfolio  and  his  description  and  vision  was  sufficient  for  the  SMS  team,  to  continue  trialling  MyPortfolio  

• I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  without  Mark’s  response,  it  is  very  doubtful  that  we  would  have  continued  our  interest  in  MyPortfolio.

The  Ministry’s  involvement

• In  2009  Dr  Sandy  Britain  and  Ian  Fox  reported  their  recommendations  on  the  New  Zealand  ePortfolio  environment  in  a  publication  called:  

• “ePortfolios  –  Celebrating  Learning”  

• In  2010  we  ran  an  open  tender  for  an  ePortfolio  and  then  funded  MyPortfolio  initially  for  3  years  and  now  until  the  end  of  2015  

• In  2010  and  2011  we  researched,  wrote  and  published:  

• “Digital  Portfolios  –  Guidelines  for  beginners”  

http://myportfolio.school.nz/artefact/file/download.php?file=2638076&view=24719      

• The  booklet  created  considerable  interest:  

• Helen  Barrett  asked  if  she  could  use  material  from  8  pages  in  her  own  upcoming  publication  

• it  has  been  translated  into  French  and  Spanish

The  Ministry’s  involvement

• the  Information  Technology  School  of  Communication,  at  Northwestern  University,  Illinois,  asked  when  the  next  edition  would  be  available  and  made  the  comment:  

“This  document  has  been  enormously  helpful  to  us  as  we  have  contemplated  the  role  digital  portfolios  might  play  in  our  local  school  districts”  

• The  Ministry  continues  to  work  closely  with  Kineo  and  Catalyst  to  shape  the  direction  of  MyPortfolio  to  ensure  the  growing  needs  of  New  Zealand  teachers  are  met  wherever  possible.  

• The  growth  of  MyPortfolio  has  been  rapid  and  we  have  learned  some  useful  lessons  about  how  best  to  implement  it

A taster session is a good way to get started

Taster  sessions  –  lessons

• To  promote  the  availability  and  awareness  of  MyPortfolio  the  ministry  offered  taster  sessions  

• Teachers  were  able  to  register  a  MyPortfolio  account  and  experience  first-­‐hand  how  it  could  be  used  for  teachers  and  students  

• We  had  great  people  including  Pascale  Hyboud-­‐Peron,  Heath  Sawyer,  Pete  Potter,  Kristina  Hoeppner,  Ronja  Skandera,  Mark  Osborne,  and  Carolyn  Stuart  to  either  lead  the  taster  sessions  or  contribute  their  expertise  

• Often  the  time  interval  between  a  taster  session  and  a  school  implementing  MyPortfolio  was  six  months  or  more,  so  the  retention  of  knowledge  was  minimal,  resulting  in  a  poor  implementation  

• We  then  realised  that  we  should  have  implemented  a  training  package  when  schools  started  to  use  MyPortfolio.  

Team work is essential

Implementation

• The  way  in  which  a  school  implements  MyPortfolio  is  critical  to  its  success.    It  is  very  similar  to  introducing    a  learning  management  system,  or  BYOD.  Several  points  worth  noting  include:  

• It  must  be  part  of  a  school  wide  strategy,  led  from  the  top,  to  embrace  digital  learning  

• Staff  should  be  competent  users  before  the  students  are  introduced  • It  is  a  wonderful  tool  for  staff  appraisal  and  professional  development  

• It  can  be  introduced  class  by  class  in  a  primary  school  but  this  is  not  ideal  in  a  secondary  school  

• It  is  better  to  start  by  at  least  year  level  • Teachers  need  time  and  PD  to  appreciate  the  ways  in  which  their  pedagogy  has  to  evolve  to  benefit  from  the  technology  

• Reflection  is  a  key  part  of  both  teachers  and  students  using  MyPortfolio  

The  future  –  the  competition

• The  Ministry  is  continuing  to  make  a  significant  investment  in  MyPortfolio  

• Learning  management  systems  that  include  an  ePortfolio  cannot  offer  the  functions,  transferability  and  longevity  of  in  MyPortfolio  

• We  don’t  know  the  number  of  schools  using  Google  apps  but  the  incentives  to  use  it  are  compelling  and  its  growth  is  exponential  

• Newer  LMS  such  as  Schoology  are  attracting  huge  interest  but  currently  don’t  offer  an  ePortfolio,  although  it  can  ‘talk’  to  most  other  systems

Images  courtesy  of  Ian  Munro,  licensed  under  Creative  Commons  –  By  attribution,  share  alike