Image designed by rawpixel.com on www.freepik.com
Who owns the ePortfolio?
Well, this seems like it would be easy to answer right? The ePortfolio I am making, or my students are making would mean it is mine or theirs, they own it right? How about we step back for a second and really think about what ownership actually means.
Let’s look at the students ePortfolio first. For us to say a student truly owns their ePortfolio they have to have the opportunity to have complete agency over every aspect of it. This includes what they want to include, what colors, theme, layout, every single part of it is their choice. With that being said can we honestly say that these students have complete ownership of their ePortfolio? I would absolutely not. We have several filters and site blockers built in within our districts to protect our students and prevent them from going to sites that we consider inappropriate. This tells us they don't have agency over the content and their education. In order for us to give them complete agency and ownership of their ePortfolio we have to step back and give them the space and time to create something truly unique to themselves. I know that within my classroom due to the restraints of my district this is a lot harder than I would like to admit. We have everything scheduled out until the end of school. Exactly what we have to teach and what the students must learn and be assessed on at what time. In my opinion this leaves me with no time to truly back away and let my students take control of their own learning. In my opinion we have to make time to properly inform and prepare our students to be responsible when it comes to technology and the digital world. It is all around them and we have to embrace it responsibly. If we guide them in the right direction, I feel they will not only foster the students' voice, but it will build an authentic learning environment and where they can embrace their own ownership.
Now let’s look at my ePortfolio that I started in this program. I have never had choice, ownership, voice, or an authentic learning environment before this program. This was extremely hard for me to embrace, and I still seem to struggle some with it if we are being completely honest. To have lack of direction and step by step instructions with everything that is expected being laid out in front of me with deadlines through me for a big loop! I understand why this is the way the program is set up because we are learning to embrace COVA and the growth mindset so that we can in turn help introduce and foster the same thing within our students. The best way for us to do that is to embrace it ourselves. So, I have embraced that I own my ePortfolio. I am getting to choose the platform, layout and colors. I am able to self-reflect on how much I have truly grown from 8 weeks ago. The thing is I am still having a problem saying that I have complete control and autonomy over my ePortfolio. The reason I say this is because we are being told to do certain assignments and place them on the ePortfolio. That we have to include certain pages and have so many blog posts. I understand that this is a graduate program and that there are expectations and assignments that must be done. I agree with the validity of the assignments to help us make change within our districts. I like that I am being able to come up with an innovation plan and hopefully have the opportunity to pilot the program. It’s just saying that I have COVA and complete agency that I don’t really agree with. Maybe as I continue to move further into the program, I will be able to look back on this post and self-reflect and see it in a different light from a different perspective. After all that is a great benefit to having an ePortfolio. If you have a different view, please feel free to comment. I would love to hear your perspective, especially if it differs from mine.
Add comment
Comments