I have been following a New Zealand teacher's blog, Education Investigation on eportfolio's as he researches a solution for his school. As I am determined to start my teaching career using eportfolios, I have been paying close attention to his findings.
In this article he introduced me to Nick Rate’s research report “Eportfolios and Assessment For Learning.” It is a must read, if only for the perspectives on formative assessment and reflection,
ePortfolios and Assessment for Learning
but I was was interested to see that when it came to eportfolios Wordpress MU (allows management of multiple blogs and more) over a came out on top. At this point I was a bit suprised, I thought WordPress was just a blog site! This got me to thinking that I had never tried any other blogger than Blogger.com, it was time to branch out. So this is my first blog written on WordPress (and copied to Blogger, until I figure out the move), I haven't viewed any tutorials yet but feel in control so far.
So far I admit I like it. The home page shows your blog plus links to various pages you create. It can serve as a private, school managed blog host and eportfolio tool. It has so many features I never knew I was missing, even the insert link offers a variety of new options for me as a blogger, including opening it in the same or new window, impressive (also, word count, trackbacks... wow wow wow).
I feel this has the best features for both eportfolio and blogging I have seen so far, it seem to have an easy to use interface for users and managing large numbers of bloggers.
Have you ever used WordPress in a school environment? What do you use for portfolios?
Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words: this is good luck. - Buddha
Hi, Shaun,
ReplyDeleteI, too read Nick Rate's paper, but with mixed feelings. His paper is well written and I have no desire to offend him.
However, I do feel that he makes too heavy a reliance on a previous generation's thinking. As you question, 'WordPress for Class?' I feel that you are right to question this. Far too often HE, or what could be called 'the top 10% of society' suggest solutions, particularly in relation to e-Portfolios, that exclude younger learners, the less able, the elderly or the vast majority of us who have no desire to spend time reinventing the wheel. So, what of the other 90% of society?
Nick Rate's notes on formative assessment are very shallow and don't begin to cover the topic well enough. Similarly, his identification of the 'Minuses' (p35) can all be addressed through my system.
Perhaps the weakest point of Nick's research, and your comment concerning the product coming out on top, is his reliance on 'generic' tools and Open Source applications. There are plenty of applications available, some with long track-records of of good practice.
As an experienced teacher and having held several senior leadership roles, my primary concern is that the product should be both immediately appropriate to the needs of the whole cohort, and secondly that there should be no overheads in terms of staff support. Unfortunately such a system needs to be hosted externally to any individual institution and therefore might cost a very small amount - but much less than employing technician support.
For more on my thinking please see:
P: http://www.raytolley1.xfolioworld.com
B: http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/
W: http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/eFolio-01.htm
Best Wishes,
Ray T
Thank you for your comments Ray, it's great when we can challenge each others thinking. Your thoughts on eportfolios are an excellent guide in my own understanding. Thank you.
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