Denton presentation implementing electronic portfolios through social media

Implementing Electronic

Portfolios through Social

Media Platforms

By David W. Denton

Seattle Pacific University

Abstract

Over the last two decades, students and teachers, across educational levels and

disciplines, have been subject to a variety of school reform efforts. Nevertheless, some

instructional practices, such as portfolio assessment, persist and grow in popularity even

in the midst of changing educational reform goals and shifting priorities. Teacher education

programs have used paper-based portfolios for more than three decades. Recently,

institutions have migrated to electronic portfolios since these provide several advantages.

Early models of these systems required special technical skills, hardware, or fee-based

contracts with service providers. The newest iteration of portfolio platforms are based on

social media applications, which are easy to use, free, and more sustainable. However,

the accelerated adoption of social media applications as repositories for student portfolio

content has produced several gaps in the literature. Two of these include steps for

implementing electronic portfolios in social media platforms and instructional methods for

soliciting quality entries from students through questions and prompts. Basic instructions

for implementing social media portfolios and for promoting quality entries are discussed.

Education Reform

K-20

Accountability

Transparency

Reduced costs

Oversight Federal

Regional

State

Assessments

Published standards

Sanctions for failure

Teacher Education

Professional knowledge and skills

Battery of assessments, TPA

Compete for RTTT $(many are called, few are chosen)

Addition-subtraction of

standards & assessments = ↑

complexity

Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment involves the collection and presentation

of different types of student work samples, gathered over

time, to show depth and breadth of learning. Work samples are

collected systematically to validate accomplishments relative to

specific instructional objectives. Portfolios contain written

entries, often accompanying work samples, which are

characterized by self-assessment through reflection.

(Shermis & DiVesta, 2011)

NCLB – Forget About It

Higher

Education

Additional Assessments

Certainly electronic

Perhaps portfolio

Example

Paper Server Social Media

→ →

Electronic portfolio

A digital container capable of storing visual and auditory content

including text, images, video and sound

(Abrami & Barrett, 2005)

AdvantagesSearch

Retrieve

Change

Link

Organize

Show

Types

Add-on

ePortfolio + Blackboard

Independent

Live Text

Social media

WordPress

Easy

Dashboards are getting easier to use

Cost

No Cost

$10 to $30 per user per year

$0, but sometimes ads or restrictions

Specific Support – General Support

Surplus Shortage

Literature on Social Media Platforms

Efficacy of portfolios for learning

Quality of portfolio entries

Implementation

Promoting quality entries

Link to K-12 student

learning

Implementation: Defining Scope

and Purpose

Class – program

When and how to add content

Implementation: Selecting a

Platform

Implementation: Create a Model

Implementation: Instructing on

Appropriate Use

International Society for Technology in Education

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Additional suggestions

Eliminate personal information

Conceal institutions and individuals

Avoid content that is overly critical, biased, or error prone

Promoting Quality Entries

Questions and prompts

Summaries

Pre- and postassessment

Item analysis

Case study analysis

Self-evaluation with artifacts

Course Assignment

Webpage authoring

and presentation

Paper Publishing

Google Drive Coauthoring

Paper Publishing

Primary Lines of Inquiry

Link to K-12 Student Learning