Lesson 3:

Creating ePortfolio as
a Technology Tool
Lesson Outcomes:

1.Explored the use of a platform such as a

google site

2.Consider an ePortfolio to document

learning.
Portfolios are one good means of keeping things in
order. In a semester work, a learning portfolio is a
collection of student work that exhibits students' effort,
progress, achievements and competencies gained during
the course.
Portfolio may come into
many forms. It can look
like:
Scrapbooks
or
Albums
Nowadays, it is possible to have online portfolios
by creating sites. It is called ePortfolio or digital
portfolio.
ePortfolio or Digital portfolio can be used as
a digital archive that can contain the same
materials as a physical portfolio but can have
more such as multimedia productions,
relevant online links or references, digital
stories or video blogs, power point
presentations, photographs and other ICT
materials. The ePortfolio can be private or
can be published and shared publicly to
stakeholders like parents and friends.
Benefits of ePortfolios/Digital Portfolio
1. Student ePortfolio can evaluate students’
academic progress.
2. Monitoring students’ progress can be
highlighted in a portfolio.
3. Portfolios document students’ learning
growth.
1. Student ePortfolio can evaluate students' academic
progress. They can inform the teacher to adapt and use
instructional strategies when pieces of evidence indicate
that they are either learning or not. In other words the
construction of the ePortfolios should start from the
beginning and should be an ongoing process. They should
not be reviewed only at the end of the term but navigated
around and provided feedback to let the students know
how they are doing.
2. Monitoring students’ progress can be highlighted in a
portfolio. It may not only contain finished products but
also several versions on how the students improved their
work based on the feedback provided by mentors.
Moreover, portfolios can actually determine whether the
students have transferred what they have learned in a
new projects or other domains.
3. Portfolios document students' learning growth. They
actually encourage the students' sense of accountability
for their own learning process. This may lead them to see
that the learning process is theirs and not anybody else's.
This can make learners reflect from where they have
begun to how far they have developed. When they make
decisions on what or what not to include, they get
engaged in the process of creating their own voice in their
portfolio.
Creating an online portfolio
using Sites.
There are many sites that can be used
in creating an eportfolio. One of which
is the google site. If you have a
Google account, you can start using
the available applications. You can
also try weebly, or wix, among others.
Steps in Constructing an ePortfolio

1. Enter your gmail account and look for Sites. If it is the

first time that you have done this, you need to read the
directions.

2. You scroll down and read further until you see the icon for
Sites.

3. When you click it, it will lead you to another section. This
will let you create a site that you can use as an ePortfolio.

4. Consider a good label or a title for your ePortfolio and

prepare the texts, links, multimedia outputs, images or jpeg
***
files that you want to upload in the pages of the ePortfolio.
Parts of an ePortfolio

Just like a book, the ePortfolio has pages or sections. The

organization can follow a chronological order based on
the activities that you go through or you can have a
thematic arrangement. Whatever you choose, it will be a
display of your organizational skills.
Home Page
The first section is the Home or your cover page. This is the first thing that your readers will
see. So you need to. Introduce yourself and the objectives of your ePortfolio. Usually, there
are templates available and each provides sections. You can add personal touches such as
images or a change of color themes.

Pages

The pages that you can add depend on how you would like to organize your ePortfolio. What
is important is that you need to construct your ePortfolio at the start of the class. In that way,
you can have a fresh start as you try to be conscious in documenting the activities and
learning that goes with each session. When adding pages, click the icon and decide whether it
will be parallel to your Home Page or it will be under it. Just remember that when you have a
template, there are particular ways that the pages have been arranged so if you are starting, it
would not be detrimental if you conform to the template.
Reflections

A major element in a portfolio whether it is online or not, is the writing of the reflection. It is
thinking-aloud, a way of documenting what they are thinking. How students are processing
the input and the application of what they have learned into an activity or a project needs to
be captured. With the pencil and-paper test, the chance to get a piece of their insights or
realizations may be nil unless the teacher requires them to do so. However, with the portfolio,
they can show the process of their work. This can be easily monitored.

Sometimes it is difficult to write a reflection and a structure can be helpful. There are many
models that can be used as a guide in writing reflections. One is the Gibb's reflective cycle
model (1988).
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle has six stages
Description.
This initial phase in writing a reflection is very simple since you just need to describe the activity or the
experience to the reader. You can write a little about the background on what you are reflecting about
by including relevant and to-the-point details.

Feelings.
Learners are involved in learning and an activity or perhaps a lesson can trigger certain feelings. So at
this point, you can consider and think about how you feel at that time when you were doing the activity
or having the experience. You need to discuss your emotions honestly about the activity or the
experience but not to forget that this is part of an academic discourse.

Evaluation.
When evaluating, discuss how well you think the activity went. Recall how you reacted to the task or
situation and how others reacted. Was the experience a pleasant one or otherwise? This is also a
possible part where you can perhaps incorporate related readings of other author's principles or
theories.
Analysis.
This part of the write up includes your analysis of what worked well and what have facilitated it or
what may have hindered it. You can also discuss related literature that may have brought about
your experience.

Conclusion.
Now, you can write what you have learned from the experience or what you could have done. If
your experience is a good one, you can probably discuss how it can be ensured or how you will
further enhances a 8 positive outcome. On the other hand, if the experience is frustrating eliciting
other negative feelings, perhaps you can discuss how those can be avoided in happening as this
leads to the next step -Action Plan.

Action Plan.
At the end of your reflection, you write what action you need to take so that you will improve the
next time such as consult an expert for some advice or read a book that will provide answers to
your queries. You make plans on how you can address what went wrong so that you can take the
right step to succeed in achieving the task. If you did well and feel good about it, then you can
plan out how you can further enhance a good work.
When showing examples of your work, you can upload word file, excel data,
pictures, jpeg or pdf files, powerpoint presentations among others but, a brief
description explains the reason why the file in uploaded has to be written. This will
guide the readers as you also reflect on how relevant or significant the material is to
you.

What is great about writing a reflection is it allows you to embrace your own
learning and start taking accountability of it. After all, you owe it to yourself and no
matter what the teacher does inside the classroom, as a learner you can make the
decision whether you want to learn or not. With an ePortfolio, you try to capture
your personal journey of learning.

(Adapted from Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education
Unit)
Administrating the ePortfolio.
Before publishing your ePortfolio for the world to see your work, you can control who
can see your work. The icon for sharing the site can be managed by entering the email
address of the person with whom you want to share it.

Evaluating an e-Portfolio using a rubric ,

is a consistent application of learning expectations, learning outcomes or standards. It
should tell the students the link between learning or what will be taught and the
assessment or what will be evaluated Rubrics are simple and easy to understand. The
items in the rubric should be mutually exclusive.

Students can see connections between learning (what will be taught) and assessment
(what will be evaluated) by making the feedback they receive from teachers clearer,
more detailed, and more useful in terms of identifying communicating what students
have learned or what they may still need to learn.
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