Information for article 3

February 17, 2010

Summary of Article #3

Open Source Eportfolio

This article is about the implementation of eportfolio within secondary education school systems. The authors of this article provide their readers with in-depth discussions, and benefits of eportfolios in high school settings. The most basic forms of a portfolio in education is that it demonstrates each student’s ability and it shows how much knowledge each student has acquired. According to the authors, the Europeans have already implemented eportfolios within their universities on the basis of lessons learned through students own experiences.

The authors warn that this process isn’t easy, and it will require continuous hard work and dedication. They suggest that this tool is in some ways helpful because it gives students the opportunity to make independent decisions. The students are allowed to make their own decisions without any criticism from supervisors. This process demands teachers to take on supervisory roles rather than traditional teaching roles.




Personal Reflection

The article and video is very similar in that they both provide readers with detailed information about the pros and cons of eportfolio. Eportfolio is a great application to introduce to secondary education students. This allows students the opportunity of making independent decisions and to suffer the positive or negative consequences that follow. It’s great to constantly upgrade to the most recent technologies so students won’t become inferior to their competitors.

I’m not sure what grades will be given the opportunity to use this application, but I think that eleventh and twelfth graders should utilize this tool before graduating high school. Portfolio in education will be student-centered, competence-oriented cyclical with regard to action and reflection, and multi-media-oriented. Eportfolio literacy will open various doors for students when they transition to the workforce, because most employers are currently using portfolios to advertise their products or services. If portfolio requirements are fulfilled successfully and in a professional manner, it will replace traditional resumes.

Question: How many American schools and universities are actually using eportfolio within the classrooms, and for online courses?

These are sentences/definitions in the article that interests me the most.

Student-center: the student is the owner of, and the person ultimately responsible for, his/her portfolio.

Competence-oriented: competence involves all aspects of a student’s functioning.

Action and reflection: if a student wishes to use portfolio to show his/her competence, he/she must give an account of the activities in which this competence is demonstrated.

A variety of materials and multimedia: the student demonstrates his or her competence via the portfolio. He/she thus has every interest in devoting sufficient attention to its compilation. The most usual format is the written account, but in these days of multimedia other materials may also be considered, such as drawings, photographs and illustrations, sound recordings and video material, software programs, etc.