USING TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENT PORTFOLIOS

Using Technology for Student Portfolios

Amy Alfonso

Kennesaw State University

July 2018

Dr. Anissa Vega

Description of the Capstone Experience and Results

The goal of the proposed Capstone project was to better utilize student portfolios with

regards to authentic assessment purposes by creating ePortfolios through the Microsoft Office

OneNote program. By creating these ePortfolios, teachers would be better able to monitor

student progress and provide concrete feedback in order for the student to achieve desired

learning results. Utilizing 21st Century Learning Skills is vital to student success therefore using

ePortfolios as a collection of student growth became a needed method within our school.

The first objective within this project was to complete a ‘needs assessment” for the

students and staff to provide feedback for what areas of Microsoft OneNote needed further

support. An example of this survey can be found here, and from the survey results, I created a

professional learning opportunity for the staff that focused on the areas of the OneNote software

that needed review. Later I created several tutorial videos for both the student and the staff to

access to provide better understanding into the OneNote software. The professional

development opportunity as well as the tutorial videos were completed be the end of October

2017. This allowed for time to review the material and allow for me to address any unforeseen

issues that may have arisen. At the completion of this piece of the project, the staff and students

were ready and excited to create the portfolios through the OneNote software.

The second objective of this project was to conduct a staff development with the 3rd

grade team to provide research based material supporting the importance of the ePortfolio and

authentic assessment opportunities. During this team meeting several concerns were discussed

regarding time, what items to include, how to best evaluate the portfolio, and what would be

each of the student and teacher role for this process. Within this meeting I was able to address

the concern of time spent with the staff. Providing the opportunity to discuss this concern in an

open forum allowed for us to generate ideas and solutions on how to best utilize the already
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limited time we could attribute to this project. In following this process, the staff felt they played

a vital role into the success of this project as well as constructing this idea to meet the needs of

their students within their individual classrooms. In planning the capstone project I anticipated

that the staff may have some concerns related to the ones mention therefore I was sure to prepare

literature as well as a bank of possible solutions to assist when needed.

At completion of this team meeting, we decided that the following tabs would be used in

the student ePortfolio template, Published Writing, Projects, Collaboration, and Feedback. In

using these tabs, this would create a universal template for all 3rd grade students and later for the

entire school population. My next task was to create notebooks with the above tabs for all the

students and then provide training for each 3rd grade class on how to use the ePortfolio. Finally,

we decided that the teachers would allot one class period to review the refresher video with their

students in order to be prepared for the implementation part beginning in January 2018.

The third objective of my capstone project included creating a guideline/rubric for the

students and staff to use to provide both feedback to each other and feedback to me. Since one

of our tabs in our notebooks was a section for Feedback, I included a feedback template as well

as the rubric for the students to access when adding items to their portfolios. This proved to be a

key organizational piece since the feedback section was going to provide me with the most vital

information. Throughout the feedback provided, having a rubric and guideline to follow was

well received from both the teachers and the students.

My next task for this objective was to create a lesson plan for the teachers to use for

introducing the ePortfolios to the students. I included tutorial videos for them to utilize as well

as a structured lesson in the computer lab with each 3rd grade class. This format provided for
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flexibility in order to utilize the teacher’s already limited time. At completion to the introduction

lesson, the 3rd grade classes were ready to begin their student ePortfolios.

Throughout the implementation process of the student ePortfolios, I provided several

opportunities for the students and the teachers to provide discussions as to how the process was

working and if I could address any issues. During the month of January 2018, I was needed to

provide more support for the students and staff while they began implementing the project. I

was able to frequently visit each class to troubleshoot with students and receive feedback as to

how the process was working. Briefly during the 3rd grade team meetings which were held

weekly I would visit for updates as to how this concept was working as well as address any

issues both technically and academically. As we progressed through the project my meetings

and classroom visits grew further apart as comfortability arose and follow up was only necessary

briefly.

Finally, the last objective of the project was to provide a survey at the end of the project

for both the students and the teachers to provide me with areas that needed to be improved or

areas that were well received. An example of this survey can be found here. From the survey

the teachers expressed how this platform for student portfolios provided them with an easier and

less time consuming platform. Many staff members also commented how the feedback

component was vital to the success of the project since metacognition skills were fostered with

each assignment added to the portfolio as well as adaption of metacognition skills on later

assignments with in the classroom. Many of the students expressed that using ePortfolios

allowed for them to become more accountable for their own learning as well as how well

prepared they felt before actually implementing the portfolios into their learning. This

information was crucial in helping me to deliver this idea to our administration for the entire
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school population to participate in during the 2018-2019 school year. Based on my findings and

my discussions with our administration, I was asked to create a presentation for delivery to our

staff in the upcoming 2018 - 2019 school year.

Even though much of my timeline for this project was obtainable, I did encounter some

obstacles through implementation. The number one obstacle was finding the classroom time to

assist with refresher lessons, follow ups, and ability to address any arising issues as well as

designate enough professional development time with the 3rd grade team for implementation.

To address this issue, I worked closely with our administration to readjust some of the events in

our school calendars in order to compensate with the extra time. I was also able to provide some

of the classroom lessons and assistance during our allotted “Computer” enrichment in order to

provide more classroom time for the students.

Another obstacle that I encountered throughout this process was a technical one with

regards to time where our internet service was not working properly or the computer lab

computers having difficulty. I was able to troubleshoot much of these issues with the staff and

students, but this obstacle enforced the time obstacle even further. Although this was an obstacle

to overcome, I learned a great deal about flexibility and readjustment in order to accomplish the

task at hand when this technical issue arose.

Lastly, the obstacle of student knowledge of Office 365 and OneNote software. In

creating this project I assumed that many of our 3rd grade students have had previous experience

with these platforms. What I came to know was that many of our 3rd grade students had no to

limited experience with Office 365 and simply logging on the the system presented a challenge.

To address this issue, I strategized with our computer enrichment teacher, who agreed to allow

me to provide a lesson on this procedure during this class time. In the future, we came to the
USING TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENT PORTFOLIOS

conclusion that a series of lessons will be needed to begin instruction on this process in

kindergarten with follow up lessons throughout each grade level at the beginning of the school

year.

Discussion and/or Reflection

From completing this Capstone project several items were learned as well as experience

in technology facilitation and leadership. Being a leader requires you to have flexibility as well

as an understanding of how people receive information or learn best. This Capstone provided me

with opportunities to capitalize on these skills throughout my experience. In regards to

developing skills for flexibility, I created a timeline for this project in order to fully meet the

goals designed as well as keep myself on track to complete the project on time. Although this

timeline served to be a great reference, many times I had to adjust my schedule in order to

accommodate unforeseen activities that arose on the school calendar. For example, lost school

days due to inclement weather proved to be an obstacle since our classrooms were then in need

of readjusting their curriculum timelines. Fortunately through the flexibility skills I learned, I

was able to quickly readjust the project’s timeline in order to still complete the project on time,

but also maximize the limited instructional time we had left.

During the process of the Capstone, gaining skills of how others receive information or

their personal learning styles was another key item learned. The 3rd grade team that I worked

with has vast levels of technology experience and knowledge. In an effort to be sure that I was

able to engage all of the teachers, I had to develop professional development that was meaningful

for them. Since we have such a wide range of technology experience and knowledge, many

times I needed to meet with one or two teachers to assist with gaining that basic knowledge.

Understanding this concept was crucial to the success of the project in order to have each teacher
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feel valued throughout the process. Individual learning styles also came into play when

developing professional development in order for all teachers to feel ownership of this project.

By initially surveying the staff to gain a better understanding of how they best receive

information allowed for our time to be maximized in effective ways.

The knowledge gained through this project allowed for me to demonstrate authentic

learning methods through research based strategies within my own teaching and provide

opportunities for my colleagues to utilize these methods. Student portfolios gave learning

ownership to the students by utilizing feedback based on portfolio submission. Through

incorporating these learning methods, my colleagues gained a better understanding of the

importance of students owning their learning through authentic means. At completion, the 3rd

grade team decided that utilizing these learning methods was a way that best utilized their time

and provided the most authentic learning for their students.

The idea of creating digital learning environments for our 3rd graders was another key

element gained through this project. Understanding best practices to become a digital citizen

was vital to our students as well as being sure that this project served the students learning needs.

Since our society relies on online productivity tools to better serve our needs, our students are

required to gain that basic knowledge in order to be successful. This also means that our

students need to build a knowledge of what and how to utilized these productivity tools. To

ensure that this knowledge was going to occur, I spend time with the 3rd grade team

collaborating as to what would be the best ways to integrate this needed knowledge. Through

planning, I was able to assist my colleagues in developing best practices for teaching this needed

knowledge.
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In order for this Capstone project to be successful, it was vital for me to understand the

dispositions of what an effective technology leader requires. To me this was the ability to build

relationships with not just the students I was working with, but also the staff. I felt I had a slight

advantage to this idea since I have worked with many of the members of the 3rd grade team for

several years, but I was happy to recognize that some of the relationships I had with the team

were on a surface level and would require my leadership skills to develop further. Initially

having an open forum discussion of what the 3rd grade team needs could be addressed allowed

for me to develop deeper relationships. By using this step, the team felt heard and also that they

had ownership of this project instead of just being told what to do. Collaboration was essential

in this process to allow for everyone to feel valued and that their ideas were included. Jim

Knight often emphasises the importance of dialogue as a means to engage collaborating teachers

in encouraging conversations (Knight, 2009). This was certainly the case with this project and

largely contributed to the success the students and staff felt at the end.

In thinking of others who may feel the desire to develop a project for change, I

recommend spending the time to collaborate, plan, and converse with the other teachers and staff

who may be involved. Utilizing the above mentioned knowledge, skills and disposition will

prove to be crucial to the success of the project. The International Society for Technology

Education (ISTE) stresses within their standards for coaching that there needs to be continuous

learning to deepen professional knowledge in order to assist with effective technology change.

This idea proved to be essential throughout this project and largely contributed to its success.
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References

ISTE Standards for Coaches. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-coaches

Knight, J. (2009). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction ; a

multimedia kit for professional development. Corwin Press.