Why we need eFolios in schools #iste12 #socialedcon

I'm at #socialedcon at #iste12 and have some important points that I'd like to interject about why we need efolios. Since it would take too much time in the session, I'm going to share them on my blog. Please forgive me for not being able to link as easily as I'm cranking this quickly.

Portfolios should be:

1- About learning and legacy.
It isn't just about assessment but about helping kids connect to their legacy and who that student is.

efolios should be about taking kids from a number to a unique individual and give us a unique way to celebrate creativity beyond the standardized test.

2 - Efolios should make kids not feel like a number to feeling unique.

They should be able to pull all of their lives together. Steve Hargadon shares how his daughter used her blog to get into college.

Joyce Valenza says that "kids don't think about archiving and sharing what they are doing in their lives. We are obscuring their names of everything they achieve because of lack of privacy so the only things that people see that they are doing are frivolous."

In my own life, I can look back on my journal when I was twelve and remember that I wanted to become an author back then.

3 - Schools need permanent museums of learning.

If I was sending my child to a new school, I would ask that school to show what their students were doing.

4 - Schools can use efolios as a way to celebrate creativity, the arts, and phenomenal work instead of the "standardized test."

The group is saying that it is a problem that everything is behind a wall and @edtechsteve made a great point that students need to own their data. I agree with that and think that every annual should have a DVD where that student burns all data from that year onto the DVD.

There is a discussion about how those kids who build efolios and have them have a "leg up" versus other children and it isn't fair so all schools should allow and encourage efolios. The digital divide is being exacerbated because the "haves" have Internet access and computers at home and can build websites relating to their passions whereas those without access are allowed only to do something behind a walled garden that is deleted every year.
This group also has a feeling that efolios shouldn't be "owned" by one teacher but the learner and should go from classroom to classroom.

Joyce makes a great point that we need to collect some best practices for this.

If you're doing efolios, please share what you're doing with efolios or your opinions on this. Remember that leaders are those who overcome barriers. You can't change your district but you can change yourself and your classroom.

Note that I plan to release some very simple posts this week to bring you into the conversation. I welcome your comments and hope you'll forgive typos (as often I have them when typing on my ipad.) Welcome to #iste12

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:E Harbor Dr,San Diego,United States

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