Portfolios

As I go back over the blog posts I can see that my skills have grown--simply learning how to do things like podcasts and video which were new to me. It is much easier to imagine how to use these tools to teach digital writing. In the beginning I would have to spend lots of time thinking of how to apply these in a teaching situation. After talking in class about a technology, then trying it out, then talking again about all of the ways it can be used has helped free my mind to be able to apply the technology in many different ways. I have enjoyed learning how these are being used from high school to college--even through I am more interested in the academic audience I have learned much from hearing from the high school applications. This helps know what sort of experiences students will now have had by the time they start here a the University.

This also allows me to frame information literacy as being important to students both as consumers of information (i.e. finding a journal article) and producers of information (i.e. posting on a blog). When students are writing a paper for the instructor to read it is hard to talk seriously about your responsibilities as an author but when your writing is truly available for the public to see it is more meaningful

They technology in blogs would help to utilize this as a portfolio or at least as a space for reflection. Most blogs have trackbacks which would allow you to link back to the post that students had posted and reflect upon them. This would build on the linking nature of blogs and give students a nice recursive finish to using a blog.

In terms of what content students would include in a portfolio or a final blog summary I think having student reflect on the projects/blogs they were most proud of and those on which they learned the most would be useful. I think self selecting would provide students with the most intersting posting options.

At a Teaching with Writing seminar recently I heard about using portfolios within the professional major of pharmacy--as a tool for reflecting on their 5 week rotations as a tools for professional development. This is very much valued in the field and an expectation of someone in the profession. This is a unique hook as students should learn how to be reflective about the experiences and things they are learning. In terms of independent and life long learning (aka liberal education) this skills (which does need to be taught) of reflection are very meaningful.