Initiating Portfolios in Your School
Case Study #5
The school for Case Study #5 is in a small
rural school district with 500 students. The school has an old computer
lab, but does not have Internet access. Students are taught keyboarding and
word processing, but little else. A few of the teachers attempt to
integrate technology skills into their curricula, but the majority
do not. The school board is not very concerned with the new ICT
standards, even though they were advised of them.
Table of
Contents
Introduction
Process
1 Purpose
2 Curriculum
3 Requirements
4 Reviewer
5 Assessment
6 Organization
7 Storage
8 Implementation
This
case study was contributed by the following ICT Summer Institute 2006
participants:
Diane
Beaman, Erv Connary,
Elizabeth Dunton,
Joni
Mastronardi, Lisa Moore, Derek Patterson
Introduction to
Initiating Portfolios in Your School
When making decisions, you might want to use this
simple group decision making process…
Brainstorm List as many
ideas as the group can develop
Clarify Ask questions
about ideas on the list for clarification and understanding
Combine Lump similar
ideas or strategies into categories
Rank Place the
newly formed categories of ideas in order to preference
Discuss Narrow down
the list to a few favorite ideas
Agree Come to a
consensus on the idea that best suits the team
Remember these important factors when considering
ideas and solutions…
Educational What is the
pedagogy behind this idea?
Functional How does this
idea actually work?
Technical What
technology or equipment is required for this idea to function properly?
Administrative What
are the policies, procedures, and budgets required for this idea to work?
Process for Initiating Portfolios in
Your School
Establish the purpose for the portfolio
based on your district’s goals and mission.
Determine how existing school or district
curriculum aligns with the ICT standards.
Determine the content requirements that will
be placed in the portfolio.
Determine the reviewer process for assessing
the portfolios.
Design the assessment rubrics to be used for
assessing the portfolios.
Establish the portfolio organizational
framework to be used when building the portfolios.
Establish the method for storage of the
portfolio.
Implement the portfolio generation and
assessment process in your school.
This portfolio plan is based
on the scenario outlined below. Depending on your district's individual
assessments and needs, you may wish to change parts of this plan to suit your
needs. Please feel free to use and change any parts of this portfolio
outline as you wish. Good luck!
Scenario:
You are in a small rural school district with
500 students. Your school has an old computer lab, but does not have
Internet access. Your students are taught keyboarding and word processing, but
little else. A few of your teachers attempt to integrate technology skills
into their curricula, but the majority do not.
The school board is not very concerned with the new ICT standards, even though
they were advised of them.
1 Establish the purpose for the
portfolio based on your district’s goals and mission.
In light of your school
goals and mission…
What do you think the purpose of the portfolio should be?
To create a digital
portfolio to address ICT standards in a teacher and student user-friendly way.
What type of
Portfolio would you like to create?
·
The portfolios
will be formative in order to improve understanding, and encourage growth
through feedback with a summative piece that will be evaluated in the eighth
grade to be sure that students have met all ICT standards through their
portfolios. As the formative piece of each
portfolio, each student will review and reflect upon the technology aspects of
their porfolio and artifacts.
Our portfolios will be created using the limited technology available to our
district, but will include all ICT standards using creative applications of the
technology available.
When do you
want the ICT competencies to be demonstrated?
· The competencies can be demonstrated by collection of evidence and
artifacts at each grade level.
How do you
want the ICT competencies to be demonstrated?
· The competencies can be integrated into the content and
demonstrated in connection with evidence of content knowledge. We will
collect evidence of meeting the standards through projects that students
complete within the subject areas during their school career.
2 Determine how existing school
or district curriculum aligns with the ICT standards.
Now that you have
established the purpose of the portfolio…
How does your current curriculum align with the ICT standards
required for the portfolio?
Determine what you already do in your school that
could be used as artifacts for evidence of meeting competency.
Are there
existing curriculum activities which produce digital artifacts?
We will start by using
projects that teachers already use in their classrooms and adapt them to employ
more technology. This can involve scanning student work, taking digital
pictures, or using computer software to create the artifacts and save them in
student folders. Tech mentors will help
other teachers adapt projects. Willing teachers could showcase an activity they used for
an artifact at a staff meeting or other all staff gathering. Something
that would only take 2 minutes to show and other teachers could easily
replicate.
Can such artifacts be used in
portfolios?
Yes,
artifacts can also include "projects under development" to
demonstrate technology standards utilized by student in transitions stages.
Are they appropriate to use?
Yes, although not all
artifacts will make it into the final portfolio.
Are there
areas which deserve more curriculum development?
The use of the different
hardware and software for students AND teachers. Integrating
with specialists such as the media specialists, the tech integrator, art,
music, guidance, P.E., etc.
Are there any
areas of redundancy?
To avoid redundancy,
there should be periodic check ins to discuss what
skills are being covered by which teachers. In areas where there is
redundancy, at higher levels it is expected that the skill will be taught in
greater depth. Because the teachers will have access to student folders,
teachers will be able to look at student portfolios and assess areas of need.
3 Determine the content
requirements that will be placed in the portfolio.
Once you have determined what you already do in
your school that could be used as portfolio evidence…
What content requirements does your school want in the portfolio?
All subject areas should
be represented at least twice during the eight years of the portfolio, demonstrating
all parts of the ICT digital portfolio standards.
Decide the number of artifacts to be used in the
portfolio, and whether or not that will change with grade level.
How many
artifacts are necessary and adequate?
There should be sufficient
artifacts to show mastery of portfolio standards. Artifacts can be any
item that shows growth toward the standards, and does not need to be a large
finished project. It may include standardized tests, observations,
student work, and reflections by the student. All teachers are
responsible to give students opportunities to produce digital artifacts so that
the students have ample selection to produce a portfolio that showcases the
standards.
Will the
number of artifacts required change as students advance to higher grades?
Not necessarily. At
the younger grades, students could be producing many small artifacts, while
older students may produce fewer larger, more complex projects.
4 Determine the reviewer process
for assessing the portfolios.
Now that you know the
content that will be required in the portfolio…
Who will review the portfolios and how will the assessment be done?
Portfolios can also be
reviewed by teams of teachers, school board members,
administrators, parents, community leaders, or any other group that our school
deems capable of evaluating the portfolios for students. This can show
students the importance of technology in the world.
Determine protocols by which the portfolios will be
reviewed and assessed.
Should the content
teachers review the content artifacts?
Yes, they should be
reviewed as the students produce the artifacts.
Should this be
done at each grade level in a formative manner?
Yes.
How should
these reviews be tracked?
Each year, the homeroom
teacher will review the portfolio with the student and discuss how the student
has demonstrated understanding and proficiency of the ICT standards. This
should be done at each grade level in a formative manner (reflection of the
year's growth). A sample chart for different portfolio purposes follows; all
four categories are needed over the K-8 portfolio assembly.
Growth
Portfolios: What samples might be included?
|
|
|
Purpose
|
Some
possible inclusions
|
a. to show growth or
change over time
|
· early and later pieces of work
· early and later tests/scores
· rough drafts and final drafts
· reflections on growth
· goal-setting sheets
·
reflections
on progress toward goal(s)
|
b. to help develop
process skills
|
· samples which reflect growth of process skills
· self-reflection sheets accompanying samples of
work
· reflection sheets from teacher or peer
· identification of strengths/weaknesses
· goal-setting sheets
· reflections on progress towards goal(s)
·
see more
detail below under Process
below
|
c. to identify
strengths/weaknesses
|
· samples of work reflecting specifically
identified strengths and weaknesses
· reflections on strengths and weaknesses of
samples
· goal-setting sheets
·
reflection
on progress towards goal(s)
|
d. to track
development of one or more products or performances
|
· obviously, drafts of the specific product or
performance to be tracked
· self-reflections on drafts
·
reflection
sheets from teacher or peer
|
Tables courtesy of Jonathan
Mueller
http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm#purpose
Copyright
2006, Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology, North
Central College, Naperville, IL.
5 Design the assessment rubrics
to be used for assessing the portfolios.
Once the protocols for review have been
established…
What criteria will be used to assess the completed portfolios?
The
NETS (National Education Technology Standards), the Information Literacy
Standards and the 21st Century Literacy skills.
Develop a rubric or rubrics which will be used for
assessment of the portfolios in your school.
What kinds of
assessment rubrics will be needed?
There is need for an overall
assessment rubric for assessing the Digital Portfolio to meet the NH ICT
Literacy Standard.
|
0 points
No artifacts relate to the purpose of the
portfolio.
|
1 point
Minimal artifacts relate to the purpose of the
portfolio.
|
3 points
Artifacts relate to the purpose of the
portfolio.
|
5 points
All artifacts relate to the purpose of the portfolio
and are incorporated into all subject areas.
|
|
|
0 points
No reflections explain why the artifact was chosen,
how the artifact proves accomplishment in the goal, a self evaluation of the
work or a plan for future improvement.
|
1 point
Minimal reflections explain why the artifact was
chosen, how the artifact proves accomplishment in the goal, a self evaluation
of the work and a plan for future improvement.
|
3 points
Reflections explain why the artifact was chosen, how
the artifact proves accomplishment in the goal, a self evaluation of the work
and a plan for future improvement.
|
5 points
Reflections explain why the artifact was chosen, how
the artifact proves accomplishment in the goal, a self evaluation of the work
and a plan for future improvement and are incorporated into all subject
areas.
|
|
Basic Operations and
Concepts
|
0 points
No evidence of application of computer skills.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence of application of computer
skills.
|
3 Points
Evidence of application of computer skills in the
majority of work completed.
|
5 Points
Evidence of application of computer skills are incorporated into all subject areas.
|
|
Social, Ethical and Human
Issues
|
0 points
No evidence of understanding of social, ethical and
human issues.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence of understanding of social, ethical
and human issues.
|
3 points
Evidence of understanding of social, ethical and
human issues.
|
5 points
Evidence of understanding of social, ethical and
human issues has been incorporated into all subject areas.
|
|
Technology Productivity Tools
and Strategies
|
0 points
No variety of productivity tools and strategies are
evident.
|
1 point
Not enough variety of productivity tools and
strategies are evident.
|
3 points
A variety of productivity tools and strategies are
evident.
|
5 points
A wide variety of productivity tools and strategies
have been incorporated into all subject areas.
|
|
Technology Communication Tools
and Strategies
|
0 points
No evidence of application of communication tools and
strategies.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence of application of communication
tools and strategies.
|
3 points
Evidence of application of communication tools and
strategies.
|
5 points
Evidence of application of communication tools and
strategies have been incorporated into all subject
areas.
|
|
Technology Research Tools and
Strategies
|
0 points
No evidence of application of research tools and
strategies.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence of application of research tools
and strategies.
|
3 points
Evidence of application of research tools and
strategies.
|
5 points
Evidence of application of research tools and
strategies have been incorporated into all subject
areas.
|
|
Technology and Information
Problem Solving and Decision Making
|
0 points
No evidence of application of problem solving and
decision making.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence of application of problem solving
and decision making.
|
3 points
Evidence of application of problem solving and
decision making.
|
5 points
Evidence of application of problem solving and
decision making have been incorporated into all subject areas.
|
|
ICT Skills demonstrated in All
Subject Areas
|
0 points
No evidence shown.
|
1 point
Minimal evidence shown.
|
3 points
Evidence shown in some subject areas.
|
5 points
Evidence shown in all subject areas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The individual artifacts
will be assessed according to rubrics addressing curriculum standards such as GLEs, NETS standards, IL standards, and 21st Century
Literacy Skills. The various applications that will be used to create e-portfolio
artifacts will need separate rubrics to address the ICT literacy skills,
these rubrics may have similar components, examples of this are in the ICT
site: http://www.nheon.org/ictliteracy/ We deem these worthy of use (plus they're already done!). ISTE has draft rubrics for the NETS standards at http://www.ncrel.org/tech/nets/rubrics.htm. Rubistar is an excellent resource for creating your own
rubrics as well. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
What
categories, descriptors, and levels will be most useful?
See above
6 Establish the portfolio
organizational framework to be used when building the portfolios.
Now that the assessment rubrics have been
developed…
What kind of organization system will be used to generate the
portfolios?
Each student will be
assigned to a computer at the start of their school career that will have
a folder on the hard drive where they will store their digital files for the
span of their school career. They will be able to back up the files on a
floppy (or two!).
Decide on the best way to organize and present
these portfolios for your school.
How will the
portfolios be organized?
The
contents can be organized by grade level to show growth and development of ICT
skills. This will also allow for interdisciplinary projects to be easily
classified.
What other
organization elements should be considered?
We
can organize the portfolio by using an Internet page offline or
PowerPoint. In the future, we are hoping to
purchase additional upgrades to allow for more advanced technology, ie. flash drives, CD burners,
upgraded computers.
7 Establish the method for
storage of the portfolio.
When the organizing framework for the portfolios
have been established…
How will the student portfolios be stored by your school?
Because there
is no computer network, each student will be assigned to a computer at
the start of their school career that will have a folder on the hard drive
where they will store their digital files for the span of their school
career. They will be able to back up the files on a floppy. (or two!)
Develop possible methods for storing the portfolios
created by students.
Which level of
storage is appropriate for your school?
Each student’s files are
stored in a separate folder on a specific computer hard drive in the computer
lab. The portfolio can be created as a folder within the student’s larger
folder.
Are there
other methods which would work better for your school?
Grants and community or
parent group funding will be pursued to purchase improved technology for
storage.
8 Implement the portfolio generation and assessment process in
your school.
Now that you’ve got the portfolio process solved…
When should be start using the portfolio
program in our school?
During year one
(2006-2007) start with a few willing, tech savvy teachers and pilot the e-porfolio. Year two (2007-2008) those
teachers will form tech partner teams with a few more teachers. By year three (2008-2009), all teachers will be contributing to e-portfolios.
Good luck! http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/eportfoliorubric.html
With a plan like you’ve just developed, you won’t really need it!