Assignment 1 – Outline: The Journey of my ePortfolio

Jacob Montag

EDLD 5317

Dr. Maridale Still

June 10, 2022

Topic: The Journey of my ePortfolio towards content development, Graphic Design, and Marketing

Connection to Innovation Plan: My innovation plan is the piloting and implementing of ePortfolios.

Introduction: ePortfolio overview

  • History of ePortfolios: The concept of ePortfolios began in the mid-2000’s; originating from a group of progressive educators. This group felt that there was a better way to demonstrate mastery than traditional multiple choice assessments. ePortfolios have more recently found a home in Project-Based Learning schools as this mode provides a housing mechanism for the projects.

  • How ePortfolio’s contribute to building skills: ePortfolios present a person’s learning and detail to aesthetics, which in turn, presents that person to the public. Developing these skills and can prepare scholars in fields such as Content Development, Graphic Design, Marketing, or any imaginable variation of the aforementioned careers.

  • How can ePortfolios be used in everyday life? ePortfolios are the futuristic methods of demonstrating academic mastery. These are intended to let students take ownership of their learning and demonstrate mastery of essential knowledge and skills.

  • Pros and Cons of ePortfolios: ePortfolios have the potential to be quite effective, if unleashed. The only real cons lie in too much control or districts that view time as better spent doing other projects.

  • Why is (topic) important? The importance of this topic lies in the evolution of the education system as we move from memorization to demonstration. It is important that all those desiring change to the overall system try programs such as this.

Key Points:

  • ePortfolios are meant to capitalize student creativity and record learning.

    • I find the concept most comparable to the interactive notebook.

  • ePortfolios should run throughout the year and follow the students from year to year as long as the district is supporting the idea.

  • ePortfolios should be owned by the scholars.

  • Some recommended ePortfolio platforms and tools include:

    • Wix

    • Squarespace

    • WordPress

    • Adobe Creative Cloud (express)

    • Google Suite

    • Canvas

    • Photoleap (Lighttricks Programs)

Lessons learned:

  • After piloting the program in my World Studies class, I learned that school districts have extremely negative attitudes about anything that their chosen curriculum coordinators did not think of first.

  • I also learned that there is a balance of structure and freedom. Scholars will have freedom to create and display assignments; however, they will need structure in the development stage to create a cohesive order to their ePortfolio.

  • I also learned that scholars, both individually or collaboratively, should keep their content in various forms of backup such as: physical, digital, iCloud, Google Drive, etc.

Conclusion:

ePortfolios are a viable replacement for the traditional multiple choice tests. In an environment with shared goals, principles, and vision, ePortfolios will help us make the leap from the 18th century to the 21st century.

Journal Publication and Guidelines:

My top choice for publication is Edutopia.

  • Send an email to guestblog@edutopia.org with “Guest Blog: [The Journey of my ePortfolio]” in the subject line, and be sure to include the following information:

  • A few sentences describing your proposed post and a high-level outline (keep in mind that finished blog posts should be around 750–850 words)

    • ePortfolios present a person’s learning and detail to aesthetics, in turn, presents that person to the public. Developing these skills and can prepare scholars in fields such as Content Development, Graphic Design, Marketing, or any imaginable variation of the aforementioned careers.

Links to any multimedia you plan to include

  • https://www.thevoiceoftheteacher.com

A few words about the intended target audience for your blog (for example, high school math teachers, administrators, etc.)

  • My intended audience are Content Leads and Administrators who want to see their schools improve.

A roughly 80-word bio with details about your role in education

  • Jacob Montag is from the wonderful town of New Braunfels, Texas. During his 8 years in education, he has taught English, History, Journalism, and Yearbook. After focusing on content for so many years; he recently join a growing group of educators that advocate for needs of students. Currently, he specializes in blended learning environment that promotes technological advancements. Although not by nature, but I believe I can contribute to education by using this field of technological study instead of outdated ideas and methods.

  • Follow my Portfolio Here

  • Instagram: @teachers_voice

  • Twitter: @MontagJacob

References

Cambridge, D. (2010). Eportfolios for lifelong learning and assessment. Jossey-Bass. 

Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.