Week 3 Tech Play 2: Eportfolio

Eportfolios have lots and lots of different tools that can be applied to a portfolio. From the themes, layouts, pictures, videos, backgrounds, colors, and much more, I got a little overwhelmed while playing around on some off the sites that I went to. I played around with a few portfolio websites. I just Googled some and went from there. The first one that I noticed was called FolioSpaces. According to that link, it is the most popular portfolio site for a lot of teachers, students, and career professionals. I like how this free site was easy to navigate through. Pathbrite was another one that I looked at. I really liked the visuals and tutorials that were provided. It was also a free one to start up an account and easy to follow. Portfoliogen was an easy site to navigate. It had many features to choose from and anyone could use this type of portfolio. FolioForMe was the next one, and I really did not care for that one. To me, it was a bit much and right off, there were not enough visuals for me. After looking at all of the different sites, I decided for my portfolio, I would stick to what I knew and what I was used to using, which is the Weebly.

Reflect on your understanding of “folio thinking.” 
Folio thinking is a reflective practice that situates and guides the effective use of learning portfolios, defined as a purposeful collection of artifacts that characterize the learning experiences of the portfolio owner. Folio thinking, to me, means the collection of work that a person has spent their time on in order to broadcast what they have learned or what knowledge they have gained over time. Folio thinking reflects on what a  person may believe, think, act, etc. I like that there overall is not a wrong or right thing to say or do when it comes to your own personal portfolio. I think portfolios are better than the other forms of assessments because those assessments are graded more on a numerical bases rather than production bases. With portfolios, you are able to see growth overtime more accurately and visually. With the other forms of assessment, numbers are all we have to compare, and we really can't see the person's actual work that way, just their grades.
Out of the two options, I wouldn't mind either choice (I mean we are bound to have to do both at some point in time). However, I would prefer choice B. I like the idea of a teacher giving me a prompt, and allowing me to use what I know or learned to come up with an ending. I think I have more leeway and freedom when I am able to think based on what I know. I also like to be creative with representing and showing off what I have learned in many forms besides the regular assessments. This will give me a chance to reflect on my own learning and growth.

Identify technology affordances. 
Physical portfolios are too much to handle. If you have a ton of collections of work, you wouldn't want to keep it in a folder to clutter and build up. Having an electronic portfolio is easier to save and handle. If there were any updates or changes to be made, it is easier to just go to the computer and edit the change that needs to be made. With the world of technology we have now, technology is a more appropriate manner for presenting any work or collection of work. The digital/electronic portfolios are easier to carry around too (just keep it on a flash drive). With an electronic portfolio, you can add more features to a portfolio so that it doesn't seem so boring like a paper one. Size is the main thing that makes the electronic portfolios better than the paper portfolios. I will be using Weebly for my portfolio. 

Shift context/perspective. 
I would allow my students to do as we did in this class. I would (depending on the grade level) give them a list of choices or let them browse different eportfolio websites and tools. I would allow them to choose the one they think they could handle. I would not want to choose a particular one for them, that takes the fun out of the process of creating their own eportfolio. I would only set the guidelines of what I will look for in the portfolios-almost like a rubric. The students can take what I give them and set up their own portfolio.  

Create something. I am working on this
http://kenyastandokes.weebly.com