How to Create an e - Portfolio

Transcription

1 How to Create an e - Portfolio lish g n E e l c y C r o New Juni 1st Year n Philip Campio ill Declan O Ne Karol Sadleir The Educational Company of Ireland

2 How to Create an e-portfolio # 5 3% &- 7 le E%n g#li.s h C7y c# &-r nio 3% w Ju e5 N st Y e a-r '1.1.1 % #. * ' & on pi m Ca p ili Ph ill Ne O n cla De ei r dl Sa ro l Ka Philip Campion Declan O Neill Karol Sadleir e-portfolio Co-author: Úna Murray The Educational Company of Ireland

3 First published 2014 The Educational Company of Ireland Ballymount Road Walkinstown Dublin 12 A member of the Smurfit Kappa Group plc Philip Campion, Declan O Neill, Karol Sadleir, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior permission of the Publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in Ireland issued by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, 25 Denzille Lane, Dublin 2. Photograph Acknowledgements Animoto, Edmodo, Lucidpress, Shutterstock and SurveyMonkey. While every care has been taken to trace and acknowledge copyright, the publishers tender their apologies for any accidental infringement where copyright has proved untraceable. They would be pleased to come to a suitable arrangement with the rightful owner in each case. Web references in this book are intended as a guide for teachers. At the time of going to press, all web addresses were active and contained information relevant to the topics in this book. However, The Educational Company of Ireland and the authors do not accept responsibility for the views or information contained on these websites. Content and addresses may change beyond our control and students should be supervised when investigating websites.

4 Contents How to use this e-book...1 Unit 1 e-portfolio Activity Create a digital newsletter...9 Unit 2 e-portfolio Activity Poetry in motion...23 Unit 3 e-portfolio Activity Pitch your book...37 Unit 4 e-portfolio Activity Choral reading...55 Unit 5 e-portfolio Activity Create a storybook...67 Unit 6 e-portfolio Activity Create an interactive poster...83 Unit 7 e-portfolio Activity Create a photobook...97 Unit 8 e-portfolio Activity Superhero advertisement Unit 9 e-portfolio Activity Class survey

5 How to use this e-book Introduction In order to meet the needs of the digitally-driven future, students need to develop skills and capabilities associated with reading and writing online, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration and effective communication. The e-portfolio activities in Spirals focus on learning with and through the use of digital tools to promote these skills. This e-book is a step-by-step guide for teachers and students on how to create and use e-portfolio systems and how to build digital artefacts. The user-friendly design of these activities allows students and teachers to learn how knowledge can be used, created, shared and assessed digitally. In fun and interesting ways, students get the opportunity to bring their out-of-school ICT (Information and Communications Technology) knowledge into the classroom. The e-portfolio activities have a clear sense of purpose and audience, address specific learning outcomes, with the 3 strands (oral language, reading and writing) integrated throughout. The activities also provide lots of opportunities for on-going assessment. Assessment templates are provided for students to help them peer- and self-assess. What is an e-portfolio An e-portfolio allows students to share and present assignments electronically in an interactive way. From PowerPoint presentations, short videos, web pages, posters, newsletters and photobooks to simply typing up homework as a word document, the e-portfolio allows students to develop key skills. In particular, students will develop literacy, numeracy, managing information, thinking and creativity skills through a medium that has become second nature to many of them. By the end of First Year, students will be able to look back at what they have created and see their development. 1

6 e-portfolio activities The e-portfolio activities are designed to enhance the student s learning. Each e-portfolio activity is linked to the general content of the units and can be completed at the conclusion of the unit or as students work through the material. The activities are mostly group tasks, however, the majority of the activities can be completed individually if preferred. There are many e-portfolio ideas that could be developed in each unit. However, given the time restraints of First Year, we have included one step-by-step e-portfolio task plan for each (these pages are indicated by a dotted line). (Students may be willing to do many more, which they can also add to their e-portfolio.) This plan can be handed/ ed to each student. There is also an accompanying plan for you, the teacher, based on each e-portfolio task. The task plans suggest using different software packages, but choose the one you feel most comfortable with. The tasks here are not meant to challenge anyone technology-wise. Your students may also have many other suggestions for software packages, or indeed for additional e-portfolio ideas. Where to save e-portfolios Each school has a different level of computer access. Some schools have school platforms that allow students and teachers to access various files, others do not. Some students have personal computers, tablets, etc. Others rely on access to school computer rooms. With this in mind, the majority of the tasks that accompany Spirals are group tasks. The lesson plans emphasise preparation work. Students are encouraged to sketch out a plan of their presentation before they create it on a computer. Template plans are provided where applicable to help students visualise their work. This means that once students access the computer room, their work is well prepared and valuable time is not wasted. Storing the e-portfolios can also be a simple process. If your school does not have a shared platform, then a USB key is the simplest form of storing each student s e-portfolio. Sharing files can also be conducted through . Alternatively there are a number of free cloud storage systems such as Dropbox. You can find out how Dropbox works by going to: There are also many integrated systems that can be used to share and communicate with your students. You will find two options that you may want to look at on the next page: 2

7 1 Edmodo Edmodo allows students and teachers to exchange resources and to collaborate with each other. It is free and safe for students to use. (Students and teachers can also download the app.) You can find an introduction to Edmodo by going to: 2 Schoology Schoology is a free learning management system that allows you to communicate easily with your students. Students can also communicate with each other. You can find out more about Schoology by visiting: Software used in the e-portfolio activities In creating your e-portfolio we suggest using the following software packages. These are only suggestions, however, and you may find other software to suit your needs equally. If you are uncomfortable with technology, it might be a good idea to focus on one package such as PowerPoint first. Once you are comfortable using it, move on to another software package. Some students may be more familiar with some of the software packages than they are with others. Therefore, you may wish to dedicate one class to demonstrating how a software package works. Once students have mastered that package, move on to a task which introduces the next software. Here is a summary of the software packages suggested for each e-portfolio activity. 3

8 Unit 1 Lucidpress ( There are numerous packages that allow you to create a newsletter. One such package is Lucidpress. It is free to use. Different groups can access one document. Click on the following link to find out how to use the software: EdCreate ( This website allows students to create their own puzzles, wordsearches, etc. A free 30-day trial is available. Puzzlemaker ( This is a simple and free website for creating wordsearches and crosswords. 4

9 Unit 2 Animoto ( Animoto allows students to create their own videos with text, music, etc. It is free to use. Teachers can gain access to Animoto Pro accounts for free by signing up at: You can find a step-by-step video on how to get started at: Unit 3, Unit 5 and Unit 8 Microsoft PowerPoint One of the most accessible, and probably most familiar software with teachers, is PowerPoint. Students can design their own templates, add images, create a photo album, add animation, record audio narrations, etc. The latest versions of Microsoft PowerPoint also allow you to broadcast the slideshow to remote viewers using a web browser. Learn more about PowerPoint by clicking on the link below: RZ aspx Unit 6 Glogster ( A Glog is a very simple way to create your own interactive poster or webpage. You can include a variety of multimedia elements from text, audio, images and video. There is a free version available with a 30-day premium trial. Find out more about Glogster here: 5

10 Unit 7 Mixbook ( Mixbook is an easy and fun way to make completely customisable photobooks, cards and calendars on the web for free. You can find video tutorials on Mixbook at: Unit 9 SurveyMonkey ( SurveyMonkey allows students to create and publish surveys easily and for free. You can learn how to create a survey by going to: 6

11 Organising the e-portfolio The e-portfolio activities for Spirals emphasise the importance of organisation. The naming and saving of the files for each e-portfolio task should be a part of the process. Students should be encouraged to create a system for organising material to allow them to easily access and identify projects. In each unit we have offered suggestions of how to organise texts, photos, etc. into various folders. It is also a good idea to let students name the file themselves if they are adding their own material. This way the material which they produce means something to them. Spirals Unit 3 Book proposal Front cover Images Text Photos, music and copyright Many of the tasks rely on the use of visual images. Students should be encouraged to use their own photos where possible. This reinforces the personal aspect of the task. If students are using photos from the internet, guide them towards the copyright-free image websites such as: Your students can access royalty-free music at the following sites: Some software programmes (e.g. Animoto) include music and photos as part of the package. You can teach your students more about copyright by using this interactive website: 7

12 An e-learning diary As students embark on their post-primary education, it is important that they begin to understand how they best learn. They should record their feelings, responses and opinions to various texts which they meet along their three-year journey. Each unit has a reflection template, which encourages students to reflect on the knowledge and skills that they have developed. It also invites students to set personal goals. A reflection template should be submitted with each task. Assessment templates are also included in each unit. They provide a structure for students to assess their own as well as other students work. The e-portfolio is an ideal medium for students to record and collect their thoughts. Therefore, you may wish to consider the following: At the beginning of the year, ask students to create a folder called My e-learning diary. If you have a version of Word which allows you to choose a template for a new document, choose the format of the diary entry. As a weekly homework task you can ask your students to write a diary entry which gives their personal opinion on the text or topic they worked on in class. As they complete each unit, ask the students to write their own summary of what they liked, didn t like, what they found unusual or a new fact they learned, etc. Each diary entry is named by the students individually. At the end of the year/term you can review the diaries and note and share any interesting entries with the class. However, the diaries should be personal to each student. If you are using Edmodo ( Schoology ( or some similar system, you can also create a forum for the sharing of ideas. We hope you enjoy creating an e-portfolio with your First Year students! The Authors 8