14. TITLE OF PROGRAM:

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1 14. TITLE OF PROGRAM: Electronic Portfolios AUTHOR: Luis Cordero SITE OF THE PROGRAM: East Valley High School, Yakima, WA PURPOSE OF PROGRAM The goal of this program was to facilitate student access to an electronic portfolio. This program covered the cohort Two Valleys/ One Vision and the cohort SKY s the Limit. The precedent in the past had been to create a paper portfolio with all the best works, journals for keeping track of transcripts, community hours, career searches, cover letters, personal statements, and more. Our society has increasing relied on paperless communication, and more colleges and universities have required electronic formatted admissions. The educational system has also followed this trend, and the goal of the Electronics Portfolios program was to provide a technological education for the students enrolled in the GEAR UP program. SCHOOL DESCRIPTION During , East Valley High School, located east of Yakima, Washington, had an enrollment of 687 students in grades % of the students achieved proficiency in reading and 40.5 were judged to be proficient in math. Almost 41 percent of the students were believed to come from families that were economically disadvantaged. PARTNER IDENTIFIED The Early Outreach Partnership Project of Washington State University, Tri-Cities, and the University of Washington, were identified as partners in the project.

2 PRE-IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES East Valley High School decided to partner with the Two Valleys One Vision (TVOV) and SKY s the limit (SKY) GEAR UP Programs during , the 4 th year of the U.S Department of Education funded GEAR UP Program administrated by the University of Washington in partnership with local school districts and community organizations. It was observed that during the 4 th year of the program, cohort students would complete the 9 th and 10 th grades respectively, and the TVOV program would serve 250 students, while the SKY program would provide services for 200 students. PROGRAM NARRATIVE Starting with the students in the Two Valleys/ One Vision cohort and incorporating the SKY s the Limit cohort, the electronic portfolios program proposed to provide a mobile computer lab and a dedicated server to help build electronic portfolios. It was proposed that at the end of four years of high school, students in the program would be able to produce the necessary media needed to enter a college or university, and produce a resume needed for application to a trade school, technical college, or apprentice programs. The stated goal was that student would have access to the WOIS / Career Information System (Washington Occupation Informational System) which would provide the structure for the implementation and compilation of their academic and community efforts. It has been demonstrated that the WOIS electronic portfolio is a convenient method for storing a student s career research, educational plans, assessment records, and work or community experiences. PRE- AND POST-IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES The WOIS program has decided to offer four assessment tools for the students discovery of the careers which relate to their skills and abilities. It has been stated that the program would offer more than 500 up-to-date Career Descriptions which would help students learn the career tasks and activities, skills and training required, and wages they would expect to earn. It has been decided that the assessment would cover the following four areas: Career interest areas

3 Activity interest profiler Work importance locator Skills assessment It has been planned that these assessments will be cross-referenced to occupations and educational programs arranged by clusters and career paths, and provide links to professional associations, college websites, financial aid and college searches, actual job openings, and licensing agencies, with additional connections to Essential Academic Learning Matrix, and cross-referenced to Washington State s EALRS. IMPLEMENTATION Previously, time for career exploration was limited to the Connections classes. The Connections class was a time where a Connections teacher had twenty students assigned with the intent of forming bonds and offering guidance in post-secondary exploration. To reduce the ratio of students to teachers, all available rooms were devoted to Connections classes. The conventional computer center was dedicated to a permanent Connections class during the Connections time slot. The program designers of the Electronic Portfolios program have arranged for the Connections class to continue to use the static computer lab. The displacements of a class to another location and student movement to a traditional computer lab have not been shown to be effective uses of educational time. The designers of the Electronic Portfolios program created a mobile lab to solve this problem. They felt that the mobile lab would provide additional computers for students in the classroom, as opposed to taking students to the traditional computer lab. They designed the lab to be fully functional with Internet access, ibooks, Word Processing and Laser printing, and mobile so that it could be rolled into the classroom. It was planned that the mobile lab would be used during the Connections classes, and also by the other disciplines taught at the school. The mobile lab was designed to make it possible for classes to get computer access when it otherwise might have been impossible since the regular computer labs have been heavily used, especially by classes that book for an entire term. The lab was

4 primarily designed to be used for occasional bookings and not as a full-term or extensive bookings facility. IMPRESSIVE ITEMS The setting up of a comprehensive technological learning environment at the host sites To have all the students in the Two Valleys/ One Vision cohort set up an electronic portfolio To generate documentation as to the type of usage of the mobile lab in the Connections class To generate usage documentation in other disciplines SUMMARY OF PROGRAM The originators of this program have argued that mobile wireless network technology has become widespread, and it is essential to educate students about this new form of communication. The designers of electronic portfolios program felt that one of the benefits of mobile computing education was that classes focusing on this topic would support new methods of education. In particular they have stated that the development of wireless communication together with portable devices allows freedom of both mobility and creativity in curriculum and assignments. The program designers felt that students would move around with the computers or sit in whatever seating arrangement desired - such as small groups that may facilitate collaborative learning. With the flexibility of wireless technology, the program designers believed that teachers would find it easier to implement a collaborative student-centered classroom compared with using a conventional computer lab. It was felt that this would result in the classroom becoming more of a community in which all members would interact more effectively, which was the goal of the Connections classes. PLANNING TIMELINE

5 First meeting to discuss concept Follow-up meetings and designated assignments of teachers and staff Arrangement for the enrollment of students PROJECT COSTS / COST CONSIDERATIONS The budget for the project included the following items: staff stipends, travel, snacks, and supplies; the hardware components in the configuration including a Bretford mobile cart, with slots to store and recharge up to 32 laptops, as well as a six-wheel design easy to move from room to room. It has been decided to load the cart with 20 Apple ibooks that have AirPort cards for wireless networking; with laptops fully charged overnight, and as long as an allocation of at least one hour of charging midday, the cart available throughout an eight-hour day. The program designers purchased a Mobile Lab with an b-compliant Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station that provides wireless network access within a perimeter of about 150 feet - more than adequate for any classroom. Finally, the program designers determined that the lab would include an HP LaserJet P2015dn laser printer, two Canon Powershot A460 digital cameras, two Canon Camcorders Mini DV ZR 800, and M-Audio Oxygen 8 Controller keyboard. School funds-professional development for training Partner funds and / or resources Volunteers for event, including community members, faculty, and staff members CONTACT INFORMATION Luis L. Cordero GEAR UP Site Coordinator East Valley School Dist.#90 cordero.luis@evsd90.wednet.edu Tele Fax ATTACHMENTS

6 Article: Improving school performance and career preparation with a wireless computer lab. Article from: T H E Journal (Technological Horizons in Education) Article date: October 1, 2003 Author:Styron, Ronald, Jr. ; Disher, Fan