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Portfolios and Assessment for Learning Quiz

Published
by
nick
on June 18, 2008
in Assessment for Learning, Formative Assessment, Web 2.0 and ePortfolios
. 0 Comments

When discussing my research with interested people one of the easiest ways for me to demonstrate a concept we are trying to achieve with the ePortfolios can be best illustrated by comparing portfolios that are assessments OF learning against those that are assessments FOR learning.

Dr Helen Barrett discusses this in her publication White Paper: Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement.

To engage an audience in this concept I often ask them to complete a quiz based on Dr Barrett’s comparisons.

While usually I would use Hot Potatoes for this, I have been experimenting with various other online quiz solutions.

Here are a couple to get you started. How well do you know the difference?

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Assessment OF or FOR Learning? from MyStudiyo

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Assessment OF or FOR Learning? from PurposeGames

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Assessment OF or FOR Learning? using J-Match from Hot Potatoes

We don’t have computers at school…

Published
by
nick
on June 12, 2008
in ICT, Parents and eLearning
. 0 Comments

newspaper.jpg

I came across this article in a local community newspaper at the weekend. I have blurred the details of the school but have highlighted the most interesting part for me.

My first thought was, “Yikes! How can a school have such an opposing philosophy on learning in the 21st century than my own?”

The school’s own website (does not seem to have been updated since 2005) states:

We do not have computers in the school for use by pupils.

Then continues:

We believe that the human relationship between teacher and child is the key to healthy learning. Only another human being can respond to expressed interest, fire with enthusiasm, and lead by example.

I have no arguments with those concepts!

Older pupils in the upper school however, not only have access to computers, but are encouraged to use them. Many pupils use the Internet to research Main Lesson topics, and several have had success with web page design. Computing is a useful skill, which can be picked up quickly when it is needed. The life skills that we teach here - social, artistic and intellectual - cannot be so easily assimilated and are vital for a fulfilling life.

I am a little confused now. Do they use computers or not? If not, is it really because, as suggested in the article,

…we don’t think computer literacy is a skill that takes seven years to learn.

Woah there! Computer literacy is forever changing, sometimes on a daily and certainly a weekly basis. Take the release of the iPhone 3G this week. The incredible capability of this and other smart phones has pushed the boundaries of computer literacy to different levels and meaning. What about the continual development in Web 2.0 tools? A site I subscribe to has countless new tools or sites to look at every week.

Are we preparing our students for life in the 21st century if we deliberately plan not to include computers in our learning? I think not.

By the way, could you live without a screen for a month?

Creating and Strengthening the Links between Parents, Teachers and Others

Published
by
nick
on June 9, 2008
in Parents, Research, Teachers and ePortfolios
. 0 Comments

Futurelab is one sight that I often visit even though their RSS feed from their Projects page zips into my Google Reader automatically.

I recently revisited a project named My-E, which initially caught my interest after reading the project pdf:

The central aim of this project is to pilot an idea which aims to strengthen the ‘personal learning networks’ of young people - creating and strengthening the links between parents, teachers and others significant to the child’s learning - and to encourage dialogue within this network that will form the basis of more personalised learning pathways.

While the My-E project is directed at 5 & 6 year old students, it has a number of commonalities with the underlying themes and aims of this ePortfolio project. In fact the whole ePortfolio project was initially based around the idea of creating a community of learners, fostering a greater shared understanding for learners, their parents and staff of formative practice.

Our ePortfolios can facilitate, as described in the My-E pdf:

how digital technologies can be used to document, enable and enhance meaningful two-way home-school dialogue

and additionally dialogue between students.

I looked forward to reading the results of the project which begins classroom trials in August of 2008.

More Internet Safety

Published
by
nick
on June 3, 2008
in Online Security
. 0 Comments

Further reading on the issue of Internet safety has lead me to a transcript of a panel discussion at the Just The Facts About Online Youth Victimization - Researchers Present the Facts and Debunk Myths conference.

One panelist, Dr. Michele Ybarra, president of the Internet Solutions for Kids, states:

We assumed that if young people are posting and sending personal information to other people, this must place them at greater risk for victimization.

The data suggest that the vast majority of young people who are meeting adults online are not deceived and instead, knowingly, at least as knowingly as a young person can, consent to this relationship. And we’re learning that it’s not the sending and posting of personal information that increases one’s risk for victimization online…

This highlights to me the misconception that we do have in our society. That is, by posting personal information, even as simple as a student photo captioned with their name, will lead on to negative and inappropriate consequences. It doesn’t.

Let me reinforce that I am not saying that the Internet is a safe place that students can post information and surf without reservation or concern.

What I am saying is that in the context of a school web site or an ePortfolio, opening these up to the local (and global) Internet audiences will not have associated risks. The research clearly shows this is not how Internet predators operate.

More discussion on Dr Ybarra’s research can be found here.

Parents, if you would like more information about what to do and talk about with your children regarding Internet safety, please go to netsafe.org.nz or Hector’s World where you will find a wealth of information and practical ideas and activities for children.

ePortfolios, PLEs & Mini Notebooks

Published
by
nick
on May 28, 2008
in Mobility, ePortfolios and mLearning
. 0 Comments

I read and watched with interest the news about the VIA Open Source Notebook on the TechCrunch blog. Open source software and now open source computers.

Love the 2 way camera! While I am a through and through Mac user and always have been, it seems as though there is a gap in the Mac market for the void that I want to fill. That is to have a small portable tool enabling the ePortfolio to transform, or additionally become, what people may refer to as a Personal Learning Environment (refer to Graham Attwell’s blog for his take on PLEs.). True anywhere anytime cost-effective portability for learning, sharing learning and social communication.

The mini laptop seems to be the right tool for the job. Small, virtually no footprint, portable (i.e. throw it in your backpack). For me the concept seems to fill the gap between the MacBook and the iPhone. That is, a small portable device that can access all the Web 2 tools the students use as well as record still and video, project to a projector, wireless, bluetooth… an all on one solution that is small, lightweight and portable and does not require a highly expensive mobile broadband account as a mobile does. And it is cheap!

The Linux version of an Asus is only $520. Entry level MacBooks: $1649…

I hear you say, “But it’s not a Mac!”  Does that matter anymore? I exclusively use Web 2 tools for the majority of my work. Whether I use Linux, Windows or OS X it does not effect the tools I use on the web.

I am not alone in thinking this, in his Switched On column, Ross Rubin says,

the historically hazy and suddenly hot device space between the cellphone and the notebook is emerging as the best shot yet for the Linux…

One cannot finish without mentioning the XO, the laptop developed by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) social welfare organization. Or indeed the upcoming XO2 seen above…

Food for thought.

ePortfolio Criteria

Published
by
nick
on May 26, 2008
in ePortfolios
. 0 Comments

Before deciding on our new ePortfolio solution, the teachers involved in the research project came up with a number of criteria based on a PIMS brainstorm (plus, interesting, minus & solutions). They critically looked at ePortfolios as they were currently being implemented at our school using iWeb and the new direction they wanted them to go. Here are their thoughts:

Web based (anywhere, anytime): Strong interest expressed to create online portfolios rather than saved to CD. The ability to work on and view the ePortfolio from any computer both within school and home would allow greater flexibility for all participants.

Web 2.0 tools integration: Increasingly student learning incorporates the use of Web 2.0 tools such as Animoto, You Tube or Google Docs. Being able to embed or access this learning within the portfolio is desirable as is the ability for interactivity such as RSS feeds, commenting and feedback.

Ability to comment and reflect: Teachers discussed the need for the students, parents and teachers to be able to actively comment on student learning during and after learning is posted in the portfolio.

Ability to demonstrate learning: The ePortfolio solution needs to be able to display (show within the portfolio not provide a link to file) all the possible media that the students will generate or want to share. This includes but is not limited to: podcasts and movies (m4v, m4a, mov), documents (pdf), images (jpg, png, gif) and embedding Web 2.0 content.

Social networking: If the solution could help facilitate collaboration between user and generate a social learning network it would be an additional benefit to assist learners in obtaining feedback and constructive comments for further learning.

Secure: Making the online portfolios secure and password protected is a high priority especially for parents.

User friendly: Teachers were very clear that the ePortfolio solution should be easy to use for everyone from the Year 3 students to the parents and potentially, relatives who are overseas. This will mean the emphasis of the portfolios is on learning and reflecting, not the constant teaching of skills that enable it to be done.

Aesthetics: The presented solution should be visually clean with a simple yet functional layout.

User storage space: The solution requires the ability to provide a significant amount of disk space for each user. Based on the ePortfolios of 2007, this would be an average of 100MB per user.

Manageability: The solution needs to be easy to set-up, manage users, administer and moderate comments. This is especially so for the teachers who need to access a whole class of student learning for commenting and feedback.

Expandable: The solution needs to be able to incorporate any new technology or learning innovation that may occur.

Tech know how: The solution needs the users and administrators free from having any specific computing knowledge such as the ability to program in html or php. Any problems and questions should be able to be answered through the products associated online tech support or documentation.

Tech support: There needs to be an active user community with associated forums, documentation and development.

Free: A free ePortfolio solution would be ideal although this may also incur additional hosting costs.

More digital storage

Published
by
nick
on May 20, 2008
in Storage and ePortfolios
. 0 Comments

My earlier praises of divShare have lost their shine due to the ongoing frustration of pop-up adds. Simple enough to block, especially using a browser like Firefox, but no user should have to worry about them, especially students focused on their learning. So instead I have begun using Vimeo, a fast and sleek video sharing site with a little social networking thrown in for good luck.

I can upload mov and m4v files which is perfect for a Mac user and upload up to 500MB per week including HD movies. The quality and speed is excellent and the interface user friendly. Additionally I can embed movies in any ePortfolio using the excellent Video Embedder plug-in.

At this stage, highly recommended.

Internet Safety

Published
by
nick
on May 19, 2008
in Online Security
. 0 Comments

The first report that I have read, Internet-initiated sex crimes against minors: implications for prevention based on findings from a national study, is a comprehensive study designed to examine internet-initiated sex offenses of persons aged 17 and younger in the USA. The data was collected from surveying a random sample of law enforcement agencies in 2001 and 2002.

The results:

Victims in these crimes were primarily 13- through 15-year-old teenage girls (75%) who met adult offenders (76% older than 25) in Internet chat rooms. Most offenders did not deceive victims about the fact that they were adults who were interested in sexual relationships. Most victims met and had sex with the adults on more than one occasion. Half of the victims were described as being in love with or feeling close bonds with the offenders. Almost all cases with male victims involved male offenders. Offenders used violence in 5% of the episodes.

The conclusion of the study reinforced the all the concepts we already know. Acknowledging that these online relationships exist and having frank discussions about inappropriate relationships and the detrimental effects of these to developing youth.

While this does not address my original question, Will opening up student ePortfolios to a global audience increase the chances of inappropriate contact? It does demonstrate, in this study at least, that no child under 12 had any internet-initiated crime committed against them. 91% of crimes were initiated in chat rooms, instant messaging or email.

Of further interest to me was that prevention messages that are commonly publicised often do not take into account what is actually happening with youth social life and Internet practice. Simply telling them not to do it is not enough, the question is why are they doing it?

 At the same time, one study has demonstrated that youth were more likely to form online friendships or romances if they were troubled or, depending on gender, had high levels of conflict or low levels of communication with parents. Adolescents with these sorts of problems may be more vulnerable to online victimization.

So the question still remains, will our students be at risk if their portfolios are open to all? Data from this study would suggest that that would not be the case.

A walled garden or not?

Published
by
nick
on May 7, 2008
in Online Security
. 0 Comments

There is an understanding amongst most teachers and parents that by opening up student web sites to be accessed by all, that we are putting them at risk of being noticed by certain members of society that we would not want to associate with. In this instance we are referring to displaying images or movies of a student on a web site with their name or some identifiable information, we are allowing them to be identified and then approached by ‘internet pedophiles’.

I agree wholeheartedly that child safety should always come first, we don’t want to put any child at risk of being a victim of any inappropriate behaviour - but are our fears justified? What are we basing our fear on? Are we overreacting? Do we need to shut the gate and control access to the sharing of student learning?

I have started to look more closely at this issue simply because I believe that opening up student learning to a global audience has the potential to engage and motivate the learner to a higher level. In a scenario, a student has openly posted a new podcast on their ePortfolio, this is then made available for the global internet audience to view and comment upon. The student receives comments from all over the world, and in different languages and even video responses. This leads on to more sharing and even collaborative projects with other learners across the globe…

This already happens of course to a certain extent, one just needs to look at You Tube to see how sharing movies is done so effectively. Also many portfolio solutions allow for public and private views of artifacts. There will always be some information that is not for public viewing. But should all shared learning be anonymous or hidden behind passwords?

So are our fears justified? What does the research and data tell us? To begin with I have been reading numerous recent studies, reports and surveys on Internet safety. These have been accessed at Just The Facts About Online Youth Victimization Researchers Present the Facts and Debunk Myths. The information is very interesting and highlights the potential and real dangers of Internet use but also many misconceptions. What does this mean for the security of the students’ portfolios?

So my two key questions are really:

  1. Will opening up student ePortfolios to a global audience increase the chances of inappropriate contact?
  2. Will opening up student ePortfolios to a global audience lead to improved student learning?

I will add further posts as I finish reading all reports!

divShare for Video Storage

Published
by
nick
on May 7, 2008
in Storage
. 0 Comments

I have begun trialling divShare for the online storage and sharing of video content. The screencast How to movies on this site are now stored on DivShare. A simply and straightforward process although embedding the flash movies within this site is proving difficult. The link to the movie is perfectly adequate at this stage and works seemlessly.