E-PORTFOLIOS IN STUDENTS’ PLEs: AN INTEGRATING TOOL

VERY SHORT PAPER ON THE MIND MAP POSTER

Gemma Tur Ferrer,

Universitat de les Illes Balears (Eivissa’s Headquarters), Spain
gemma.tur@uib.es

Abstract
This is a very short paper to explain and extend the mind map also submitted to
talk about a project that tries to join together the strength of an e-portfolio
integrated into the Personal Learning Environment of pre and in service
teachers.

1. Background
Here we present an on-going experience planned to be developed over a four-
year period and that initiated this school year 2009-10.

It started out as an e-portfolio project but from the very beginning it was
detected that its success would only be completely fulfilled if students feel the
necessity to develop their work from the initial e-portfolio to a whole PLE of
themselves.

The project is based on one basic idea: students need to live, as students
themselves, ICT based activities to help them build up their own knowledge and
to have examples which could be applied when they become teachers. This
idea is based on the research Integrating ICT in teacher training: a chanllenging
balance by T. Karsenty and others (2002).

But there are also two theoretical frameworks to highlight: all 20th century
theories which form the constructivist framework; and, especially, George
Siemen’s connectivism theory. Apart from these two theoretical bodies, Mishra
and Koehler’s TPCK model is an interesting point of view from which to analyze
the best teaching practices regarding technological pedagogical content
knowledge as the best form of basic teaching practices.

2. Description of approach used

The platform for their e-portfolio blogs is Blogger. There is also an streaming
website supported by Netvibes and which address is:
http://www.netvibes.com/eportafoliodestudis#General
Other platforms already used in some of the student’s personal enviroments are
Flickr, Slideshare, Slideboom, Goear, Youtbe…

There is a plan to exchange opinions on their own work as well as peer

evaluation but this is the next step. It has been considered that students need
time to work on their own personal environment before they get the first
opinions of their work from their classmates. So, the platform has still to be
chosen for task.
 3. Results of work done
The e-portfolio project has already started and we can say with pride that most
students have joined the project and have fully developed the main skeleton of
their own e-portfolio.

Most of them have started publishing their works on their blogs, checking their
colleagues’ works, browsing the web for related material to comment on and
probably, learning simply by trying to write down their thoughts on concrete
educational matters.

But some others have even gone further and have taken their first steps into
what could end up as a true PLE. They have started taking and uploading
photos, preparing powerpoint presentations to share online, signing in for their
own accounts on Youtube to upload their own videos… Their relationship with
the net is not only to get input but to produce output to share too. Their learning
environment has gone beyond that of traditional student and the net is a part of
their learning environment, empowering their ability to learn and certainly,
promoting the networked teaching profile and ultimately lifelong learning.

4. Conclusion
The conclusion of this first year experience is reasonably positive as it can be
shown from the description of the situation so far. But the success of this first
school year has some limitations to bear in mind for the next school year.

First of all, students have felt overwhelmed by the workload to be handed in

during the course. The Bologna process may not be the best companion for the
project at least during the first steps when lacking the whole institutional
support. The project should be an integrated work in all subjects of the teaching
degree but this is not the case at the present time.

Another important limitation is that they have not started enjoying the learning
through knowing other teachers committed to their teaching practice and they
have not joined social networks related to education. They simply feel so
stressed by the formal syllabus that they cannot enjoy informal learning or their
own interests in education.

And all these limitations are probably caused mainly because they haven’t
internalized the power of autonomous learning thanks to the evolution of the
web 2.0 But we can still be hopeful as they are students in their first year at
University and we all know the concern of all students about exams,
assignments and the official syllabus.

As regards the project itself, there are some changes to be considered, before
we start the new school year, which are basically about organization.

The project suggested that the students should start seven blogs linked
together to form a composite e-portfolio which would be the introduction
website of their e-portfolio. Each blog was going to be focused on different
topics and aimed at different ways of conceptualization of an e-portfolio. For
example, there was a blog aimed at showing the best competence achieved by
the student in every subject; another one, that would be the diary, especially
based on the emotional part of their own learning; another one to link all the
findings and comments on them that students make when browsing the web on
their own, looking for newspaper articles, educational magazines, videos,
presentations or whatever which is relevant and useful for them. There was
another one intended to be the assessment blog on the e-porfolio project itself,
which has been the one that has failed, because students did not know enough
at first to start valuing it or being able to assess it. Anyway, at the end of the
year, as it has been too much for them to cope with everything. In fact, my role
as tutor of this group of students and as project coordinator, has been to foster
the worthwhile the worth value aspects of the current e-portfolio project and
avoid the negative ones in order to reorganize and start afresh with them again
the following year.

The first steps have been taken and the next year seems to be the key for the
success of the whole experience. So, let’s hope, that we can improve this year’s
failures and keep on working on its successful aspects so that students enjoy
expanding their own PLE and therefore, the e-porfolio is improved by the
richness of the sources that feed students’ self-reflection.

5. The mind map

This mind map tries to summarize the conceptualization of an ongoing project
that is currently being developed at the University of the Balearic Islands, in its
headquarters on Eivissa (Balearic Islands, Spain).

The target group is the first promotion of the new degree in Infant Education on
the new Bologna syllabus. The theoretical framework has already been
introduced in the first part of this very short paper. But what are the aims of the
project? Why should we start this e-portfolio project that has already developed
into a more complex project which relates the quality of the student’s e-portfolio
to the expansion of their PLE?

There are some basic reasons that, in fact, at the end, could be summarized
briefly: empowering the future networked teacher so that when they start their
future professional career they do not simply start repeating the same traditional
teaching methodologies that they experienced as students.

It seems that students start their education at University with a limited PLE only
made up of their family, friends and classmates, the media, their teachers and
the official syllabus of the subjects. But although the syllabus is a fully online
documented subject and students could follow it in institutional VLEs, the
relationship with the net is still limited and restricted with no real student centred
approach to the online resources. Therefore, at this stage there is no academic
use of the Internet: simply for fun and social relationship with peers or at most, a
guided relationship.
Therefore, it seems that gradually developing a PLE will improve reflexions and
writings on their e-portfolio. It seems logical to assume that the richer the PLE,
the richer the personal e-portfolio.

A complete PLE will allow both the pre-service and the in-service teacher to
create, innovate, learn, share, connect, collaborate, show evidence of learning
and be updated with new educational framework.

But, a PLE and the related e-portfolio will also allow them to start building the
framework of teaching ethos principles. The contention here is that most novice
teachers start their professional career as traditional teachers; they simply
repeat the traditional methodology that have lived as traditional students. But,
will it be the same if they have started expanding their own PLE and have
written all their thoughts on a public e-portfolio? Will a rich PLE with social
networks on education empower the future novice teacher? Will the novice
teacher, who has lived enough rich educational experiences as a student, apply
to them when starting teaching? Will they try to be coherent and consistent with
their own writings? Will they fight for their own beliefs that have constructed on
teaching methodology? Will they fight to do as teachers what they defended as
students? Will they be committed to their own learning and writing and their
teaching practices?

I have no evidence so far but everything seems to indicate that a networked

student will start building a strong framework based on relevant educational
theory personally debated on their e-portfolio. Does not it seem that all these
together can foster the innovator and networked teacher?

Finally, following the TPCK model, it seems that the technological pedagogical
content knowledge that the student with a powerful and wide PLE who has also
written their own thoughts on their e-portfolio will be the key for the future
innovative novice in-service teacher. Will these teachers greatly improve their
teaching and their students’ learning?

6. Bibliography
Karsenty, T; Brodeur, M; Deaudelin, C; Lorese, F; Tardif, M (2002):
Integrating ICT in teacher training: a chanllenging balance.
http://www.cesc.ca/pceradocs/2002/papers/TKarsenti_TEN.pdf (last view: 8th
May 2010)

Punya Mishra and Matthiew J. Koehler (2006): Technological Pegagogical

Content Knowledge: a Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Michigan State
University.
http://punya.educ.msu.edu/publications/journal_articles/mishra-koehler-
tcr2006.pdf (last view: 8th May 2010)

Siemens, George (2006): Knowing knowledge.

http://www.elearnspace.org/KnowingKnowledge_LowRes.pdf (last view: 8 May
2010