Journal #11

Digital Portfolios and the Importance of Starting Early

As a future educator, it is important to understand the purpose and importance of putting together a digital portfolio. A digital portfolio is a great way to showcase your skills in technology before even beginning at a new job. It is a great way to stand out among other applicants for any positions you might be applying for as a technologically savvy educator. Most people in the education world will admit that there is a great value in being able to seamlessly integrate technology into your classroom. Not only should you as a teacher have a digital portfolio but it is also a great idea to cultivate digital portfolios with each of your students as well. There is a great blog posting I found from the Getting Smart blog that discusses the merit in developing digital portfolios with your students.

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In the post the author, Kathy Cassidy, discusses the success she has found in developing digital portfolios, via a blogging platform, with the six year olds that she teaches. These online portfolios are a collection of all of the students work from reading to math. It is an age old practice to collect and organize your student’s projects to track their process, she has just modernized the process by taking these portfolios digital. It is a great way to keep parents as involved as possible when they can just log on to their child’s digital portfolio and see exactly what their child has been achieving at school. She also discusses how the students tend to put more effort into their projects when they know it is not only their teacher that is going to see their work, but also anyone who can access their blog. She says it can be a great motivator.

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Creating a blog at such a young age is also a great gateway to discuss many important issues like making sure that you aren’t posting any personal information on the web. The fact that we live in an increasingly digital world is something that we can’t deny. The post states, “Children need to learn early that it is important to present yourself well online and some of the ways that can be done.” Honestly, I really couldn’t agree more. I look forward to using this knowledge in my future classrooms.

The video below is a great example of a teacher using technology to explain the importance of a digital portfolio.