The way students learn has evolved and changed drastically from the time we were in school. As educators, we must drive innovation and always be on top of ways to make our students more successful in their learning and throughout their lives. I have compiled an innovation project to move one of the schools I work with, into a revitalized form of learning, discovery, and assessment through the use of ePortfolios. These living documents can comprise of student work, goals and achievements, photos and projects, videos, essays and so much more. Teachers can utilize these ePortfolios for assessment of student understanding, growth made, and get an understanding of what previous skills they may have. It also gives students a voice and allows them to express themselves freely by giving them the independence to choose what they share on their ePortfolios and how. Kids today are so in tune with current trends, technology and creating media. Imagine giving them the opportunity to use those skills to create their own online portfolios that will allow them to reflect back on and recognize how they’ve grown in their learning. Student artifacts for their ePortfolios could range from student written essays to project based learning projects where students can chronicle every aspect of how they arrived at their final product.
The Innovation Proposal will be presented to the leaders of the campus to help them understand what I am proposing to move into, goals, outcomes, and how we will work towards advancement. I have included a Literature Review to further validate my research, and the possible success we may have if we implement this project. The Implementation Outline I designed, contains six phases for successful implementation. Phase 1 is preparation of implementation, including the presentation to school leadership team and completing campus needs in order to successfully follow through. The second phase is designated for planning with a leadership group created composed of teachers who will take the lead in a pilot implementation of the ePortfolios. Phase 3 and 4 are for implementation pilot of select 4th and 5th grade classrooms and a reflection of how the implementation pilot was executed. The remaining phases are for full campus-wide implementation as well as sustainability of the program.
During the preliminary implementation stage, I have chosen a series of books that I’d like to introduce to the leaders of the pilot program to create a learning collaboration and book club, helping develop our skills and knowledge in successful utilization. The information we gain from the books (Annotated Bibliography), will be used to guide teachers during the full implementation phase.
The overall success of incorporating ePortfolios will be seen across all areas of learning through increased levels of reflection, depth of knowledge, expanded skills in research and critical thinking, which all lead to higher test scores and success of our students in their learning.
Dream, Believe, Inspire 