D-Portfolio

DIGITAL PORTFOLIO, WHAT IS IT?



**DEFINITION ONE:**

"Digital portfolios, sometimes referred to as multimedia portfolios, electronic portfolios, e-folios and web folios contain much of the content traditional portfolios include but present these materials in digital format. Materials, also called artefacts, are presented using a combination of multimedia technologies such as audio recordings, database, spreadsheet, video and others. Digital portfolios are a way of showcasing student achievement through class assignments, community service, and occupational experience. Basically, a digital portfolio means that students can save their work to a disk, a CD, or a web page"

//Taking into account the above definiton and the elements of what a DP actually aims to achieve, it's a perfect way to make a learning environment much more enjoyable and motivational with the use of a digital portfolio, where students can continously add audio recordings, database, spreadsheets, videos and other interesting methods that increases the important aspects of the how influential a learning environment can actually be.//. [|//**http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=what+is+a+digital+portfolio&start=10&sa=N**//]  
 * DEFINITION TWO: **
 * **What are Digital or Electronic Portfolios? ** ||  || **How to Build a Portfolio: ** ||
 * Digital or electronic portfolios are selective and purposeful collections of student work. Portfolios are records of learning, growth, and change on the part of the student. They provide meaningful documentation of students' abilities. Portfolios provide information to students, parents, teachers, and members of the community about what students have learned or are able to do. They represent a learning history. Portfolios bring together curriculum, instruction and assessment. Through the use of portfolios teachers and students can develop a shared understanding of what constitutes quality work. The main characteristics of a porfolio include:

- Student - centered - Active Learning - Student Responsibility - Available to the community ( school, parents etc) - Showcase of work - Reflective ||  || Portfolios can be produced in both paper and digital formats. Several software programs make it easy to create digital portfolios. Suggested titles include: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Hyperstudio, and Adobe Acrobat.

The digital portfolio can be a "mini-documentary" for each student and burned to a CD-ROM. Using an "html" format eliminates searching for portfolio software. Anyone with limited computer skills can create a digital portfolio, but teachers would need to learn to use computer equipment, digital cameras, and scanners. It would be very helpful to team with a computer class instructor who could help you and the students work on the portfolios || [|**http://www.stocktonettc.net/tech/tips/portfolios.htm**]

 **DEFINTION THREE: **

An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web (also called Webfolio). Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. Some e-portfolio applications permit varying degrees of audience access, so the same portfolio might be used for multiple purposes.

An e-portfolio can be seen as a type of learning record that provides actual evidence of achievement. Learning records are closely related to the Learning Plan, an emerging tool that is being used to manage learning by individuals, teams, communities of interest, and organizations. To the extent that a Personal Learning Environment captures and displays a learning record, it also might be understood to be an electronic portfolio.

Students have been taught to create digital identities using presentation software or tools to create web pages. Such technologies, however, are not easily utilized by children or elderly people who lack web authoring skills or a hosted site. More recently the use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in schools and universities has led to an increased activity in the creation of e-portfolios for a variety of reasons. Most of these e-portfolios, however, are retained within the VLE and are not easily accessed outside the VLE. This results in problems of exporting data and related interoperability issues. An alternative approach is to use a system externally hosted to any institution. This permits transition through the various stages of education and employments and even into retirement.

E-portfolios, like traditional portfolios, can facilitate students' reflection on their own learning, leading to more awareness of learning strategies and needs.[1] Results of a comparative research between paper based portfolios and electronic portfolios in the same setting, suggest use of an electronic portfolio leads to better learning outcomes.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_portfolio 


 * DEFINITION FOUR: **

A portfolio is a collection of evidence that is gathered together to show a person’s learning journey over time and to demonstrate their abilities. Portfolios can be specific to a particular discipline, or very broadly encompass a person’s lifelong learning. Many different  kinds of evidence can be used in a portfolio: samples of writing, both finished and unfinished;   photographs; videos; research projects; observations and evaluations of supervisors, mentors   and peers; and reflective thinking about all of these. In fact, it is the reflections on the pieces of  evidence, the reasons they were chosen and what the portfolio creator learned from them, that   are the key aspect to a portfolio (Abrami & Barrett, 2005; Klenowski, Askew, & Carnell, 2006;   Loughran & Corrigan, 1995; Smith & Tillema, 2003; Wade & Yarbrough, 1996). In that way,  those compiling portfolios are active participants in their own learning (Wade, Abrami, & Sclater,  2005). Kimball (2005, p. 451) goes further, arguing that “neither collection nor selection [of   pieces to be incorporated into a portfolio] are worthwhile learning tasks without a basis in   reflection. Reflection undergirds the entire pedagogy of portfolios”. Two other key elements to  portfolios are that they measure learning and development over time (Barrett, 2000; Challis,   2005), and that it is the process of constructing a portfolio, rather than the end product, that is   where the learning takes place (Smith & Tillema, 2003). <span style="color: #2b43da; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> http://www.eportfoliopractice.qut.edu.au/docs/Butler%20-%20Review%20of%20lit%20on%20ePortfolio%20research%20-%20NZOct%202006.pdf



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