3 Keys for a Successful E-Portfolio Implementation Assessment | News 3 Keys for a Successful E-Portfolio Implementation Can educators help students meet standards without falling back on the low-bar, one-size-fits-all mechanism of standardized assessments? By Sharleen Nelson06/29/11 E-portfolios can be used to do more than just demonstrate student progress toward standards. But according to David Niguidula, author and founder of Ideas Consulting, the success of an e-portfolio initiative depends to some degree on the approach schools take to the implementation. For schools looking to implement digital portfolios into the classroom, Niguidula, who presented a session on e-portfolios at this year's ISTE conference in Philadelphia, highlighted three critical elements. 1. "We're looking at portfolios as an assessment tool, a tool where students can show what they can do and show that they are meeting expectations," Niguidula said. 2. "We learned early on that it's not enough just to put the work in there," Niguidula said. 3. About the Author
Tackk A Great Free Tool for Creating Digital Portfolios April 7, 2014 Tackk is a wonderful web page that you can use with your students in class to do a vareity of tasks. Students do not even need to register to use the service, however, unregistered Tackk pages last only for 7 days after which they are deleted. Students can use Tackk to create digital portfolios to display their digital works. These portfolios can include different materials such as text, photos, videos, and audio files. Head over to Tackk homepage and click on "create". Now you can either choose 'Blank Canvas' or ' blog post' either way, you will be directed to a Tackkboard where you can add your digital materials. Click on the + button and select what you want to add. You can add text, headlines, photos, videos, audio, buttons, maps, and forms. You can also use the authoring tools on the right to change text fonts, colours,and patterns. Click on 'options' to select whether you want your Tackk to be public or set it to private
How to Build Better ePortfolios 8/18/2008 By: by Sascha Zuger from Tech&Learning Tech-using educators know the many benefits of ePortfolios. They help get a handle on kids' interests, difficulties, and strengths. Techno-loving student thrive on the real-time interaction. Graphic arts and animation are obvious fodder for ePortfolios. Palie Cantu of the Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, in Bellevue, WA, noticed a recurring issue with her middle school math students. Palie used Forest Ridge's one-to-one program to create an interactive environment. Cantu recognized the benefit of the electronic progress report these actions naturally created. "Finding new ways to use technology led to new ways to learn," says Cantu. Parent-teacher conferences became a breeze. Most students stash their IPods or Nanos with a groan at the start of each class. Shirley created a unique program using the iPod classic and nano, along with a third-party Belkin voice recorder, to record student reading fluency and comprehension practice.
Elementary School Computer Lab Websites! How to Properly Research Online (and Not Embarrass Yourself with the Results) Warning: if you are going to argue a point about politics, medicine, animal care, or gun control, then you better take the time to make your argument legit. Spending 10 seconds with Google and copy-pasting wikipedia links doesn't cut it. The standard for an intelligent argument is Legitimate research is called RE-search for a reason: patient repetition and careful filtering is what will win the day. There are over 86 billion web pages published, and most of those pages are not worth quoting. If you are a student, or if you are seeking serious medical, professional, or historical information, definitely heed these 8 suggested steps to researching online:
Cities take innovative approaches to launch K-12 computer science Not too long ago, Carnegie Mellon released a study that found computer science education was on the decline. Published in 2010, the report, titled "Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age," found that the number of high schools offering introductory computer science courses had declined 17% between 2005 and 2009. Universities and tech companies had begun to worry publicly about a growing gap between the number of jobs available and the number of people who might be ready to fill them. Today, the picture has started to change. The change has also opened the door for innovative approaches, including instruction starting in kindergarten. Who's getting on board As of last year, more than 60 school districts, including Houston and Los Angeles, have committed to offering computer science in an attempt to reverse the trend identified by Carnegie Mellon. Several states have taken steps to include the subject as a graduation requirement.
ePortfolios with GoogleApps This Google Site has been set up by Dr. Helen Barrett to focus on the use of Google Apps to create ePortfolios. On this site, there are instructions on how to use the different elements of Google Apps to maintain e-portfolios. Are you a K-12 educator wanting to use Google products with your students? I recommend that you don't set up "regular" public Google accounts for them... instead, set up a GoogleApps for Education domain where you can enroll your students and control access. See the following Google Websites: See these Pros and Cons of "public" accounts vs. Google Tools for Schools (a clearinghouse of Google resources to support Google Boot Camp workshops) Here are a few great blog posts about a school implementing GoogleApps: Watershed School story of implementing GoogleAppsGoogle Video Conference, October 6, 2009: Recorded webinar (in Youtube) • Slide presentation • Q&A Session Transcript
In some schools, computer science starts in kindergarten NSF-funded study will help district determine how best to incorporate computer science in classrooms Florida’s Broward County School District is starting young with computer science instruction, integrating it in math and science classes at the kindergarten level. More than 110 of the district’s 139 elementary schools are teaching it this year, reaching about 27,000 students. That’s a significant increase from last year, when 80 schools taught it to 3,000 students. Administrators say it’s important to get students interested in computer science before they leave elementary school. “Research shows that if kids don’t get exposed to this before fourth grade, they’ve already made career choices, they’ve already made decisions about what they can and can’t do,” said Guy Barmoha, the district’s director of mathematics, science and gifted. The push to bring computing lessons into elementary school classrooms is part of a larger effort to get computer science in every school, for every student.
The A-Z Dictionary of Educational Twitter Hashtags Whether you’re a new or seasoned Twitter user, you likely come across confusing hashtags that probably look like a bunch of nonsense. First, What’s A Hashtag? The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a Tweet. Any Twitter user can categorize or follow topics with hashtags.Those hashtags (usually) mean something and are a great way to get a tweet to appear in search results or discussion monitoring. For example, the popular #edchat hashtag is used by thousands of users every Tuesday. How To Hide Your Hashtag Chat From Followers When having a Twitter #hashtag chat, if you want to avoid overwhelming your followers, start any tweet you want to “hide” with @HideChat or (one character shorter) @HideTag . You don’t need to do this with all your chat tweets (though you could). Sources That’s why it’s probably helpful for you to check out the following list of popular educational hashtags. The Most Popular Hashtags #edchat – Education, worldwide (lots of US teachers).
When There’s a Will There’s a Way: Getting Creative with Funding Computer Science Education - Zulama Four years ago, educators in Butler County, Ohio were facing a crisis. They wanted to implement modern curriculum and teacher training in schools across the county in order to re-engage students and prepare them for the rapidly changing job market. But, like in many other regions, Butler County’s resources were scarce. Before the educators could even think about making a change, they got stuck on one question: “Can we afford this?” In their moment of doubt, they were able to turn the way they were thinking about funding inside out. The Butler County Educational Service Center put together a grant proposal for Ohio’s Straight A Fund. designing games for their programming coursewriting stories for a screenwriting coursebuilding digital portfolios to showcase their projects You too can find creative ways to pay for curriculum or professional development. Whether you are a teacher or a school leader, tons of grant programs are available to you—and made specifically for you. Going Free-Form
Free Technology for Teachers Filling the pipeline for computer science teachers | Science | AAAS It’s not easy to teach a subject in which you have no training. But Kristen Haubold, a computer science teacher at James Whitcomb Riley High School in South Bend, Indiana, was up for the challenge. Haubold arrived at Riley 5 years ago as a math teacher after graduating from Indiana University in Bloomington. The course, Computer Science Principles, debuted in 2014. Her isolation is not unusual. Wilson says that the only way to provide districts with enough computer science teachers is through specifying funding for computer science education and teacher training. Last week President Donald Trump took a small step toward changing that picture. At least 10 states and a number of cities, including New York City, have adopted standards that call for exposing students to some type of computer science instruction starting in kindergarten and running through grade 12.