Nick Rate’s 10 step process for effective development of e-portfolios

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e-portfolio strategy

I recently attended Nick Rate’s CORE Breakfast, where he spoke on A Framework for Developing ePortfolios.

Nick is an e-portfolio guru and regular speaker and presenter at conferences. He has a large number who follow his own blog, eLearning Infusion. He won an eFellowship award in 2008 where he devoted his time to working on Maximising the formative benefits of ePortfolios.

I have written a report on Nick’s Breakfast presentation on the CORE web site, but thought that this list of ten points would be a really good Facilitator tips post here. So, here’s Nick’s “10 steps of attack” that he recommends working through to implement an effective process for developing e-portfolios:

The ten steps…

1. Research to understand the pedagogy behind the approach:

Read the literature, talk to the experts, look at a range of examples, and discuss widely with practitioners who use them.

2. Define your purpose for using e-portfolios:

Think about who the audience will be, what are the benefits, and how do these align with the broader vision and beliefs of the school?

3. Consult and seek input from all stakeholders:

Include students, teachers, school leadership, curriculum leaders and HODs, parents, the BOT, and related providers. In this way you will shape the beliefs of your school community in a way that best suits the needs of your students.

4. Develop a framework:

This will form an ongoing process for e-portfolio construction, reinforce the purpose and beliefs and ensure that the approach is aligned to a pedagogical approach. This will also be the step where the relationship to formal processes such as reporting, appraisals, etc are also considered.

5. Define the criteria:

Clarify the capability your school requires in the e-portfolio tool.

6. Choose the tool:

There are many options available so choosing the best option for your needs will be important.

7. Educate all those involved in the process:

Ensure students, parents, teachers and mentors all understand the pedagogy, how to give effective feedback, set goals, reflect and self-assess, as well as the necessary technical know-hows.

8. Implement:

Get your e-portfolios  up-and-running and integrated effectively into the teaching and learning programmes.

9. Update:

Ensure consideration is given to digital literacy, internet use policies, and user-agreements. This also includes establishing reporting and assessment guidelines and procedures together with appraisal and teacher registration processes.

10. Review:

Assess what you have done, the progress you have made, the key lessons learnt, and the next-steps in the process. Note: this is not the last thing you do, but is woven throughout all phases of development.

Other e-portfolio material and resources by Nick Rate

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When you teach, do you listen?

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Listening to children?

When children are telling us their stories, it is giving us the opportunity to get to know that child’s interests, and also, an insight into the knowledge and experiences they have. By gaining this knowledge we are able to offer experiences to further inspire, motivate and challenge their thinking and learning.

In my role as an Early Years Facilitator, I have been working with teams of teachers who are thinking about what it means to truly listen to children.

Listening helps us to teach well

When thinking about the emergent curriculum and inquiry learning, the importance of listening becomes a high priority. To engage children in learning, it is important to recognise and build on their skills and interests. To do this, it is crucial that we engage them in conversations, ask effective questions, and truly listen to their answers. Firstly, to understand what they already know and, secondly, to explore what they would like to learn more about and the possibilities for this.

Effective questioning brings insight, which fuels
curiosity, which cultivates wisdom.
– Chip Bell

We teach our children to listen, but do we? Some tips…

The art of listening is an amazing topic to explore. I have delved deep both personally and professionally, and reflected on my skills as an effective listener. As teachers, we continually encourage effective listening skills in children, and I wonder if we are reflecting enough on our own listening. I challenge you to think about your listening skills, and to reflect on the following 5 tips taken from a book called Are You Listening?: Fostering Conversations That Help Young Children Learn by Lisa Burman.

Are You Listening? by Lisa Burman

  • Pause and reflect on the ways you listen closely to children.
  • Pause and become more conscious of the questions you ask.
  • Pause and become aware of the time you give children to think before you continue the conversation.
  • Pause and become aware of how you might unintentionally lead children to your ideas instead of exploring their own schema.
  • Pause and become a more skilled teacher by reflecting on your role as a listener to young learners.

…and it works outside the classroom or centre too!

These tips by no means apply only to listening to children and the role of a teacher!

I have found a key to building and sustaining relationships is listening. The more I have explored and learned, the better my skills have become. Taking the time to listen—truly listen—to our children, our whānau, our friends, our work colleagues, and total strangers can only make the world a better place!

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand
and be understood.The best way to understand people is to
listen to them.
– Ralph Nichols


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Another idea for Book Month

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Gina Revill has another great idea for educators to use for Book Month, to add to those in our earlier post: It’s Book Month in March: Make the most of it!

NZ Book Month

In March we are invited to celebrate books and reading during the NZ Book Month.

How about inspiring your class to create a book for others?

Over the last four years working in Education for Enterprise projects I saw many successful partnerships between older and younger children in the creation of stories. In my experience, this worked best with Years 8 – 10 as the authors, as it can be more difficult to create a book for children that would provide enough material for NCEA assessments, though I’m happy to be proven wrong!

There are many ways to approach a project like this. Students can write a book then present it to younger children or they can be much more involved from the beginning, with the younger children acting as clients who give feedback. Some examples:

  • Students create myths based on local geography and illustrate these stories. Students then approach local early childhood centres or Primary schools to read the stories to the children.
  • Secondary school students approach a local early childhood centre and ask about what kinds of books they might need for the children or books the children might want, such as those involving local bird life or sea creatures. They begin to create books in consultation with the centre.
  • Students are paired up with pre-school children and conduct several visits to the centre to get to know each other. The older students can create a personalised book for that student based on their preferences.

I have seen this as a stunning way to get students engaged with reading and writing, especially those who have been previously reluctant.

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Nine tips for online community newbies

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As an online facilitator, there is also work to be done offline!

When encouraging people to come into an online community, it can be useful to supply them with a list of tips. Here is an example of what has worked well for me:

Some tips for making the most of belonging to an online community

1. Upload your photo

Upload your photo

Upload your photo – it’s more personal and friendly, and helps to build a sense of community.

2. Assume good intent

Assume the best intent

Text can be stark and it’s possible to misread someone if you can’t hear their tone of voice or see their facial expressions- as a rule, always assume good intent!

3. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes

put yourself in the reader's shoes: don't confuse them

Think about how others may read your posts – it is easy for humorous or ‘throw away’ comments to be misunderstood.

4. Show your mood

Use emoticons

Use emoticons so people can get a sense of your tone.

5. Respond to posts

Respond to other's posts; don't ignore them.

Respond constructively to other’s posts. Nobody wants to feel like they are being ignored.

6. Keep the conversation short

shorter posts

Most of the time, short posts are better because they are easier to read and respond to in conversations.

7. Frequent is fun

Post frequently

It works better if you log on often – e.g. ten minutes, three times a week is better and more fun than once a month for two hours.

8. It’s just a chat

Just a chat

Do you enjoy chatting with people over coffee? Think of the conversations in the online community as the same thing – being online allows us to continue these conversations.

9. Just be you

Be yourself

Be yourself – there is no right or wrong way of taking part – enjoy!

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My kids now love editing their stories

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Children hate editing, but editing can be fun
I wonder how many of you teachers out there have students who can’t wait to finish typing their stories so that they can get on with the editing.  Hmmmm!!!  Strange???  I don’t think I see any hands up.

“Yeah right!” I hear you mutter.  “Since when have kids ever enjoyed editing!!!*^@#”

Well now they can!

The real issue with editing for kids

You see, kids hate editing because the only thing they can see for their efforts is a big mess on their previously “OK” page—well almost OK.  Not only that, the next step in the painful process is to rewrite it—fine reward for all that hard work.  Even if they are using a computer and have no mess to clean up or rewrite, no-one can see how much effort they put into the task.  So, why bother!

Well now, all that can change, and you will be able to get kids to edit their work without that thunderous look you know they’re pulling behind your back.  In fact, they will be quite happy about it, as they really quite enjoy balloons—even  teenagers.

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