Nocking the Arrow

Our digital footprints should not be left to chance. Will Richardson recommends that all students become " well-googled " by high school graduation. As the accompanying graphic suggests, students should build a positive digital footprint as they progress in their education. My contention is this is sound advice for all educational stakeholders. As our lives become more digitized, more connected, and more cloud-based, where should we be keeping our evidence of learning? Where should we be keeping our evidence of professional growth? "One answer is digital portfolios."   Learners of any age need a place where curated information can get chewed up, broken down, and reassembled into new artifacts of learning. When our children were younger, the refrigerator, their bedroom cork boards, and our under-bed bins, were the final resting places for their shining examples of creativity and learning. To quote Dr. Helen Barrett, "we collect and share what we v...

Congratulations on considering student ePortfolios as part of your transformative learning package. Electronic Portfolios are, in my opinion, the most effective way for students to authentically document and share their learning with an authentic audience. My suggestion is that you recommend one of these three platforms to your students as they begin creating their positive digital footprints: Google Sites , Evernote , and my personal choice,  Blogger . Fresh off an outstanding ePortfolio workshop presented by Dr. Helen Barrett , I became motivated to share some thoughts, and a few resources on this topic. What, how, and why are certainly important questions to address new or improved learning opportunities. My hope is that your focus will be on the " WHY ", as the "what" and "how" can, and should, be left to student research and development. Although it may not be appropriate in some cases, I would let the students experiment, and then choose th...