Week Three Tools Explored

There are available so many tools for creating an eportfolio that it is easy to reach for the pain killer aspirin. The attempt was made by me for my own personal eportfolio and I just did not find one to fit my personality. I do not know if it is computer savvy or what, but the one that I work best with is just the plain old Google Blogger. Even then sometimes it goes out to wonderland. The list of websites and templates I attempted to use is just too long to mention, so I won't take up space and time with names.

If asking my students to choose one they would be allowed to do their own research and submit their site for approval. I would probably approve whatever they chose but I would make sure they knew I had the final decision. Of course this depends on the grade level and how much I trusted the student. Everyone likes variety but I think it might work better if we all used the same template. Still that would depend on age of student as well as maturity.

I found most of the templates contained basically the same information. Some are just wonderfully pretty with beautiful lettering and designs. For me I would choose the one that I thought best held the information we desired for the class work. The template should contain places to place the following information:
 1. Profile: This is to give an impression of the person.
2. About Me: Information the writer wishes to share.
3. Learning Goals: What the student wishes to learn.
4. Research: Where did the information come from
5. Additional Information: Anything the student wishes to add such as hobbies, likes and dislikes.
6. Additional Link: Here would be the link to correspond with the instructor, or they could use the comment section if desired.

The blog would also be set up to engage the parents or guardians who wish to be observers. I do not believe it would be beneficial to have parents or guardians participate in the discussions or the class assignments. I would have a separate area for communication between instructor and parent or guardian.