Week 2

Creating ePortfolios

Following today's lecture I was extremely impressed to say the least in regards to ePortfolios showing a student's progress. I understand it must be very time consuming, yet it is a great, interactive way to show a parent their child's progress. Not only is it valuable for teachers and parents to reflect on, yet the students themselves can participate in the responsibility for their own learning. It makes clear their strengths and weaknessess and allows each student to take pride in showing how hard they have worked during the school year. I hope I can utilise this technology as a useful assessment guide and self reflecting tool to enhance both my teaching and the student's learning in the future.

We were introduced to the components of an ePortfolio during the workshop today, which consists of an introduction, curriculum vitae, philosophy of education (pedagogy), reflection, classroom experience, referees and teaching references. Through beginning to construct an ePortfolio I can not only use it as a reflection piece to look back on all the valuable skills and information I have gained throughout my time spent studying teaching, but also impress potential teaching position panels when applying for teaching positions.

Greg also touched on some vital points whilst attending potential job position interviews. This included; talking about strengths and goals for teaching, thanking the interviewer for accepting your resume and interview and express KEEN interest, note that punctuality is very important and leaves lasting impressions, appearance is also noted, it is important to show general interest, enthusiasm and knowledge of school, never to talk about financial agreements and ALWAYS HAVE A QUESTION!

Therefore, to get a grasp on creating an ePortfolio we attempted a simple brochure on an appealing holiday destination using Microsoft Publisher. This program was chosen as it was one of the programs encouraged to create an ePortfolio in due to its simple navigation.

Microsoft Publisher: Creating a brochure on your favourite holiday destination.
At first I found it a little intimidating to think of where to begin on the blank template. However, with some suggestions from Greg, my ideas took off and it was quite enjoyable to tranform my thoughts into a visual display. We decided to use the 'modular' layout, where I found information and pictures in regards to Bora Bora from the internet. Below is my attempt:

Microsoft Publisher: Create your own ePortfolio.
I struggled to keep up with this task during the workshop, but after further instruction I am finding putting together an ePortfolio for myself to use for job applications quite easy to do. I hope this current "working project" will be finished with desirable effects. Slowly, but surely I hope to produce a professional, energic and impressive ePortfolio to appeal to potential employers of the future. Below is a current example of my ePortfolio:

Finally, not only is this program is very beneficial for teaching staff to use for their own professional development, it will also be very useful within a classroom for students to complete presentation tasks using Microsoft Publisher to enhance their work whilst building upon their ICT skills of the twenty-first century. I intend to take the time to become more knowledgeable and confident with this program to sustain the benefits that this program offers for classroom tasks.