http://mosep.elggspaces.com/jpallister/weblog/29.html
As teachers we will need to support our students as they begin to use ePortfolios. Even as we are working with ‘digital natives’, we cannot simply teach them to use the ICT tools and leave them to get on. They might explore the tools, learn something of the tools through play, but it would be unlikely that they would, without guidance, employ/use them to record their learning/achievements and even less likely that they would naturally reflect on their learning. They would not, without guidance/teaching make the most of the potential of the eportfolio process to support their learning – not brain surgery, but students must be ‘taught’ how to compile, maintain and use an ePortfolio.
The first question that must be answered, for the student, is why? Why should I ‘waste my time’ working on an ePortfolio? What will I get out of an ePortfolio? Who will look at my ePortfolio? What organisations, universities, employers will require me to have an ePortfolio? – as teachers we will need answers to all of these questions, quite a challenge for someone???? – without the answers it will be very difficult to create/maintain a learning environment that will engage the learner.
Having made explicit the reason for the learning, students will need to be taken through the ePortfolio process: the collection, selection, linking, review/reflection and the presentation phases. Students need to be clear about the importance and interdependencies of each stage and need to ‘know’ what it is they need to do. Of course they then need to be taught how to ‘do it’, the ‘it’ being whatever the ePortfolio phase/stage requires them to do.
This teaching will need to happen, regardless of whatever ICT tools are chosen. The approach could be common to all ePortfolio implementations, having ICT Tool specific add-ons (Tutorials?) – the MOSEP philosophy??