ePorfolio in my Teaching
The idea of using ePortfolios to support or provide evidence of learning in my organization is a very very interesting one – I honestly can just imagine the blank stares. But there is value in the idea, even for our very hands on and dynamic work.
We have a professional development program for our staff that is in its infancy, and some of what they need to demonstrate to move through the levels of the program is fairly complex; understanding of our response plans, leadership skills, and competence in the massive amount of paperwork required in a response.
This is where an efolio could come in handy, they could scan examples of well completed paperwork and upload, including planning documents relevant to their specific area’s response plans. As well, they could write up personal debriefs of on water exercises, training sessions, and drills. As an organization debriefs are built into our work and our culture, and they are a great tool for reflection and learning. Having an efolio where staff could do their own personal debriefs on learning activities that wouldn’t normally call for a group debrief could help to demonstrate building of leadership skills (and would undoubtedly help to build them!).
I think that one of the ways ePortfolios can transform learning is by allowing students to determine what demonstrates their skills, competence or growth – and they may choose something that surprises us and teaches us something as well.
ePorfolio in my Learning
I am at a place in my career where I am the most ‘qualified’ person in my organization, when it comes to adult education and learning. That being said, I am very junior at this – and would love mentorship and guidance. Building an efolio could help me:
- deliberately determine personal learning goals
- measure my progress towards those goals
- share my work with those outside of my organization for feedback and support
- more purposefully reflect on my projects and learning
- demonstrate to decision makers in my organization what we could be doing with elearning or other learning initiatives
- have some fun and be creative!
Artifacts that I could include in my efolio could be:
- instructional videos I’ve created
- reflections/personal debriefs on industry learning I’ve engaged in
- pages from the internal knowledge wiki I’m working on
- rubrics that I have created as assessments for our skills based training
I also really like the idea of self exploration through the building of an ePorfolio; this video has students explaining that they didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do when they were done school, and building their efolios’ helped them find a focus. I know that I won’t be at the same job or organization forever (or knowing me, even for another 5 years) and creating an ePortfolio can help me explore new areas and find where I might go next.
A Changing Mind 