As we move to more standards-based teacher performance assessment, we need new tools to record and organize evidence of successful teaching, for both practicing professionals and student teachers. This session will introduce a strategy for using Portable Document Format (Adobe Acrobat PDF) files to store and organize Electronic Teaching Portfolios.
Overview:
This paper will briefly cover various strategies for authoring electronic portfolios and design for an electronic teaching portfolio, including goals/purpose of the portfolio, evaluation criteria, audience, content, context and multimedia materials to include in the portfolio. One strategy often overlooked in the development of electronic portfolios is the use of Adobe Acrobat 's Portable Document Format (PDF) to gather evidence from a variety of applications. There are other authoring software which allows the creation of hypertext links between goals, student work samples in multiple forms of media, rubrics, and assessment.
Process for Constructing Electronic Portfolios *
At the 1997 SITE Conference, Boulware, Bratina, Holt & Johnson described a process for developing Pre-Service Teacher Portfolio Process which was based on a portfolio development manual published by Campbell, Cignetti, Melenyzer, Nettles & Wyman (199?):
In an article that was published in the Proceedings of the National Educational Computing Conference (1997) and updated in the October, 1998, issue of Learning & Leading with Technology, I outlined a process for developing electronic portfolios in contrast to the process normally used to develop multimedia presentations:
Storing the Working Portfolio
There are many technologies that can be used to store digital portfolio artifacts during the development stages. Some of the most common include:
Publishing the Presentation (Formal) Portfolio
Many of those same strategies will be used to publish the formal or presentation portfolio, including CD-R, Video Tape, WWW, DVD-RAM . The choice depends on the audience.
Authoring Tools for Multimedia Portfolios
It is important to choose software tools that allow teachers and students to create hypermedia links between goals, outcomes and the various student artifacts (products and projects) displayed in multimedia format that demonstrate their achievement.
There are a number of generic types of software with examples shown of brand name products.
Commercial portfolio software packages:
Barrett, Helen (1997) "Collaborative Planning for Electronic Portfolios: Asking Strategic Questions" in Proceedings of the National Educational Computing Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Barrett, Helen (1998) "Strategic Questions" in Learning & Leading with Technology (October, 1998)
Boulware, Bratina, Holt & Johnson (1997) "Developing Professional Teaching Portfolios Using CD-ROM Technology as a Teaching-Learning Tool" SITE, 1997. http://www.unf.edu/~tbratina/cdrom.htm
Baron, Cynthia (1996). Creating a Digital Portfolio. Indianapolis: Hayden Books
Brown, Genevieve and Irby, Beverly (1997). The Principal Portfolio. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press
Burke, Kay (1997). Designing Professional Portfolios for Change. Palatine, Illinois: IRI/SkyLight Training & Publishing
Burke, Kay (ed.) (1996). Professional Portfolios. Palatine, Illinois: IRI/SkyLight Training & Publishing
Campbell, Cignetti, Melenyzer, Nettles & Wyman (1997) How to Develop a Professional Portfolio: A Manual for Teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Glatthorn, Allan (1996). The Teacher's Portfolio: Fostering and Documenting Professional Development. Rockport, MA: Pro>Active Publications.
Lyons, Nona (ed.) (1998).With Portfolio in Hand: validating the new teacher professionalism. New York: Teachers College Press.
Martin-Kniep, Giselle (1998). Why Am I Doing This? Purposeful Teaching through Portfolio Assessment. Portsmouth: Heinemann
McLaughlin, Maureen; Vogt, MaryEllen (1996). Portfolios in Teacher Education. Newark: International Reading Association.
McLaughlin, Vogt, Anderson, DuMez, Peter, Hunter (1998). Professional Portfolio Models:Reflections Across the Teaching Profession. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gprdon Publishers.
Paris, Scott; Ayres, Linda R. (1994). Becoming Reflective Students and Teacheers with Portfolios and Authentic Assessment. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Seldin, Peter (1997) The Teaching Portfolio. Bolton: Anker Publishing
| Relational data base | Hypermedia "card" file (including templates) | Multimedia authoring software | WWW Pages | Acrobat Reader | Proprietary software | ||
| Common development tools | FileMaker Pro | HyperStudio Digital Chisel |
Macromedia Authorware, Director | Adobe PageMill, Claris Home Page | Adobe Acrobat Exchange 3.01 | Microsoft Office, Works, AppleWorks | Grady Profile Persona Plus |
| Structure & Links | Structured fields/records/ files linked together by common fields | Electronic cards (screens) linked together by "buttons" | Icon-based or time-based multimedia authoring environment | WWW pages viewed with a Web Browser (Netscape or Explorer) using links created in HTML | Postscript-based pages that can be navigated sequentially, or using bookmarks, links, or buttons | Slide Shows (i.e.,PowerPoint) for presentation or "Binder" (Office) to link documents together | Varied: Grady Profile has Hypercard base Personna Plus uses relational database engine |
| Player available | Yes | Yes | Self-contained | Browser (free) | Reader (free) | No | ? |
| Advantages | Flexible reporting Network-friendly Web accessible Cross-platform |
Widely accessible in classrooms Construction tools included Some software cross-platform |
Most flexibility in development CD-ROM Cross-platform |
Web-accessible Cross-platform |
Web-accessible Cross-platform Create files from any application Ideal for CD-R |
Widely accessible software. Cross-platform |
Pre-designed and structured |
| Disadvantages | Size of files Requires player |
Not easily web-accessible (requires browser plug-in) View limited to screen size |
Steep learning curve | Multimedia (video) not well integrated Complex authoring |
Size of files Limited construction tools |
Not directly web-accessible Ease of creating hypertext links. Requires original application to read. |
Grady: not Web-accessible, Mac only, inflexible Persona? |
|
1=low skill |
2 to use |
2 with editor 4 without |
? (Persona) | ||||
|
1=low tech |
4 | ||||||
| Cost (with Ed. discounts) |
| Limited experience with desktop computer - able to use mouse, menus, run simple programs | Level 1 PLUS proficiency with a word processor, basic e-mail and Internet browsing; enter data into a pre-designed database | Level 2 PLUS able to build a simple hypertext (non-linear) document with hypertext links (using either a hypermedia program like HyperStudio, Adobe Acrobat Exchange, or an HTML WYSIWYG editor) | Level 3 PLUS able to record sounds, scan images, output computer screens to a VCR; design an original database | Level 4 PLUS multimedia programming or HTML authoring; create QuickTime movies live or from tape; program a relational database |
| No computer | A single computer with 8 MB RAM, 80 MB HD, no AV input/output | One or two computers with 16 MB RAM, 250+ MB HD, simple AV input (like QuickCam) | Three or four computers, one of which has 32+ MB RAM, 500+ MB HD, AV input and output, scanner, VCR, video camera, high-density storage device (such as Zip drive) | Level 4 PLUS CD-Recorder, at least two computers with 48+
MB RAM Optional: video editing hardware and software |