Self reflection is central to learning. We write comments on student papers so hopefully students can look at them can think about the work they did. (By the way, unless you are intentional about making students reflect on their learning, students likely won't. If you don't believe me, ask students if they read comments on papers. More than half will tell you they don't.) The fancy word for this is meta-cognition, which is basically thinking about one's own thinking. Some suggest that this self-awareness is ultimately what makes us homo sapiens. We should do all we can to activate this in our students. Self-awareness about one's learning leads to better learning. Some studies suggest that this tool is most developed between the ages of 12-15. Thus, this is a the perfect time to teach meta-cognitive skills.
If this age group is the perfect time, the digital portfolio is a nearly perfect tool. As teachers, we will need to model this self-reflection for students. We can't just say, "put in your work" because if we ask them why they chose certain pieces, we might not get more than "I got an A" or "I like it." So, instead, a conversation might be, "I know you've been working on writing good paragraphs. I wonder if you have an assignment that shows improvement in this area?" This type of modeling could be done for an entire class.
In the beginning, you should (you really should) set up meetings with students to confer on what should go in the portfolio. In the initial stages, you may help the student pick what goes in the portfolio.
Beyond picking what content goes into a portfolio, make sure students are given time to reflect. Ask them what they are most proud of, what they can do better, what they would do differently. Ask them to share and write about what they learned. Or, have them record themselves on video explaining their answers to these questions. Ask them to set goals for next time.
Portfolios have been around for a long time in this discipline. I remember the non-digital portfolios my 7th graders produced back in the early 90's. This is not a new, faddish idea. What tech lets us do is supplement text with digital media (see the infographic from Kathy Schrock) and more importantly in my view, publish to an audience bigger than the teacher.
For my colleagues in school who wish to know how to assess all of this, I share this link I originally found on Kathy Schrock.
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