- What are the three important features of a digital portfolio?
There are many important features of a digital porfolio. First of all, it is a goal-driven, organized collection of artefacts and reflections that are used to demonstrate a change of skills and knowledge over time. This is important because it shows the evidence of a students knowledge, and it also makes it easier for teachers to grade students work this way.
Another important feature of a digital portfolio is that it gives you a collection and series of a students work that they have completed over time. It is basically like a year book, telling you the students accomplishments throughout the task that was given. The porfolios also give you a wide range of their work. When you create your digital portfolio, the information that is given on it basically demonstrates the students learning skills, and what their understanding was like over time. Digital portfolios are not like the grades that you get in school and achieve, it is all about what you have learned and put onto your portfolio, and by the end of the process showing the teacher what you have achieved throughout this process.
Lastly, the portfolios allow teachers and your other classmates to see what you have learned and how you have improved your learning skills throughout the course. These digital portfolios are different from getting back test scores, because of the fact that it shows the teacher how you improve your learning skills almost everyday. Portfolios that have a lot of information on them shows the growth of a students knowledge and overall what knowledge they have gained by the end of it.
- List one advantage and one disadvantage of a digital portfolio.
There are many advantages when using a digital portfolio. One of these advantages are technology. This is because nowadays, technology is used the most to communicate. On digital protfolios, students can always include slideshows, and other multimedia videos through their portfolio. By using digital portfolios, this will also increase their knowledge on computers and technology which is very important these days because of the fact that most of the communication that is done with other people is used with technology. This will even improve your mistakes when using digital portfolios in the future because of everything that you learn in your first experience. This is just one of the advantages of using digital portfolios, there are many more!
There are also many disadvantages when it comes to using digital portoflios. One disadvntage of using a digital portfolio is plagiarism. This is because of the fact that anything you put onto the internet these days, could easily be copied and pasted onto another persons account. Since you put your information up in digital format, it is always eas to view this information on the internet, and can always get copied by another person using a digital portfolio. This is a big disadvantage because plagiarism is very common these days since a lot of information is so open on the internet. Students should always be careful with their digital portoflios and work, if they dont want it getting plagiarized by other people using the same websites and same type of digital portfolios. To be on the safe side when using digital portfolios, I think it is always a good idea to put yours on private, so that no one can view your portfolio, and this will prevent it from getting plagiarized.
- find a student digital portfolio that you like, hyperlink the URL and describe the strengths and weaknesses of this portfolio
I liked a digital portfolio by a student called Melissa Woodward. The hyperlink to her digital portfolio is is http://students.oswego.org/HOF/mwoodwar/. The digital portfolio overall, is very good and it is a great example for others to view when making their own digital porfolio. The digtial portfolio has many strengths, however there are many weaknesses as well. One of the strengths that she has is that the layout of the portfolio is very well set. This is because it is quite original and it is very eye catchy as well. The navigation buttons look like blobs of paint squirted out of a bottle which look really cool. One her homepage, her full name shows up. The font she has used is very uniqe and creative. This is because it is very different from the others because it blinks and flashes, rather than boring old text that is not attractive at all. When you enter the digital portfolio, you will find it really cool because her name first of all catches your attention, so that means that the rest of her digital portfolio would be amazing, since the homepage is just the beginning. The color of her font is nice as well. This is because it stands out and it isnt hidden. She has a good sense of choosing the right color, because it matches with the background which is black, and really stands out as well. As you click on the different navigation buttons, they take you to a diffrent page and give you a new set of information. When I will be making my digital portfolio, I now know that I should be original, because it looks very attractive for the viewers. With all these strengths, there are also many weaknesses that Melissa has on her digital portfolio. One of these weaknesses is that she doesnt display that much information about her project on her digital portfolio. Most of the pages are quite blank, and dont have that much information displayed on them. She should improve this because the point of a digital portfolio is to show others how you imporved over time when doing the project. By viewing this digital portfolio, I now have some tips that I will be sure to use for the future when creating my own portfolio.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The advantages of Animoto
This lesson, we were introduced to a new website called animoto. From this website I learned many things. I learned that this is a great website that can be used as a photoalbum basically, where you can put up your pictures, by simply uploading them. In order to create a video, you just have to upload some pictures, choose your music and let the website create your video! It is really easy to use, and fun as well. There were selections of music that were given to us, but we could also upload our own music, which would take a few extra minutes. Another thing that Mrs. Lindsay taught us about this website is that you can embed your video onto different wesites. The animoto video can even be added to your blogger, however, I havent done that yet, and Mrs. Lindsay hasnt told us to do so. Only a limited amount of pictures can be added onto the thirty second video, because if you end up adding too many, then it will automatically delete some,because in order to create longer videos, you have to payfor it when signing up. So I chose the pictures that were some of my favorites, and were random memories, and added them onto my animoto video. The advantages of using animoto when it comes to communication is that you can communicate with family and friends that might be living far away from you. This is because you just simply have to upload pictures, and the animoto website creates the video for you. This is an advantage because usually when you try emailing your family and freinds some photos it takes quite a long time to attach each file with the email. The animoto videos are also very creative and fun to watch! There are many effects that go on in the video when playing, and music also plays in the background. All these positive things can catch everyone's attention. These things can also make it more fun to look at, rather than just looking at pictures themselves. Usng animoto can also be an advantage for education. If we are doing a project in school where pictures are needed, then animoto can surely be used. For example, if you are doing a DT project, then you always need to have a few pictures for the process journal and the create stage. We can always refer back to the animoto website, upload our pictures here and use it for the project. From using this for projects, teachers will also be impressed with our knowledge of using creative websites for pictures.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Third IT lesson
Today was our third IT lesson. Today's class didn't go so well because everyone was having difficulties with wroking their computers. Nobody could access www.blogger.com or www.delicious.com, so we couldnt continue the investigation that we were doing, continue our work, or write a process journal for the day. The technician was trying to fix everyone's accounts, however, no luck! Since we couldnt get any work done, Mrs. Lindsay introduced us to a website called www.animoto.com. This website is where you can make slideshows of your pictures just by simply uploading them, and also adding music in the background. Mrs. Lindsay showed us a couple examples of her slideshows that she made, and they looked really cool. AFter showing us, she sent us back to our seats so that we could create an account on this website, and create one of our own slideshows with a maximum of 15 photos, as a starter. Mrs. Lindsay suggested us to create the 30 second slideshow, because if you decide to create a longer one, they charge you. So I went onto the website, and started creating my first slideshow on animoto. Since I didnt have any pictures on my account, I went onto facebook and got some from there. You simply just have to follow step by step in order to create your slide show. You first choose your pictures and upload them onto the website. Then you have to choose your music to go with it. The music I chose was quite nice. Then the next part takes a long time. You have to wait for the slideshow to actually get created. I ran out of time this class, so I didnt get to fully create my slideshow. Hopefully I will get a chance to next class.
Second IT lesson
Today was our second IT lesson. Today we had a substitute and Mrs. Lindsay wasnt here. However, she still left work behind for us to complete. Our task was to begin the investigation stage of our project. In the investigation, we had to look at three wikispaces of three different people. We had to view three wikispaces, and answer the following questions. However, two of the wikispaces were not working for some reason, and only one of them was, which was Vincent's. So we had to take a look at that profile for the time being, and answer the questions. The questions were basically based on our opinions. We had to state what we liked about the profile, and what improvements were needed. I answered all of these questions in the class time that was given, and completed on time, which gave me no homework, except for the process journal.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Vincent's Portfolio
Today, we started on the investigate stage of this project. We had to take a look at three wikispace portfolios, and answer the following questions. However, two of the portfolios were not working, so we just had to complete the one that was working, which was Vincent's, for now. The hyperlink to his wikispace is http://vincentsportfolio.wikispaces.com/. The following questions that I have answered are based on Vincent's portfolio.
1. What content is on each? What are the headings? What subjects and other areas are included?
The subjects that are on Vincent's page are the following:
He has many different titles and headings on the left margin of the page. When you click on these links, it takes you to a different page, and explains more about the heading that you have clicked on. For example, if you look at the heading that says "Languages" and choose one of the title, lets say Bangla, it takes you to a different page and talks about the language Bangla, basically tells you the history of it.
2. What is good about the web design? What is not so good? (Refer to colours, organisation of images and text, types of images etc)
The web page is good in many ways, however, there is still some room for improvements. The web page is layed out very well, and it has many subjects. It is also quite organized, and you don't get lost at all on his page. The headings and everything are very clear and there are no mistakes. It is also easy to get from one page to another, because you simply just have to click on the link of the subject that you want to view and it takes you there. This is what makes Vincent's page organized and simple, because it isnt too complicated or confusing. Even though the web page is organized, and layed out well, there are still many improvements that could be made. First of all, he could have written a better "Personal Statement" of himself. We can understand that it is a personal statement, however, he has too much unnecessary stuff. For example he stated "Who wouldn't love that awesome face of mine?Just look at it!" This is quite unnecessary, and I believe that in a personal statement you should just give facts about yourself, such as telling your hobbies, what you do in your daily life, rather than giving information on your webpage, which is not necessary. He can also improve the colors of the page. There is only one dark green background that is on each page that you click on. If it gives you the option, I think it wouldve been better to choose different backgrounds and designs, so that the web pages would look more unique and attractive, and fun to read! Also, in order to make the web pages even more attracive, he could have also used different types of fonts and different font colors on each page. This wouldve made the page stand out more and look more attractive. He also could have added more pictures to each page. This is because he only has one picture for each page. In a way, it is good that he has a small amount of pictures on each page and doesnt make the page look too crowded, however, he still needs to add a couple more pictures because every informative web page has more than one picture, so that it gives you more ideas about the topic. For example, for his english page, he only included one image, which isnt enough. It doesnt really give us an idea, and in order to visualize, they should be giving us more than one image for each page.
3. Make comments about the organisation of the portfolio. (Refer to navigation and how items are found)
As I said before, the webpage is really well organized, and the web pages are quite easy to find. All the subjects are labelled correctly, and when you click on the link, you get to the web page without any problem. On the left side of the wikispace, you will find a margin with all the headings, and subjects beneath them that are on Vincent's portfolio. You just have to click on the correct link for the subject that you are looking for so that you end up on the correct page. It is not confusing at all, and it is really easy to find whatever you need. Once you click on the link for the subject that you want to read about, it will take you to a different web page, and there you will find information on the subject. Once you click on the link, you will see that the other webpages are well organized as well. For example, the web pages are structured with well written paragrpah, and a good sequence. You should have no problem at all when you browse this portfolio, because it is really well organized.
Monday, February 11, 2008
First IT lesson with Mrs. Lindsay
Today was our first IT lesson with Mrs. Lindsay, after the classes of DT. She taught us a lot about certain websites that we will be using throughout the year, such as this website, which we will be using to write our process journals in. First, we went up to the white board with our chairs, and she introduced us to a website called http://www.qataracademy-it.wikispaces.com/. After entering this website, we had to click on a section called "Getting started". After looking at this, Mrs. Lindsay showed us a short video on youtube about a website called Del.icio.us. This short video gave us a lot of information about this website, and will really help in the future because it taught us a lot of stuff. For example, it taught us how to favorite certain websites, so that you can just enter a website with just a click, rather than typing in the URL in the adress bar everytime you want to go on that website. However, we can always also use a website called http://www.delicious.com/, where you can save all of the URLS. After watching the youtube video, and discussing "delicious" with Mrs. Lindsay, she introduced us to another website http://www.blogger.com/. This is the website that we will be using to keep our process journals in. It is also used as a social network. After this, our instructions were to go on to Mozilla Firefox, and enter the two websites, http://www.delicious.com/, and http://www.blogger.com/. On these two websites, we had to create our own accounts, so that we could use them every class in IT. Since Mozilla Firefox was not working for me, Mrs. Lindsay told me to use the Internet Explorer instead, and hopefully it would work out for me next class. The main purpose of "blogger" is to create a blog every lesson, which is basically a short process journal, so that every class we can refresh our memory on what we learned last lesson, since we have IT only twice a week. Even though it was onl the first lesson, we learned quite a lot!
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