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After reviewing examples of ePortfolios from previous students, I have learned that it is important to incorporate pictures visuals. The examples that I viewed with lots of words and no use of visuals reminded me of a formal lecture or corporate power point. They were bland and lacked personality and creativity. As a consumer of the internet, when I view a site I want to feel anxious to see what is on the next page. 

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Jelisa.

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On the contrary, lol, after looking at the examples and getting feedback I should lay off the visuals! I thought it made my portfolio look interesting but now I see how it could be distracting. The different layouts of blogs are also interesting to me. Mine are all on one page, in the order they were posted. I'm not sure if it's possible with Weebly, but I like the look of one post up at a time and the others to the side.

-Whitney Davis

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I think the visuals to add interest and personality to the portfolio but in moderation. There is such thing as too much of a good thing. I'm not sure where my portfolio falls in regards to the pictures and graphics, but after reviewing some of the examples, I think my layout could use some changes. I would like to see my own portfolio flow with ease.

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I think the visuals to add interest and personality to the portfolio but in moderation. There is such thing as too much of a good thing. I'm not sure where my portfolio falls in regards to the pictures and graphics, but after reviewing some of the examples, I think my layout could use some changes. I would like to see my own portfolio flow with ease.

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-Patty

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Response to Jelisa, Patty, and Whitney's Posts on Visuals

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Response to Jelisa, Patty, and Whitney's Posts on Visuals

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I agree with what everyone is saying about the visuals. I think for people with ADHD like myself, the visuals give me a nice break and allow me to focus on something different other than long texts. It's another way for my brain to process the information. An article I read recommended that you should include a variety of content like text, photos, hyperlinks, audio recordings, and videos (Davis, 2017). In my ePortfolio, I have used images of quotes, YouTube videos, AI generated images, or stock images of people acting out my ideas to help build context to my text. I also agree with those saying that it could be distracting. It can't take away from the main content and points you're trying to share. In that sense, it can be too loud or busy. I had to reflect on my pages and make changes to try to make sure my texts and images were balanced and not too overwhelming either way. We want our voices to be heard and still be engaging.

-Melissa Richards

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My favorite sites came from educators and included an easy to use navigation menu and well organized pages. Pages that had navigation pages that shifted confused me when trying to move to another page. The data on the pages were informative but was not overwhelming to where I felt like I was bogged down. The layout and use of visuals in Sean Robinson’s portfolio inspired me to rearrange my page and make it more visually appealing (Robinson, 2015).

-Jelisa

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A blog by Sean Robinson that explores connections-based learning in action.

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I also feel like an easy to use navigation menu is so important. We have so many artifacts and resources we want to showcase, the site has to be purposeful. Without that, we lose our audience's interest.

On top of having a great navigation menu, Nwaeme (2023), suggests that we should also be consistent in our design. This helps our site have a cohesive look that makes our pages easier to look at and digest.

Another aspect related to design I've had to consider is making sure that people viewing my content on mobile devices still have a clean and easy-to-view resource. Some websites are not mobile device friendly and we'd lose our audience members without thinking about this detail!

-Melissa Richards

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I really enjoyed looking through various ePortfolios. As a visual learner it is important for me to see different examples showing the possibilities that can be created. The ePortfolios I connected with were very different. Some sites used a lot of color, various fonts, other forms of media integration while some were more simplistic, but all had an obviously organized format. We want our audience to easily navigate our resources, artifacts, and reflections without feeling lost and disconnected. My ePortfolio tends to fall more on the simple side, and I hope to play around with different layouts like those seen in some of the examples like in Brooke Josephs' site. (Josephs 2018). Although I enjoyed the varied layout in Ms. Joseph's site, I do think some of the embedded PDFs are somewhat difficult to read. I would have liked to see them placed in the website itself as opposed to embedded in PDF form. You are able to click the PDF format in a separate link, but why not just incorporate it onto your page? To end my reflection, it was nice to see the different formats presented because, in the end, we are the creators of our products and are able to show off our own voice and personality through our presentation of our learning. This process has absolutely been more fun and engaging than simply turning in papers to be graded and never looked at again. I was excited to share my work with my 11 year old son who was so impressed with what I've built. It was fun to connect with him through something that has taken so much time away from him. He was able to see what the hours of work had turned into.

-Melissa Richards

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Digital Learning & Leading Synthesis

~Connecting the Final Dots~

Innovative Educator Time Ep. 1 - Brooke Josephs

00:00

ownership, voice, and authenticity. Retrieved

Creating a constructivist e-learning

When I first created my innovation project, I had strong goals. I truly wanted to transform my classroom, school, and district. Now, it's not that I don't want to do those things, but the reality of time and power has set in. It is taking much longer to reach my goals, setbacks have occurred, and I am still fighting for the platform to be able to share my knowledge to my colleagues. I'm thinking back to when I played softball. As a freshman and sophomore, I had to fight for my spot on the varsity team. I am currently a sophomore when it comes to my innovation plan; I'm still fighting for that spot on varsity to prove myself, and I have a lot to learn in the next few years.

M y innovation plan "Ditch the Basement Box" is an ePortfolio innovation plan that encourages students to reflect, connect, and learn as they take ownership of the learning. In the 2017-2018 school year, I started ePortfolios with my class. They did a remarkable job with them, and I was seeing so much progress! However, when they went to fifth grade, their teachers did not continue them. I told the students they could continue them on their own, but not many ten year olds are driven and intrinsically motivated enough to continue working on an ePortfolio without adult interference. Now, in the 2018-2019 school year, I have moved buildings. I started fresh with new colleagues and a new student body, so ePortfolios unfortunately took a back seat to establishing the start of relationships with my new colleagues and following my new principal's expectations. Going into next year having a better handle on my new environment, I am looking forward to starting back with ePortfolios right away.

In my path to innovation, I got all the way to the "present" step last year. This year, I started back at the "idea proposal" step. The whirlwind (McChesney, Covey, & Huling, 2016) got in my way, and I need to consistently remember to have those vital crucial conversations (Patterson, Grenny, McMillian, & Switzler, 2012) to keep the process going. Because ePortfolios are critical to student success as 21st century learners, I will make it happen for my students. I made the varsity softball team, and I will make this, too.

​

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References

McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly

important goals. New York: Free Press.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking

when stakes are high. New York: McGraw-Hill.

EDLD 5302 Concepts of Educational Technology: I cultivated my growth mindset, grew my professional learning networks, and thought about the process of learning in my learning manifesto. I began to use COVA to take ownership of my learning and find my voice as I explored the core concepts of educational technology.

EDLD 5303 Apply Educational Technology - Portfolio: In this course I developed my ePortfolio by expanding on work I previously completed and adding new features to create my brand as a digital learner and leader. I added content including about me section, resume, certifications, contact information, teaching philosophy, link to Instagram profile, link to class website, inspirations, reading list, examples and samples of digital learning in my classroom, technology integration matrix, SAMR framework, and my blog.

EDLD 5305 Disruptive Innovation in Education: Without innovation, improvement would not exist. This course challenged me to create innovation, and I did that by developing an innovation plan. I then proved the effectiveness and importance of the plan through conducting a literature review. The world is changing, as is technology, and we need to innovate to prepare our students for the digital future.

EDLD 5313 Creating Significant Learning Environments: Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) requires engagement, connections, innovation, growth mindset, COVA, and more. A significant learning environment is based on a strong learning philosophy of constructivist theories; it uses big goals and backwards design that allows students to be active participants in their learning. When incorporating technology into the learning environment, it is important to do so in a significant way.

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Innovative Educator Time Ep. 1 - Brooke Josephs 00:00 ownership, voice, and authenticity. Retrieved Creating a constructivist e-learning When I first created my innovation project, I had strong goals. I truly wanted to transform my classroom, school, and district. Now, it's not that I don't want to do those things, but the reality of time and power has set in.

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Add your references here in one place :)

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One of the biggest takeaways was the links to learning communities outside of the website and other informative sites. This inspired me to be more active in my learning communities outside of class and share the work I’ve done on sites such as LinkedIn. I also want to include more visuals and videos of the work that I actually do in the classroom to help showcase my skill set to solicit feedback for improvement in the profession.

-Jelisa

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I love hearing how much you enjoyed exploring the variety of ePortfolios! Your insights as a visual learner really emphasize how crucial presentation and layout are for conveying our work effectively. I completely agree—looking at different examples can ignite creativity and motivate us to try out our own designs. It’s impressive that you’re thinking about incorporating elements from Brooke Josephs’ site while also critically assessing things like the embedded PDFs. I feel the same way; having easily accessible content right on the page really enhances the user experience and keeps the audience engaged.

Whitney Davis

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Before reviewing other ePortfolios, I had simply browsed them to look specifically at different artifact ideas. But you're so right about different aspect's enhancing the user's experience and keeping the audience engaged. I enjoyed looking at some sites and quickly left other sites when they didn't catch my attention or I was lost. Although we don't want to focus on the aesthetics like Patty had mentioned, it's important to keep in mind the audience's experience. If not, we're simply creating the ePortfolio for ourselves and not to share and learn from others. In today's world where information is literally at our fingertips, our audience has plenty of choices to engage with. It would be easy to turn off simply because the experience isn't user friendly or disengaging.

-Melissa Richards

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After checking out several eportfolios, it's clear that each one brings something unique to the table. Some were really straightforward and minimal, making it easy to navigate and find information. On the flip side, others were super vibrant and packed with intricate designs and eye-catching graphics that really drew you in. It’s interesting to see the different styles people choose to showcase their work. It really shows off their unique tastes and creative expressions! Overall, the variety in design and content really highlights the different talents and styles people use to showcase their work. It’s a great reminder of how important a well-crafted eportfolio is for personal branding and career growth in today’s digital world!

-Whitney Davis

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I agree with you about the sites with an easy to use navigation. I came across some for this discussion and some of the ones used for the other assignments that I wasn't able to really discern where the various content or projects were housed. I am striving to create ease within my ePortfolio. I want to have all the visuals and elements to add interest but also want it to be user friendly.

~Patty Hamilton

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"A learner’s digital evidence of meaningful connections" (Harapnuik, 2023)

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"A learner’s digital evidence of meaningful connections" (Harapnuik, 2023)

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I like Dr. Harapnuik's simple definition of an ePortfolio. Reflecting on the simplicity of this definition and on my exploration of other ePortfolios, it's sometimes easy to overlook and leave out the meaningful part of making connections. Speaking for myself, I feel I got caught up on making sure my ePortfolio look aesthetically pleasing and had to go back to make sure I wasn't just using it as a type of assessment of my learning instead of the evidence of my learning.

~Patty Hamilton

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It’s so interesting to me how we can all be given the same assignment and each produce something so different. After reviewing a couple of the e-portfolios it is helping me figure out what I like visually. I also like the perspective this gave me. While building my own e-portfolio I understand what I am trying to show everyone but this reminded me that not everyone lives in my brain and I need to build something that is user friendly to most people. Some of these e-portfolios are very simple and have loads of information but are not so visually appealing. Like others have mentioned, adding in visuals is a great way to grasp the attention of others, but also is helpful to guide viewers to see what it is you are presenting them. This is definitely sending me back into my own e-portfolio to add more visuals and even videos.

-Alondra Ramirez

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I agree that sometimes too many visuals derails the main message we are trying to get across. This article from "Writing Across the Curriculum" (Appalachian State University) gives so many good tips on the importance of simplicity. I will also be going back into my portfolio and adjusting it to have a more appealing look and a user friendly layout.

-Alondra Ramirez