Taking Ownership of Your Learning and ePortfolio by Whitney Davis

512jelisa — 2024-09-20 14:23:27 UTC

Jelisa.

Response to Jelisa

whitneydavis3 — 2024-09-20 23:09:40 UTC

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

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.

pattyhamilton — 2024-09-21 20:15:17 UTC

-Patty

512jelisa — 2024-09-22 03:10:02 UTC

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

References

mmrichards08 — 2024-09-22 15:22:35 UTC

Add your references here in one place :)

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

mmrichards08 — 2024-09-22 15:37:12 UTC

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

My Review of ePortfolios

mmrichards08 — 2024-09-22 16:22:30 UTC

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

Response to Jelisa

mmrichards08 — 2024-09-22 16:45:43 UTC

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

Response to Melissa's Review

whitneydavis3 — 2024-09-22 17:46:02 UTC

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

Review of eportfolios.

whitneydavis3 — 2024-09-22 22:52:34 UTC

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

Response to Jelisa

pattyhamilton — 2024-09-22 23:11:42 UTC

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

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

pattyhamilton — 2024-09-22 23:23:03 UTC

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

Response to Whitney

mmrichards08 — 2024-09-23 00:51:23 UTC

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

Response to Melissa's Review

512jelisa — 2024-09-23 01:10:00 UTC

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

alondraramirez0 — 2024-09-23 02:05:28 UTC

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

Response to Patty

alondraramirez0 — 2024-09-23 02:41:25 UTC

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