Objectives

1. to be able to know what is a portfolio
2. to know the the purpose of using a portfolio;and
3. to know what are the characteristics of an effective portfolio.

Portfolio

Portfolio

            A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s effort, progress and achievements in one or more areas of the curriculum. The collection must include the following:

1.    Student participation in the selection of contents;

2.    Criteria for selection;

3.    Criteria for judging merits; and

4.    Evidence of a student’s self-reflection.

Portfolios should represent a collection of student’s best work or best effort, students-selected samples of work experiences related to outcomes being assessed, and documents showing the growth and development of mastering identified outcomes (Paulson & Meyer, 1991).

      Portfolios, in classrooms today, are derived from the visual and performing arts tradition in which they serve to showcase artists’ accomplishments and personally favored works. It may be a folder containing a students’ evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of his/her works. It may also contain one or more works-in-progress that illustrate the creation of a product, such as an essay involving through various stages of conception, drafting, and revision.

Purpose of Using a Portfolio

      Portfolios can enhance the assessment process by revealing a range of skills and understanding of students; supporting instructional goals; reflecting change and growth over a period of time; encouraging student, teacher, and parent reflection; and providing for continuity in education from one year to the next. Instructors can use portfolios for specific purposes including;

1.    Encouraging self-directed learning;

2.    Giving a comprehensive view of what has been learned;

3.    Fostering learning about learning;

4.    Demonstrating progress toward identified outcomes;

5.    Creating an intersection for instruction and assessment;

6.    Providing a way for students to value themselves as learners; and

7.    Offering opportunities for peer-supported growth.

Recent changes in education policies, which emphasize greater teacher involvement in designing curriculum and assessing students, have been an impetus to increase portfolio use. Portfolios are valued as an assessment tool because, as representations of classroom-based performance, they can be fully integrated into the curriculum, and in like separate tests, they supplement rather than take time away from instruction. Moreover, many teachers, educators, and researchers believed that portfolio assessments are more effective than “old style” tests for measuring academic skills and informing instructional decisions.

Characteristics of an Effective Portfolio

            According to George (1995), portfolio assessment is a multi-faceted process characterized by the following recurrent qualities.

1.    It is a continuous and ongoing, providing both  formative (ongoing) and summative (culminating) opportunities for monitoring student’s progress toward achieving essential outcomes

2.    It is multidimensional as it reflects a wide variety of artifacts and processes various aspects of the students’ learning.

3.    It provides for collaborative reflection, including ways for students to think about their own thinking processes and met cognitive introspection as they monitor their own, reflect upon their problem solving and decision-making approaches and observe their emerging understanding of the subjects and skills.

Although approaches to portfolio development may vary, all the major researches and literature on the portfolios reinforce the following characteristics:

1.    They clearly reflect stated learner outcomes identified in the core or essential curriculum that the students are expected to study.

2.    They focus the students’ performance-based learning experiences, as well as their acquisition of the key knowledge, skills and attitudes.

3.    They contain samples of work that stretch over an entire marking period, rather than single points in time.

Reflections

1. what was your reaction to the online blog making activity?
Norie: well, im kinda nervous about that..hehehe
Dexie: im gonna be honest. Im afraid of it.


2. Are you having some difficulty configuring the use of web blogging? explain.
Norie: yees, because we don't know how to make one and we don't have computers in our hometown, how can we make one?
Dexie: yes of course. First we don't have any knowledge in making one and second what if the one we have made is wrong.


3. Did the activity gave you a deeper understanding about used of blogs? Why?
Norie: yes, it did gave us a deeper understanding about computers and stuffs, and how to make a blog.
Dexie: yes, it did cleared my mind on the thoughts of how to make one. It helped me how not to be illiterate in our new technology.


4. Did the activity increases or decreases your entusiam, willingness or effort to learn more about technology? Why?
Norie: the activity increased our willingness, entusiam and effort to learn our new inovations because we know that someday we will be able to use it in our future projects and requirements.
Dexie: It did increase my entusiam, willingness and effort to learn and experience, to explore much more in the computer than just sending an email. I know someday this knowledge will be proved useful to us.


5. What important tools have you learned from this activity?
Norie: I have learned that being open-mindness is needed. We could not just get contented on what we have instead we should try and try something new, not because it is needed but also because it is challenge.
Dexie: I have learned that in group projects we need cooperation and trust to each other.


6. What generalization can you formulate with this activity?
Norie: I have learned that technology is highly in demand in our education for today because it help us a lot to be well informed about the improvements of teaching and of the educational curriculum and lessons.