Technology Integration
E-Portfolios (Electronic Portfolios)
What tools are available? (hardward, software)
Because e-portfolios house artifacts either made with or copied to computers, any software program or computer peripheral could be a tool for portfolio development. This means that existing technology and software in your school, classroom, or office can be used for e-portfolio creation. It also means that a complete list of available tools is impossible to generate. The following section reviews some of the more common storage media, development software, and conversion tools to make e-portfolios a reality at your institution.
Storage Media:
Several tools exist to store e-portfolios. These range from costly database systems to free web space. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the more popular Internet-based portfolio storage tools.
For Pay
- LiveText
This database-driven, Internet portfolio is most often used for data aggregation, analysis, and reporting purposes when portfolios are part of an assessment system used for program accreditation. LiveText allows users to generate their own portfolios, courses, lesson plans, and projects or use templates previously created by individuals at the institution. Once portfolios are generated, they can be assessed by rubrics or survey-like forms aligned to professional and state standards. These assessments are stored in a database and can be later reviewed for accreditation purposes. LiveText also offers unlimited storage space and the ability to upload any file format. Users may also share their work with others, including those who do not have LiveText accounts. However, LiveText has limited ability to display files within the portfolio, provides almost no visual customization to personalize the look and feel of the portfolio, does not save multiple iterations of work, and is somewhat costly to the average user.- Task Stream
- Chalk and Wire
Free
- Open Source Portfolio
- Google Page Creator
This tool provides users 100 megabytes of ad-free web space. Users create pages for web production by selecting from 41 page styles and 4 page layouts. No knowledge of HTML is needed to create these pages (although they allow users limited access to alter the HTML in their documents if they know how). Users are also able to save, publish, and unpublish their work so that they control who has access to the content they create. In order to obtain an account, users must register for a free gmail email account. Additionally, because Google Page Creator is solely a webpage creator, portfolios made on these systems are not database supported, making data aggregation, analysis, and reporting difficult. Furthermore, iterations of work are not captured in this program. Finally, this program is in beta format-raising doubts about its stability. It is unclear whether data placed on these web pages is backed up regularly or how it is maintained.
- Google Docs
Although touted as an online, collaborative word processor, Google Docs has many features that make it a useful portfolio tool. Not only does the program allow users to create documents in much the same way as they would in a word processor, they may also control who has access to view and/or co-create these documents. The program is organized in a similar fashion as LiveText, The entry screen lists different documents that the user created. Clicking on one of these documents opens it for editing. Once opened, users can share the document with others, export it to PDF, Word, RTF, Open Office, or HTML formats, or post it to a Blog or webpage. Additionally, Google Docs allows users to upload documents created in other word processors. All documents are backed up every 10 seconds. You may also organize documents by tags or star them for later retrieval. Lastly, Google Docs stores iterations of work so you can compare past versions with the current version or revert back to previous drafts for future editing. The application only allows uploading of picture and word processor file formats up to 2 megabytes in size.In addition to Internet-based storage systems, several options exist for housing an electronic portfolio on local media. Although these options are not as easily distributed and retrieved as are Internet-based portfolios, they are still affordable alternatives for many teachers and students. Additionally, they may pose a lesser privacy risk than Internet portfolios. Below are several media commonly used for portfolio storage.
Development Media
Several resources are also available to help people add content to their portfolios. Similarly to storage media, the cost of these tools ranges anywhere between free to several hundreds of dollars per program.
For Pay
- LiveText
- Task Stream
- Microsoft Office
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_office- Adobe DreamWeaver
Free
Digitization/Capture Tools
Electronic portfolios require computer-based artifacts. However, many projects, assessments, and materials are not in computer format. The following tools are commonly used to convert audio, video, graphic, and text documents into computer files.
|
|
 |