Collecting the dots is one thing, but connecting them is an entirely different story. ePortfolios are not, as Dwayne Harapnuik (2015) says, “just a digital file cabinet where one shows how many dots they have collected.” Instead, it is a place where students reveal their growth, reflections, speculations, and meaningful connections.
Creating an ePortfolio in the Applied Digital Learning (ADL) Program has been an exciting and meaningful process for me. With each assignment, I am able to showcase what I’ve learned, how I’ve learned and how it relates to my role in education. It has also given me an audience to share with, and, as a result, has been a poster example of what student choice, opportunity, voice, and authenticity look like. Authenticity has been the driving factor of the ePortfolio for me. In the traditional classroom, the student is expected to please one person: the teacher. With the opportunity to create an ePortfolio, I now write blogs and create pages I will share with colleagues, employers, teachers, friends, family, students, and strangers. This makes what I write and create entirely more meaningful and gives me a greater desire to produce something worth reading and worth spending time on.
I am excited to have my ePortfolio to share with the world when this program is over, and as I continue my educational journey beyond the traditional classroom, I hope I continue to use my ePortfolio, not as a place to show how many dots I’ve collected, but how I have continued to connect them.
Harapnuik, D (2023, September). ePortfolio. It’s About Learning. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=5973
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