There have been many articles written about the variety of ways faculty and students define eportfolios, collect artifacts, write reflections, and use finished eportfolios. However, little has been written about the dynamic process of adopting electronic portfolios in schools of education. This study employs cross-case analysis to investigate implementation of electronic portfolio initiatives in seven schools of education. Case analysis shows the most commonly identified purpose for initiating an eportfolio system to be program evaluation for national accreditation. With program evaluation as the eventual goal of eportfolio development, at least eight design steps of an electronic portfolio process were found to be necessary for successful implementation. These steps are discussed and various methods of implementation are described. Case analysis results further suggest that the final step involving data gathering, aggregation and analysis has been most difficult for these schools to implement. None of the schools represented in this study have yet made use the data collected from eportfolios to make data driven decisions about their programs of study. Suggestions are made for further study into the use of eportfolio data for program evaluation, improvement and ongoing development.
This chapter presents four technology-integrated activities for use in elementary curriculum. These educational activities were designed to be easily duplicated by teachers and to encourage students to be creative and use problem-solving skills. Most of the technology-integrated activities were developed using the Internet and Microsoft programs that are commonly available, such as Microsoft Word (2001), Excel (2001) and Paint (2001).
The purpose of this chapter of the section is to assist elementary teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum through instructions and models of activities and projects. The extension suggestions and supporting information for each activity are provided to assist teachers in designing activities for their students, their learning objectives, and their curricula. The goals of these activities are to encourage and support teachers in their use of technology and to promote students’ engagement in learning through productivity and creativity.
This article presents four technology-integrated activities that engage elementary students in learning. These educational technology activities were designed to be easily duplicated and modified by teachers for their students. The constructivist framework of the activities motivates students to be creative and to use problem-solving skills. Most of the technology-integrated activities were developed using the Internet and/or Microsoft programs that are commonly available, such as MS Word (2007), MS Excel (2007), and MS Paint (2001). The curriculum-designed activities integrate technology into a variety of subject areas; mathematics, science, art, social studies, and language arts. The technology activities included are Playing Musical Computers with Creative Writing; What’s the Connection?; Be an Artist, Paint a Picture-Story; and Where in the World is…? Each technology-integrated activity includes a description, an illustrated example of the activity, engaging activities for student to construct their learning, and ideas for presenting and sharing the projects.
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