International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(1), pp. 67-91.
In the 21st century, educators must address the evolving ways in which information can reach students. Educators must strive for relevancy and appeal to the 21st century literacy skills a majority of students enter classrooms with. Jones and Leverenz (2017) state that the use of a digital classroom practice, ePortfolio, provides students with the abilities to “facilitate student identity formation as they engage in the process of reflection and self-authoring” (p. 68). In this study, students are thoroughly engaged throughout their creation of their personal brand for themselves within a digital storytelling ePortfolio. Their motivation partly stemmed from the ability to produce this ePortfolio for an external audience rather than a mere class assignment.
This mixed-methods study evaluated the use of an ePortfolio assignment for an instructor at Texas Christian University. The participants included 16 “high achieving, traditional age, sophomore-through-senior level honor students representing various colleges and schools across the university” (71). The article explains the pedagogical approach utilized to foster students identification of their identity, digital identity, and personal brand.
As an educator, this research provides a classroom practice educators can utilize to assist students in fostering their digital identity through digital storytelling. Although this study was conducted with university students, I feel it can be replicated in a secondary school setting. The use of an ePortfolio reminded me of a website another educator shared with me during my first year of teaching, which is called Storybird. Storybird is free for any educational setting and allows students to create their own narrative through the use of illustrations to spark their imagination. Students wouldn’t be creating a personal brand, but I believe the critical thinking a skills required to author a narrative would provide insight to their digital identity through the use of non-print media to communicate their purpose for writing.
Quotations
“Digital storytelling promotes the development of competencies such as research and writing skills, organization skills, technology skills, presentation skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking” (69).
“When students use digital storytelling they learn to “convert data into information and transform information into knowledge” (69).
“By doing some initial reflection and soul-searching, I was able to better understand what makes me, me, as well as define my own personal brand and tagline. This branding became crucial when composing my digital story, helping to direct every decision I made when creating my ePortfolio. In short, if it didn’t support my personal brand or my future goals or ambitions, I didn’t add it” (74).
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ReplyDeleteAt first I read the summary and thought, well this is nothing new. This article isn't saying anything 'new' really ( which is something required to be published by some journals) Furthermore, I didn't get the 'digital identity' nugget that is supposed to be a part of the articles we find.
ReplyDeleteThen, I copy and pasted the article title into google scholar and read some of it. I can see where the authors are trying to include digital identity as a means to sort of 'sell' the ePortolio approach to teaching courses and change up traditional requirements(which I;m all for). After all, that is the initial point of the portfolios in the course. But what they are trying to do different is sort of say 'hey you're already a part of this digital identity stuff because of your online presence, lets add this ePortfolio and use it to your benefit for future reference.'
One of the key terms you should have included was what the authors were calling "personal brand" (to which I have feelings about) I think by replacing the term identity and changing it to brand can really be a hit or miss with students so, in a sense, its a gamble. I didn't like how they assumed the term brand created a positive evocation of emotions.
I really think this was a way for the authors to say hey, you need to submit this portfolio for class but also its not a complete waste of time because it benefits you after you move on from this course. Not sure how I feel about this sentiment, but I do believe in portfolios and having them online for reference. But the whole personal brand thing was a bit out of place for me here.
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI feel that educational environments in many public schools are not keeping up with the times. Teenagers are constantly surrounded by technology and it makes sense to begin incorporating that in to everyday lessons. When I taught in Iowa, the students all had one-to-one devices and you would not believe the way their interest increased. This article offers relevant advice in incorporating digital media into the classroom. I can see how digital storytelling is the most reasonable next step. I do believe it would “development of competencies such as research and writing skills, organization skills, technology skills, presentation skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking”. However, I am having a bit of trouble connecting this to digital identity. Is the author arguing that digital storytelling will help students develop their identity or self?
Kimberlyy,
ReplyDeleteI think ePortfolios are a cool idea. Many times, we don't actually sit down and think about who we are--who we really are. I mean, yes, we will say "I'm nice, I'm a student, I like music," but those are all superficial descriptions. Our identity has its roots deep in places that we may have not even realized. Because of that, I think students would find it very engaging and exciting to construct a digital narrative, something that others could see. Individuals would not just be making descriptions of themselves but finding out why they are the way they are. With this, they would be adding to the web of connections to others, finding similarities and differences amongst their classmates and other people of the world. I think this idea would be a perfect way to bring online relationships that people sometimes say are superficial towards something more in depth and meaningful.
Kimberly, Portfolios have been around for a while. I suspect that simply making them digital does not quite create the pedagogy being described by these authors (one of which, Leverenz, was one of my professors in my Ph.D. program). So, what was it that they were doing that was more than simply a collection of previous work with a reflective essay?
ReplyDeleteI also wondered as I was reading this whether this pedagogy would be useful for other student demographics, that is, students who weren’t in an honors program at an exclusive, highly selective, and expensive private university. What do you think? What can you tell me about what they did that would help me answer that question?