Student publishing is a topic Erin Murphy and I explore in-depth in Hack 10 of our upcoming book, Hacking Project Based Learning! (Update – The book is now available here!)
Currently in my district we’ve had some preliminary talks regarding if/how digital portfolios could be implemented on a wide-scale. Of course, while the focus shouldn’t necessarily be on the technology, one of the first questions asked by everyone (both in and out of district) always involves what type of platform we have in mind.
While these portfolio talks are only in their infancy, and we currently have no certain idea what will actually happen (in regards to what technology is chosen and with the portfolios in general)…I do strongly feel that, if possible, we should always be looking to use an authentic tool (e.g., self-hosted WordPress or WordPress.com) as opposed to one that has been made for school (e.g., Kidblog or Seesaw).
Here are three reasons why:
- Teaching digital citizenship is now a non-negotiable, and this upcoming school year we are rolling out the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Curriculum across all grade levels. Now, if we’re then simultaneously having students leverage “safe” made for school technology because we’re afraid what might happen, they’re missing out on valuable opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. In fact, in this context, I would go as far to say we’d be a bit hypocritical by first declaring, “Digital citizenship is important; let’s practice it!” and then saying, “Use this, because we don’t want you to experience what’s out there.” (Of course, the exception would be if we’ve chosen a certain tool due to it’s lower cost, because we want a simple interface for lower grade levels, etc.) Nevertheless, experiences with authentic tools allow for students to apply what they’ve learned in settings that very much mimic the real world. And, at the same time, teachers are present to turn mistakes into beneficial lessons.
- Teaching entrepreneurialism is quickly becoming a non-negotiable, and we’re doing our students a disservice if they’re simply handing in all work for an audience of one, the teacher. Not only should students be learning how to do their work, they should be learning and experiencing how to share and market their creations. While this idea may begin with students simply “copying and pasting” their finished products into their portfolios and then sharing them out (pretty much worst-case scenario)…in time, students can be creating and promoting their own businesses, publishing and marketing eBooks, gaining loyal audiences with podcasts, etc., all of which are only possible with an authentic platform…Everyone, no matter the age, has access to the same “business growing” technologies (many of which aren’t all that complicated, by the way). So, if it’s what adults “do,” our students should be doing it as well.
- The resumé is dead, or dying. If our students are applying for colleges without digital footprints, we’re doing them a disservice. (And, if we’re applying for jobs without digital footprints, we’re doing ourselves a disservice). Need convincing? Hop over to Google and search for “resumé is dead” or check out this article right here…In short, we need to make sure our students are searchable. So, when their names are plugged into Google by a prospective college or employer, not only will no damaging content be found, but students will be given a leg up on the competition due to digital footprints we helped them build…Kidblog won’t show up on a Google search, and neither will Seesaw. And, while programs such as Weebly and Wix are easy to use, I would rather have students get acquainted with a tool that’s used on 25 percent of all websites. In fact, once they graduate high school, with a few clicks they can easily export their portfolios from a district or company server (if necessary) and upload the content to their own website and server space, independent of any district or school.
Let me be clear…I’m not against anything that’s not WordPress, a variation of WordPress such as CampusPress, or an authentic tool. In fact, when I taught fourth grade, my students and I used Kidblog on a regular basis. But, when it’s time to choose a platform for digital portfolios (and blogging), I do believe the conversation should always start with authentic technologies. As previously mentioned, there may be limiting factors such as high costs and/or a tool’s complexity, and a different platform may be necessary for younger students at the elementary level. (Many of the elementary students and teachers in my district do amazing work with Kidblog and Seesaw!) But, in the end, I do believe we are severely limiting the possibilities if we play it “safe” and only consider technology made for school.
What are your thoughts on digital portfolios? How have you seen them done “right?” What platform do you prefer?
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I totally agree that our students need to be publishing for a wider audience. I still hear fears of parents comparing work or being upset that students’ content is out there. Clearly there is a need for parent and teacher education about the benefits of the wider audience. Many districts in my area have embraced the NYRWP. It kills me that the amazing writing usually does not go beyond the classroom or the parent publishing party. A student often works on one piece or the craft that will go into that piece every day for 6, 8 or more weeks. We get incredible student writing, but is it truly publishing if it has no purpose beyond the classroom?
Adrienne, thanks for taking the time to read and respond…The way I look at it – How would I feel if only one person was allowed to read and comment on my work/writing?
Check out Audrey Watters’ work on this topic if you haven’t already:
https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713?source=linkShare-5e142add39fd-1471575238
Lyn, thanks for sharing!
As an educator, who has advocated for “blogfolios” , termed coined by Andrea Hernandez @edtechworkshop since 2008, I recently tried to make the difference between WordPress (edublogs) and Seesaw as a blogging platform visible. http://langwitches.org/blog/2016/07/28/digital-portfolios-blogs-vs-seesaw/
It is exactly the AUTHENTICITY you also talk about that makes my first choice the tool, that kids would also use OUTSIDE in the real world. Walled gardens (tools specially created for schools) are better than no exposure, but do not encourage global connections, digital footprint (resume) building, nor authentic assessment.
What if students could create as easily and in a (lightly) guided manner, like they do on for-school tools, but be able to harness the power of a public audience and contributing to the greater world of the internet?
I think the answer is bulb (bulbapp.com). It’s simple, beautiful, web-based (student’s own their URL and can carry it with them) and walks the line between safe, private publishing in a community and the momentous effects of a public audience.
Silvia, thanks! The work you’ve done with portfolios/blogging has inspired me. I love your post, and I wish I would have seen it before I published mine…And yes, we need to get past the idea of portfolios being nothing more than a place for students to easily store (and sometimes share) their work.
As a big advocate of Seesaw and a teacher of 6 year olds, I would argue that you can use Seesaw blogs to connect globally. The teacher decides whether or not to make it publicly accessible. I also think that while we can teach all of the digital citizenship that we want to our students, the parents of elementary aged students aren’t always on board with putting their kids out on in the internet. We always have to be mindful of the purpose of the platform and of the interests and feelings of all of the stakeholders involved in education. I personally think that it is ok NOT to show everything to everyone. If the students discover a new gene in class, we’ll share with the world, we’ll put it out there. If they’ve mastered two digit addition with regrouping, we’ll let their family celebrate. It doesn’t make it less authentic learning if it is only for their families-because when you’re six, they are the people that matter the most.
I don’t disagree, and it’s wonderful you’re using Seesaw with six-year-olds! As I touched upon in the post, I do think elementary students can be the exception, and I’m a fan of Kidblog and Seesaw (among other tools) at this level. However, once students hit middle school, I believe we need to start the conversation with authentic tools that are used in the real world.
I found your blog great Ross and this comment really valuable M.Fenn. I am looking into using Seesaw with my 6 year olds. How did you go about setting it up? Did you have a trial group? Do you use it as a formative assessment tool. What are the negatives and positives please?
I absolutely loved this post. I have thought the same thing for ages but mostly because my students were creating and while I tried to sell it as such an EXCITING adventure, I think the biggest issue was that they really knew no one was seeing their work and providing feedback. I know I wouldn’t write my blog with the same passion if I was the only one who saw it, so I completely agree. Now the hope is to get entire sites and districts on board. 🙂
Kendra, thanks for reading! Would love to hear how things progress with your students’ digital portfolios.
I could not agree more in regards to choosing the right platform. I think that we often choose what is easy, yet overlook the fact that easy now can be difficult later on. I had a go at breaking down the different platforms (http://readwriterespond.com/?p=2325), what is overlooked when it comes to Kidsblog and Seesaw is that neither have a clear means for extracting data at a later point if you are wishing to move or simply back up.
Aaron, thanks for reading. And, thanks for sharing your post…love it!
I am a middle school teacher currently searching for a portfolio tool as well. I have created and started a pilot interest based PBL class where it is important that the students’ work is promoted to a wider audience. The issue I am coming across is that most tools have legal statements proclaiming they should not be used by students under 13. Using theses sites with my kids puts me at risk and propagates parents fears of letting their children use them. I am trying to avoid sending home 15 hundred permission forms. Thoughts ?
Daniel, for the “under 13” issues, my Technology Director has been an invaluable resource. Also, it’s generally a pain to collect permission slips; you may want to try a process in which parents have to contact you if they’d like to opt out (rather than opt in). Make sense?
Great post Ross, I looked into this last year, more as an interest of mine than a district initiative. We are a new Google Apps District and I have seen the Google Sites platform used for digital portfolios for students. In the Google Sites platform students can create, write, blog, as well as build videos, create/collaborate on presentations, code, etc . The one downfall from Sites is it is currently clunky to use and not as user-friendly as a WordPress site (I ran a WP site in my middle school math classroom so I have lived in both worlds). Google is rumored to update this platform in the near future. Also, with Google Sites you have the ability to share your work within your domain, with specific people or with the world. Imagine a 2nd-grade student starting his/her portfolio just sharing with a teacher/peers and then as they grow opening it up to the domain and then graduating to the world once they rid themselves of the “under 13,” label. If this becomes a reality in our district I will share more. Have a great end of the summer.
Josh, thanks for sharing, and it’s great to hear your district has gone GAFE. Make sure to keep in touch and let me know how things go with Google Sites!
This project, Googlios, has been around for a long time as a model for student portfolios. It was used for capstone projects and other projects. I have always thought it was very well-done! https://sites.google.com/site/googlioproject/home
The direct link to the Googlios student projects is here: https://sites.google.com/a/brvgs.k12.va.us/senior-projects-2012-2013/
Kathy, thanks so much for sharing!
Fantastic post Ross. Your 3 reasons are on point. Digital citizenship is a non-negotiable and I wish you all the best with the Common Sense curriculum. Would love to hear how it goes with another blog post! The 3rd topic about being searchable is so true. Students can learn so much from building a website, I know I have, but then also learn about branding themselves, and entrepreneurialism. Great job and good luck with this goal at Salisbury!
Thanks, Justin! I’ll make sure to blog about our progress with Common Sense…Hope all is well.
Agreed, Ross.
Interestingly in South Africa, anecdotal evidence suggests that added costs are likely to be the strongest reason its schools do NOT adopt customised portfolios technologies. Despite being relatively privileged, the better-off schools are likely to appropriate freemium publishing services that do not add to already stretched school budgets.
So, in our context, your argument means these schools’ thrift in using real world services is actually be a boon in providing better learning opportunities 🙂 !
Best regards,
Travis
Thanks, Travis! I appreciate your perspective.
For half a decade my 6-8 grade students made portfolios with Google Sites. Now I’m instructing online to preservice teachers, and portfolios are their capstone project. We’re using a Google Sites template for that as well. They are kept private in the domain, but students can use them in the interview process for transfer or job. Previously they were publishing to a platform where no one could ever see the work, which was a useless task in my opinion. Part of training as a professional teacher should be awareness of the audience. Always. So, I’m in total agreement with you that students should write to an audience.
Great post, thanks for sharing!
Leanna, thanks for sharing your experiences!
Thanks for the post. I like the way you linked digital portfolios with digital citizenship. I have been researching electronic portfolios for more than 25 years (http://electronicportfolios.org), and I agree with your position that students should use what might be called “worldware” (software in use in the world). I just posted my own blog entry with my response to a K-12 teacher who asked about current research. http://eportfoliosblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/current-research-on-eportfolios-in.html
(You will see that I mentioned your post). I also pointed out the research from K-8 schools in Auckland, New Zealand, where they use Blogger (with Hapara’s Teacher Dashboard–developed with these schools) to document achievement in writing. I have been following those schools for at least six years, and they attribute some of their success to students writing for authentic audiences (they even put a map on student blogs to show where readers come from around the world). http://manaiakalani.blogspot.com/2016/07/blogging-supports-writing-outcomes.html
Ross – While I agree that digital portfolios are a way to build web presence for our kids, I’d be hesitant to say that they are a complete replacement for the resume. I think they serve different purposes and can certainly be connected. Certainly, as our students build their web presence, their portfolio should include their work history and what they did and accomplished in their work.
As our students enter the workforce, they are going to find that they cannot document some of their work online. This could be because of confidentiality (e.g. as a school psychologist, I’m not going to put a child’s evaluation online) or privacy concerns.
Beyond this, as someone who does a lot of interviewing and hiring, a resume can represent a print version of who you are as a professional. I’m much more likely to have someone’s resume in front of me during an interview than their digital portfolio or website, in part because I don’t want a screen between the interviewee and myself. The resume should encourage me to look at work products in their portfolio and get me to look at the candidate deeper.
Hi Ross,
I’m late to the party here but just saw @langwitches share this post and I was compelled to comment.
As a long time blogging enthusiast, you have really put into words a lot of my thoughts around this topic.
Coincidentally I just published an article the other day about some thoughts on the future of educational blogging. http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2017/09/25/are-blogs-dead/
I mention a few of the points you have raised, about learning those authentic skills and really practicing digital citizenship. I think the fact that more than a quarter of the web is now powered by WordPress is something we really can’t ignore.
I’m a primary school teacher and have spent a lot of time teaching grade two (7 and 8 year olds). The children learnt some amazing WordPress skills, strengthened their understanding of digital citizenship and collaborated globally for authentic purposes – like the time we raised $20,000 for a Ugandan school through a blogging project. So, I’m always sceptical when people say young children need the simpler tools. Who is it that really needs those simple tools? The teacher or the student?
In some ways I feel like the enthusiasm around Seesaw etc isn’t doing any harm and it’s better than nothing. Because maybe the alternative would be nothing. But maybe we need to help teachers take that next step.
I look forward to checking out more of your work, Ross.
Thanks,
Kathleen
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