Primary Portfolios and Student Reflection on Learning

Division(s): Primary
Level(s): Kindergarten
Abstract:

Our purpose was to use the Virtual Learning Environment/Brightspace Portfolio to make learning visible and to encourage student self-reflection. This tool was also used for parent communication (e.g. calendar, videos, photos, home activities, etc.).

The district’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) supports a new Brightspace Portfolio app that makes it very easy for primary students to take a picture of their work and record an audio reflection to accompany it. Picture, title and audio reflection are automatically added to the student’s electronic portfolio and can be viewed from any computer, at school or at home.

We had considerable enthusiasm last fall within our primary division to explore technology and the role it can play in empowering primary learners. Educators were also looking for new ways to share learning with parents on an ongoing basis and during conferences, and were looking to develop facility in using the VLE to support home communication and parent engagement.

We very much valued the opportunity to work together to explore these new tools and work with our students in developing their skills in reflection on their learning. Our existing iPads and iTouch devices, while still very useful for many applications, were too old to run the necessary iOS 10 required by the Brightspace Portfolio app and so part of the grant allowed us to purchase the updated hardware.

Team Members

  • Andrew Forgrave

    Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board

  • Rebecca Meagher

    Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board

  • Lisa Burnett

    Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board

  • Linda Hillier

    Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board

  • Michelle McKeown & Diana Miles & Kathy Latchford

    Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board

Professional Learning Goals

  • Teachers developed experience working with student-selected portfolio artifacts
  • Teachers developed facility in helping students choose artifacts for their portfolio and in helping students improve the quality of their reflection on learning and subsequent actions
  • Teachers noted increased engagement with parents of their learners as can be facilitated by digital portfolios and student-led conferences
  • Teachers developed facility sharing student learning and day-to-day school-home communication (upcoming events, classroom activities and experiences) using the class home page features of the VLE

Activities and Resources

  • Our teams (teachers and DECEs) worked together with district System Education Technology Support (SETS) staff to set up their classes in the VLE and prepare the QR code cards for their students
  • Our teams worked together to develop comfort with the Brightspace app and the complementary VLE interface
  • Our teams initially shared the functions and purpose of the VLE class home page with parents and began using it as a primary school-home communication path
  • Our teams collaborated to reflect on the choices of artifacts their students included in their digital portfolios and quality of their reflections
  • Our teams developed a table of indicators based on the student samples and reflections

Unexpected Challenges

  • Banking Arrangements: In our case, our banking took place through our district’s accounting system and, as a result, ongoing accounting was a challenge, and final exact release figures will not be available until July.
  • Time Delay in Acquiring Project Hardware: Delivery issues in ordering and receiving our iPads resulted in a delay in our official startup; cases for the iPads were lost and needed to be re-ordered
  • Limited Availability of Occasional Teachers: Opportunities to schedule team project time were negatively influenced by difficulties in acquiring release time as initially planned
  • Parent Access: Not all parents have Internet access to engage with the VLE/home page/student work

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

  • Over the course of one year in any given class, students will demonstrate increased awareness of the qualities exhibited in their reflections on their work
  • Over the course of a number of years, students will demonstrate increasing quality of reflection on their learning, resulting in improved results across a variety of subject areas
  • Over time, students will demonstrate increased engagement with their learning as a result of increased parent awareness and engagement in their child’s learning

 

 

Sharing

  • Blog post on school website
  • Sharing through math-specific workshops with other system teachers, K-12
  • Sharing results of parent-survey with school and system leaders
  • Presentation to school trustees (pending)
  • Potential to share outside of system at conferences

Project Evaluation

  • Our team became more efficient at teaching students how to use, access and add to their portfolio. We know that we were successful because it is taking us less class time and students are becoming much more independent and comfortable with the process of adding artifacts to their portfolios.
  • Our teams are continuing to develop facility in helping students choose artifacts for their portfolio and in helping students improve the quality of their reflection on learning and subsequent actions on an ongoing goal. We have seen some improvement in the quality of student reflections, but we are hoping to see even more improvement next year when we can start the process in September. As well, many students will be participating in this for their second year next year and we know that they will bring their enthusiasm and proficiency to motivate those students who may be new to the process.  
  • Kindergarten teams who have extended their implementation to include sharing with parents have noticed increased engagement with the parents of their learners. Parents are enthused at seeing classroom activities, work samples, presentations, videos and activities that can support learning at home. They have enjoyed hearing their child’s reflections on their chosen pieces of work. It has been exciting for us to see the learning that happens at school being extended at home and that learning is getting posted from home and can be shared back at school.  Students that go on family trips are now using the VLE/Portfolio to capture their experience and share with the class.
  • Our teams continue to learn, develop and explore ways of sharing student learning and day-to-day school-home communication (upcoming events, classroom activities and experiences) using the class home page features of the VLE
  • Some parents have indicated that VLE posts and Portfolio additions have provided conversation starters about what’s happening at school and leads to extended learning at home. For families that live in two different homes with some far away and don’t get to visit school very often, this helps them feel connected and a part of their child’s education.
  • Kindergarten teams are enthused at the option to support their ongoing documentation efforts through student-selected work stored in the VLE. We are also reflecting on the role of the educator in assisting early learners with this process and the nature of “shared artifacts” generated in time by the interactions of a number of students.

Resources Used

Brightspace Portfolio app (iOS)

Brightspace Portfolio is a classroom app that helps students capture evidence of their learning. They can use the app to take pictures or videos of their work, record their thoughts and reflections, and then log in to their school’s Brightspace account to manage their work.

The app also includes an animated helper that can be used to take younger students through the process step-by-step.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/brightspace-portfolio/id1248949337?mt=8

Brightspace Portfolio app (Android)

Brightspace Portfolio is a classroom app that helps students capture evidence of their learning. They can use the app to take pictures or videos of their work, record their thoughts and reflections, and then log in to their school’s Brightspace account to manage their work.

The app also includes an animated helper that can be used to take younger students through the process step-by-step.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brightspace.mobile.folio&hl=en

Brightspace Portfolio (online, part of D2L)

Brightspace Portfolio provides an online artifact space for kindergarten through Grade 12 classrooms and individual learners. It is intended that a learner can maintain their portfolio evidence from previous years as they progress through their education journey.

Brightspace Portfolio consists of two pieces of software:

  • To collect evidence in the classroom, use the Portfolio app for iOS or Android on a shared device such as a classroom tablet. The Portfolio app is available for download from Apple App Store or Google Play App Store.
  • To manage the evidence your learners collect, use the Portfolio tool within Brightspace Learning Environment, which is available on a browser from your laptop, tablet or mobile device

https://documentation.brightspace.com/EN/portfolio/instructor/about_portfolio.htm?TocPath=Administrators%7CBrightspace%20Portfolio%7C_____0

Videos