Creating e-Portfolios through collaborative and technology-mediated learning

Paul Walcott
UWI, Cave Hill Campus

Jamillah Grant
Instructional Development Unit, UWI, Cave Hill Campus

     Full text: HTML
     Last modified: August 20, 2006
     Presentation date: 11/01/2006 2:30 PM in ST Middlesex
     (View Schedule)

Abstract
Participants of this demonstration will be expected to construct their electronic teaching portfolios through collaborative and technology-mediated learning. The participants should be academics of any discipline who are able to use computer applications for tasks such as word processing and browsing the Internet.

Teaching portfolios are important since they are often used in the assessment process for promotion and tenure at Universities. Creating electronic versions of these teaching portfolios (e-Portfolios) make them even more accessible, especially if published on the Internet, but also allow the inclusion of multimedia presentations. This cannot be easily achieved using traditional teaching portfolios.

During the demonstration participants will be instructed on the required contents of their e-Portfolios and through the use of on-line tools, such as mark-up language validators and editors, learn how to design and construct simple web pages. This basic knowledge will be used by the participants in the construction of their e-Portfolio from a pre-defined HTML template created by the instructor.

The main objectives of the demonstration are to construct a simple web page; and to design and construct an e-Portfolio, which consist of a description of research interests, a description of courses taught, and a list of publications.

The expected outcome of this demonstration is three-fold. Firstly, participants will acquire the all-important technical skill of web page construction. Secondly, participants will have created their e-Portfolio; and finally, participants will have had an opportunity to begin to reflect on teaching practices as they collaborate during the demonstration. This reflection should help them to define a clear teaching philosophy. Further collaboration is also possible after the demonstration if participants publish their e-Portfolios on the Internet and solicit comments from their peers at a local, regional and international level.