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Tag: blog

  • Teaching Portfolios: How to set up a Blog based portfolio

    A blog based template is a good way of going about keeping a record of your portfolio. Many people are used to the system of blogging, and the key part of anything is it’s flexibility.

    Essentially, each piece of evidence is a new post. In that post you can include file links, images, and annotations or descriptions. Built in to every blog system is the use of categories and tags, which can be used to track the six teaching standards, subject of the evidence, type of evidence (image, photo, resource, video, etc…) and more. These can then all be used to create archive pages or collections to showcase in your portfolio.

    The big benefit to creating your portfolio online is its accessibility from anywhere, allowing you to add evidence no matter where you are. In addition to this, being able to easily share your portfolio with your principal in order to get your registration signed off is also a convenience. Another benefit is the ability to add comment, annotation, and descriptions or reflections to each piece of evidence and have it attached with the evidence permanently in one place.

    There are a couple of downsides to using a blog system. The first is a matter of privacy. The thing that makes it a great system, accessibility, is also it’s downfall. Unless you go through your evidence and black out names or blur faces in photos, and moderate any comments you make in annotations, all of these things will go up online for everyone to see. Of course, there are ways of making this work, such as making your portfolio private and password protected. You will have to provide your principal with an account to view it however if you wish to share it with them.
    Secondly, it requires extra work on your part. Each piece of evidence needs to be added as a new blog post, files and photos uploaded, and comments or descriptions added. This is slightly more cumbersome than just dropping files into a folder, or even adding it as a new page in OneNote – especially if you keep getting signed out!

    Pros
    • Accessible online from anywhere
    • Easy to share with others
    • Explanations, Descriptions and Reflections all easy to add to a piece of evidence and posted together.
    Cons
    • Privacy issues by being online
    • Additional work required to add pieces of evidence

    Creating a Teaching Portfolio in a blog

    Getting started is actually a lot easier than you’d first imagine. The hardest part is choosing a blogging system. There are several that I would recommend.

    In the end, choose one that works for you. If it’s too hard for you to use and get used to, then you’re not going to maintain your portfolio very well. The other factor to take into account is the privacy capabilities of the system – does it have private mode? Can you make posts password protected?

    I’m not going to go into details of how to use each of these systems. Most of them have a simple tag and category based system, especially the first two. Instead, I’ll go through the basic setup of what you need to build the structure of your portfolio.

    I’ve actually made an entire website for this purpose. You can visit it below:


    Wordpress.com PTC Portfolio

    Please go through and have a look at this site. It takes you through the whole set up with you, and addresses each of the issues outlined above.

    Examples

    Here are some examples of some blog based portfolios I’ve come across or made myself.

    PTC Portfolio Template

    Not only is the WordPress tutorial I built above a walkthrough, but also serves as an example of what your portfolio could look like. I’ve also put in some example evidence. Go ahead and have a look through it.


    PTC Portfolio

    ePortfolio – Google Site


    Here I used a combination of Google Drive and Google Sites. Essentially I would just add evidence into relevant folders in Google Drive and the Site would link to those folders. I could then create some featured posts to showcase some of the better pieces of evidence.

  • A New Direction

    Hi All,

    After several personal attacks, I’ve come to realise two things:

    1. People are happy to dish things out but can’t take it (myself included)
    2. I’ve become far to critical, cynical, and political in my posts.

    Because of this I’m re-focussing my efforts as to what Unleash Education is about.

    I realise that there are a number of people who agree with my posts and political views, and with that, there are probably a few who disagree as well. In addition to that, I have been encouraged in the past to keep going, because those that follow my posts generally support the posts and are following for that reason.

    However, the reason behind setting up Unleash Education was for a completely different reason than for what it has become.

    Ultimately, it was to engage and encourage people in becoming better teachers through providing thoughts, ideas, pedagogy and resources. This also included being a part of the Twitter PLN that I’ve come to know and love and receive ongoing support and encourage from myself.

    Lately I have been posting solely on the political landscape that Education in this country has become, and the negativity that can happen when you begin to complain about all the things that don’t go your way.

    Instead, what I’ve come to realise is that what I should be doing instead is changing it from within; showing the positivity that can be a career in teaching, helpful pointers and suggestions from my own classroom experience, and encouragement to all teachers to be the best. I should be sharing the things that have worked for me, the resources I’ve made to engage and inspire students, and begin to be something to strive for, rather than as a vehicle for slander and criticism.

    To those I’ve offended, I apologise.

    To those that have found my political views great and have followed me because of it, I hope that you’ll continue to follow and support me as I shift the direction of it all.