Play Tech 2 - ePortfolios

Finding a solution to build a ePortfolio is quite a challenge.  The many solutions available range from free to expensive and some that are discussed are even exclusive to districts and/or states.   I explored weebly, wiki pages and google sites.

Exploring
Google sites, a free solution, requires a firm knowledge of formatting and layout.  There are some templates that can be used to help with the look and feel of the site, but google seems to have a typical look and feel that says "I'm google".   I was hoping for something more suggestive for the types of artifacts so until I get a better handle on what I would normally post, I will look for dedicated eportfolio hosting services.

Wiki pages are very much in the same camp.  Once you learn the navigation tags it's easy for the user to move between the pages.  I am not a big fan of the wiki style and find it a bit cumbersome to add and edit items.

Affordances
I enjoyed weebly because it had components which allows the user to move types of artifacts into the page and it was easy to upload the information. The navigation was easy to set up and I could see how to extend or expand the site into sub categories.   I added a lesson plan I created for a class on variables and expressions.  http://mathiam.weebly.com  It did not take long and I saw where I could easily add text to explain/describe/reflect on each artifact.   I could easily see how to upload video which is a very popular and handy item to use since most phones have HD video on them.   Adding pictures, photo galleries will lend itself well to describing or connecting content to concepts or ideas that are shared.

It even has a mobile version of the site which makes it SUPER easy for smartphone browsing but it did not display my pdf file or the image for my Expressions and Equations tab.  I am not sure why that didnt come through; perhaps it's too soon for mobile?  I could switch to Web View on my phone and see most of it.

Since Weebly is designed for building portfolio's the user can spend less time on HTML coding or design and more time on collecting, selecting, reflecting and connecting.

What I didnt like about weebly is the cost to add pro items such as video.  Granted they need to be paid for their site and that is part of their model.


Student ePortfolios

If I were to have students create a ePortfolio, I would likely use something that was VERY structured.  Granted, I would want them to be creative, but I realize that creativity is pretty far up Blooms Taxonomy.  While I recognize that students can be quite creative and I wouldn't want to deter that in any way, it would be more important that they understand what they need to store, how they can store it.  Within the framework of a hosting site it should offer the flexibility so they can make it their own space.

One affordance that might make it difficult is the visibility to the world which might not be so inviting to parents.  I remember seeing one site that allowed teachers to make sub folios for their students which gave her the login and password for each student for distribution.  This would be a big plus for managing the process of setting them up and for accessing them.

A tough question to wrangle with is the intermingling of their school accounts/life and their personal or private accounts/life.    Colleges deal with this very issue by setting policies to not use personal accounts or emails to communicate via email.  I imagine this would be something to consider with younger students.