ePortfolio: Importance of Ownership

After reading the articles and posts for this week, I concluded that ownership over the ePortfolio process is so important for two main reasons. The first, and most important reason, is because ownership over the ePortfolio process allows for true learning to occur. According to Dr. Harapnuik, “learning is the making of meaningful connections” (Harapnuik, n.d.). Ownership of the ePorfolio process provides learners with the agency and control over their learning experience that makes learning meaningful and, thus, promotes the occurrence of true learning. The second reason falls more along the technical side. In developing an ePortfolio, learners not only tap into their more innovative/creative sides, they are also able to advance their technology skills and increase their knowledge of the digital world. As a result, they become more well-equipped to develop a web presence that truly represents them and better prepares them to function successfully in a technology-driven world.

Who Owns The ePortfolio

In his blog post Who Owns the ePorfolio, Dr. Harapnuik provides readers with insight into what ownership of an ePortfolio actually mean. Although many would believe that the students/learners are the owners simply because they complete the assignments and maintain the digital space, Harapnuik argues that this is not enough. He believes that true ePortfolio ownership can only occur when students make meaningful connections with the information taught and take ownership of ideas and learning as opposed to “simply completing assignments and giving the instructor what they want” (Harapnuik, n.d.).

Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It?

In his post Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It?, Andrew Rikard discusses how vital understanding and addressing the ideas of public scholarship, student agency, and experimentation are in the creation of an ePortfolio that will be truly empowering and beneficial to the learner. He argues that even more important than learners having ownership over data is “knowledge production” (Harapnuik, n.d.). Am I thinking about the broader audience outside of my professor when I create my ePortfolio entries? Am I choosing learning experiences that resonate with me and represent who I truly am and/or what I stand for to the rest of the digital world? Rikard believes that it is questions like these that should be considered when one is creating an ePortfolio because these promote ownership of ideas which leads to meaningful learning.

The Web We Need to Give Students

In her post The Web We Need to Give Students, Audrey Watters argues that students tend to have very little voice and agency when it comes to educational technology because schools place such strong emphasis on protecting students from “inappropriate” content and individuals on the Web. To combat this, Watters introduces readers to the Domain of One’s Own initiative at the University of Mary Washington which enables students to “build the contemporary version of what Virginia Woolf in 1929 famously demanded in A Room of One’s Own — the necessity of a personal place to write” (Watters, 2015). Watters suggests that, by creating this space of their own, learners benefit because they not only “have much more say over what they present to the world, in terms of their public profiles, professional portfolios, and digital identities…and in turn they begin to have an understanding of the technologies that underpin the Web, including how their work and their data circulate there” (Watters, 2015). Learners also benefit because this self-created, personally owned domain is portable and can be taken with them along their educational and/or professional journeys as a tool for reflection.

A Personal Cyberinfrastructure

In the article A Personal Cyberinfrastructure, Gardner Campbell claims that, for years, higher education has not done a good job of preparing students to successfully exist in a world of ever-changing technology. Although higher education believed it was progressing when it began implementing “template-driven, plug-and-play, turnkey web applications” (Campbell, 2009) as part of their coursework and curriculum, Campbell argue that this actually hindered students because it made students too reliant on these aids. Therefore, when more innovative web presences such as Google and YouTube came along and became the popular forms of media, learners were not able to compete because “higher education largely failed to empower the strong and effective imaginations that students need for creative citizenship in this new medium” (Campbell, 2009). To address this issue, Campbell suggests that higher education “shape curricula to support and inspire the imaginations that students need” (Campbell, 2009) via creation of cyberinfrastructures for students beginning their first year of college. As opposed to the template-driven model they are used to, creating a cyberinfrastructure enables students to “acquire crucial technical skills for their digital lives…also engage in work that provides richly teachable moments” (Campbell, 2009). The creation of a cyberinfrastructure would also allow students opportunities to tap into their creative sides which will make them more successful in the ever-evolving technology world.

Resources:

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). Who Owns the ePortfolio. Retrieved from

http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6050.

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). What is an ePortfolio. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=5977.

Rikard, A., (2015, August 10). Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It?. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it.

Watters. Audrey. (2015, July 15). The Web We Need to Give Students. Retrieved from https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713.

Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure-ERM0957.pdf. Retrieved fromhttps://luonline.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/courses/EDLD_5303_D03_2016_10_AP2/A%20Personal%20Cyberinfrastructure-ERM0957.pdf.