Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet

Aside from my full time job as a technology integration coach I adjunct at two local universities.  My courses all involve technology integration in the classroom.  Sometimes the audience is undergraduate pre-service teachers and other times it's established teachers in graduate programs.  During these classes the students work on creating a professional online presence- a digital portfolio. The undergraduates go with the flow- they are students that aren't too far removed from being high school students so they are used to directives.  The graduate students, however sometimes put up a fight.  "Why would I create a portfolio if I'm not looking for a job?" is asked.  This post is my answer. What is a Digital Portfolio? A digital portfolio is a  living document that changes as you progress throughout your career. Portfolios are collections of artifacts and reflect your accomplishments, skills, experiences, reflections and growth as an educator. It d...

When I was obtaining my Technology in Education Masters we were asked to keep a digital portfolio of our course work.   This acted as a culminating artifact that showcased projects, philosophies and resources we had acquired throughout the program.   It was a great idea and I enjoyed the process but unfortunately never returned to it.   When I teach undergraduate and graduate pre-service educators I make this portfolio a requirement in my courses.   My hope is that these future educators will continue to add resources and artifacts as their careers progress enabling them to walk into new employment opportunities with a toolkit readily available to promote the use of technology in their curriculum. Although I’ve spent my career in the same building I’ve always kept a “living” resume that housed my grants, presentations, experiences and accomplishments.   After twenty years you can imagine the content was lengthy.   This year with the shuttering of my sc...