E-Portfolios and Digital Storytelling: A strategy to facilitate reflection - Live Text Webinar (Wednesday, June 20, 2012) Dr. Melinda Prague Professor Emeritus, Miami Dade College

The Role of Reflection in the Portfolio Process Why is reflection important for learning? Plato said “know thyself” John Dewey has stated, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”

The Role of Reflection in the Portfolio Process The primary motive of a learning portfolio: “to improve student learning by providing a structure for students to reflect systematically over time on the learning process and to develop the aptitudes, skills and habits that come from critical reflection” John Zubizaretta (2004, 2009).

The Role of Reflection in the Portfolio Process

Reflections in Portfolios At MDC the portfolio is an assessment portfolio. This means that it includes a collection of selected artifacts and focused reflections and goals that demonstrate how the students have met the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices. Reflections are infused throughout the portfolio.

Reflections in Portfolios While the reflections provide an insight into the teaching and learning process, the addition of the digital story adds the dimension of voice, creativity and technology to the process.

The Role of Reflection in the Portfolio Process The process of reflection allows students to learn from their experiences: it is an assessment of where they have been and where they want to go next. Reflection is the “heart and soul” of a portfolio. Digital storytelling is a highly motivating strategy that can make reflection concrete and visible. (Barrett).

Digital Stories and The Reflective Process Examining our portfolios, one would first believe that the students have reflected and reflected…

Digital Stories and The Reflective Process Why then would we add another element of reflection? Stories are products of reflection, but we do not usually hold onto them long enough to make them objects of reflection in their own right....

The process… Everyone has a story to tell. Digital Storytelling integrates spoken narrative with media such as music, still and moving images to create an evocative personal story. Technology now allows anyone to tell it in their own way.

The process… Each story needs to develop a very personal point, a moral, an a-ha awareness or a specific understanding. Students must trust their own voice and employ a unique approach to tell their stories.

The process… They may choose to discuss… Defining Moments of Life Who We Are Influencing and Impacting Others Stories of Lessons Learned

The process… But they must keep in mind these reflective questions: What have I collected as evidence of life, learning? (artifacts) What do these artifacts show about what I have learned? What direction do I want to take in the future?

The Elements… Students must include the seven essential elements of digital story telling: Point of view – An underlying theme, lives on beyond the story itself Dramatic question – A key question that keeps the viewer's attention and will be answered by the end of the story. Emotional content – Add depth and meaning, connect with others through the addition of emotion Gift of your voice (first person narrative) – It is you and it makes it your story

The Elements… Power of sound track to add emotion * – Another opportunity to connect emotionally Economy ( 2-4 minutes) – Can you illustrate and tell your story efficiently? Pacing – Having rhythm to sustain interest *When choosing a music soundtrack for your presentation, consider copyright issues! See our link for copyright free resources.

Evaluation

Notes… Students are first introduced to the process of digital story telling in EME 2040 – a required “Introduction to Technology Course”. Students are required to create a digital story during their internship semester for their portfolios. We have discovered that our graduates are using the creation of digital stories in their own classrooms!

Live Text Document Here is a Visitor’s pass to the Live Text Document that accompanies this presentation. Live Text 2E64DF84 (305)