An Unlikely Partnership: ePortfolios from a Fresh Lens

ePortfolios are a platform for showcase, goal setting, and reflection in every grade and on each campus in Northwest ISD. While the platform and benefits of having an ePortfolio are similar for everyone, the why, design, and purpose of the ePortfolio will change based on the student’s age, goals, and target audience. This is why the virtual and time flexible Hughes ES and Steele HS ePortfolio partnership has been both beneficial and mind blowing for our students!

Students in Mrs. Champion’s 5th grade GT class and Coach Hayes' CTE classes were put into a collaborative Google Slides with an assigned partner. Fifth grade kicked off this partnership by first examining their own ePortfolio and recognizing specific areas in which they’d like feedback (Quality of Content, Web Design/Organization, or Personalization).

Collaborative Google Slides 

After doing some introspective work, students explored their partner’s high school ePortfolio. They took notes and then provided written feedback in slides and verbal feedback via Flipgrid. The written feedback allowed students to narrow their focus into a few sentences, while the video feedback allowed students to get to know and encourage their partner. Flipgrid allowed students to have a relevant audience outside of their classroom, school, and grade. It was fun for students to hear from someone that was looking at their ePortfolio with a fresh and new perspective.



The Lifelong Skill of Giving and Receiving Feedback 
Not only did students learn get inspiration and ideas for improving their ePortfolio, but they also learned how to give and receive feedback. Feedback should be specific, constructive, and align with their partner’s goals.  Both giving and receiving feedback via Flipgrid helped students polish the lifelong skill of working alongside others for continual improvement.  Even the high school students appreciated a fresh set of eyes. In fact, Steele Senior George Peterson states, “I enjoyed learning about my strengths and weaknesses. It's very refreshing to hear feedback from somebody outside my personal and professional bubbles because I know it's very objective. This is an opportunity for me to apply the feedback and grow from it.” Charlotte (Hughes ES) adds, "I've learned from my Steele buddy that I can always improve. Some people don't appreciate feedback, but Jordan has given me some GREAT suggestions!"

The Vulnerability of Sharing a “Work in Progress” 
Students, and even adult learners have been conditioned to work on a product until it has reached “turn in” status before sharing with others. It takes vulnerability, confidence, and humility to share a “work in progress.” While we do want to reach a “publish” point with our ePortfolio, this process has been refreshing for students to have a partner that wants to meet them right where they are. This has been an amazing opportunity to learn about continual improvement.  Parker Younger (Junior at SAHS) comments, “From this partnership I have learned that my ePortfolio is always changing. After my Hughes partner gave me their feedback, I realized that even the smallest details about my life could and should in included in my ePortfolio. These details help to make my ePortfolio personalized and professional.” Isaac (Hughes ES) has truly appreciated the feedback that he has received and is excited to take next steps in making his ePortfolio even better. He states, “By the end of 5th grade, I hope to have added an elementary school recap to show how much I have learned and changed. I have received some feedback that has really helped me like making a school studies tab, instead of having all of my subjects jumbled around in my ePortfolio." 

It's been inspiring for Hughes students to see the possibilities that lie ahead for their ePortfolio. The didn't feel intimidated by their partner, but rather encouraged to take next steps knowing that they have year to perfect their site. Isaac emphasizes this point in his feedback when he records,"First of all, your ePortfolio looks really good. I really hope that mine might be like that someday." 

What’s Next for These Students? 
This experience was such a beneficial process for both the elementary and high school classes. As a result, Mrs. Champion and Coach Hayes have decided to continue the same process for a round two of feedback starting December 19th. It will be powerful for students to have the accountability of updating their ePortfolio and using the feedback they've been given. Students have also been asking about opportunities to meet their partner in person. Teachers are working to find an opportunity for students to meet up in the spring for a round robin type ePortfolio showcase where they can see a variety of ePortfolios and the growth that has been made. You may even see some of these partnerships at Expo 2020 in February!

Guiding Today's Learning with the Tools of Tomorrow

We have all heard the saying about “...preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist.” While that may be true, the best preparation for a future yet to materialize is to let go of the idea that we, the educators, are responsible for preparing them for the future, at least in the way traditionally thought. It is more necessary for educators to step out of the way and to let the students take control of their own learning in order to foster engagement, authentic growth, and innovation.

Rob Austin & Lee Devin, the authors of Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know about how Artists Work, describe innovation as a process where managers need to forget about the traditional destination and journey mindset. The idea that someone has to have a crystal clear objective in order to justify movement toward a goal, at least as we know it, is becoming obsolete. In truly innovative environments, collaboration, flexibility, creativity, and growth mindsets can lead to the discovery of new paths rather than a predictable route to success. When we work with our students to facilitate the realization of their creative ideas, our students can develop necessary skills for the modern workplace while becoming leaders that guide their own success. Setting students free to create and innovate is interesting in theory, but how does this look in today’s classroom? 

At Eaton High School, William Gilbert’s Computer Programming students investigated possible uses for innovations in virtual reality technology prior to being tasked with coding and creating their own tools, geared for the same purpose. Students were given the freedom to imagine other applications and uses for this type of technology and began inventing their own VR programs designed to meet real needs predicted for future learners and workers. After learning about the educational benefits or virtual reality, many students began working on utilizing VR technologies in the workplace and school settings and have even begun testing their work in the context of their existing classrooms.

Business Academy students in Tabatha Everett’s Entrepreneurship course were given the challenge of studying and determining future viability of an up and coming technological business model in their Pokemon Go AR Challenge. These students used a case study of Niantic's Pokemon Go app, from a previous Virtual Enterprise International Competition, as a model for mobile augmented reality use in business. They studied usage trends, obstacles for expansion, effects of the app on user quality of life, modifications and additions to the game, as well as the company’s efforts to meet user demand. 

The student led part of this project allowed them to critically explore real questions surrounding the game, the technology used, and future opportunities for AR revealed by Niantic’s venture. Students then created a proposal of their own for marketing with augmented reality integration in other business areas. Some of these proposals explored the potential for business partnerships through integration of AR, virtual dressing rooms for purchasing clothing, and virtual showrooms where consumers experience product features of items like furniture, cars, or appliances. One group even outlined the potential for online AR marketing events with real rewards for consumers. The students exploration of this innovative platform allowed them the ability to dream about untapped ways this technology can be used to impact the future lives of consumers.

Another group of students in Donny Pharr’s Introduction to Aircraft Technology courses researched commercial drone use and considered business models, laws restricting flight areas, and other logistical factors related to commercial drone aviation. After completing the initial research process, students were given the task of creating their own plan to re-purpose drone technology for the benefit of school district sponsored events. They were given the freedom to invent ways this technology could enhance experiences at high school sporting events. The process resulted in groups outlining utilization of drones for concession stand food delivery at NISD football games. They mapped out geofencing boundaries around the NISD stadium as a foundation for designing their delivery service, via drone technology. This real world scenario was conceptualized by allowing students to creatively think about solutions for the problem of crowded venues and long concession lines at NISD events. They met various obstacles and limitations while working their way through the learning process, which resulted in them constructing their own ideas for innovative and practical use of existing technology while visualizing the potential for drones to breed entirely new careers. 

While these classes are just small examples of student exploration and innovation, they are prime instances of the ways learners can begin to dream about the future and how their own educational journey can forge a new path that previously did not exist. Of course, just removing all classroom guidance and parameters for students is not what is being suggested. Whether your students are part of specialized areas such as these, or whether they are searching to connect existing content and skills to real life, giving them the freedom to explore possibilities for applying skills beyond the classroom is what will open up their imaginations to new ideas. Simply put, if we present problems for our students to solve and then step out of their way in order to let them dream, fail, learn, and innovate, we can facilitate results that outshine anything previously imagined and students can forge incredible new paths for their futures.

Juxtaposing Student Voice & Choice w/ AP Exam Test Prep

When your Senior level AP course doesn’t have TEKS and is primarily focused on preparing for the AP exam, there is not much room for student creation and choice, right? WRONG! AP English IV (AP Literature and Composition) teachers Denise Tennison and Brittany Harper at Byron Nelson High School look for innovative ways to prepare the student, while engaging them in the learning that goes beyond traditional test prep. What better way for students to learn question analysis than to create AP-level questions themselves. Futhermore, they stepped into the teacher role and used formative assessment websites, like Quizizz, Socrative, and Mentimeter, to create student-made quizzes with a future audience of their own peers. Talk about real world application, authentic audience, collaboration, and student choice - all wrapped up into one!

This task’s purpose was multifaceted as it aimed to 1. Analyze Othello, and 2. Apply knowledge and syntax of the 12 English Literature and Composition Question Types. Specifically, it challenged students to CONSTRUCT AP questions in order to be more prepared to DECONSTRUCT them on the exam as it will be easier to answer high-level questions if students have an understanding of how they are originally developed.  

Project Instructions:

In the past, this project stopped at Step #4 above in which the student solely created the questions on a collaborative Google Doc. Although these did provide a sample set of study questions, they weren’t interactive, thus many peers read over them without truly applying their thinking to answer and engage with the content. Furthermore, there wasn’t an authentic audience since it was simply a paper turned in to be graded by the teacher. To provide a more engaging experience and incorporate student choice, Tennison and Harper brainstormed applicable product choice websites using the Tools that Make IT Click resource to identify a set of options that would work well for this assignment.

Benefits of designing student choice lessons with multiple tool options:

• Students have power over the tool they chose.
• They are more engaged in the process because they were able to break out of the “one-size-fits-all” approach in which every students' experience is identical.
• Students can apply prior experience with tools they have used in other classes to understand which tool most appropriately applies to their content.
• Neither the teacher or students need to be “tool-expert.” There are so many resources that are Google-able to understand how a tool works; plus, students typically are able to figure site features out quicker than many adults.
• If a tool doesn’t fit one groups’ needs or isn’t as easy to understand, just pick another platform!

Example #1:

Students: Cavnar, Dumble, Felten, Pham, Cobb, Hinshaw

Formative Assessment Tool: Socrative

Play along HERE! Room Name: CAVNAR

Example #2:

Students: Edwards, Ye, Holt, Plocek, Mauer, Young

Formative Assessment Tool: Quizizz

Play along HERE!

Students’ feedback on this project was very positive. Because of the collaborative group nature, these teachers overheard really good conversations taking place as students discussed Othello, compared the 12 question types to best assign various formats to their content, and wrote a challenging question and designed relevant distractors. When it came time to enter these into the formative assessment site, students were able to collaborate in discussing their prior experience with various sites as they weighed the benefits and downfalls of each in order to connect the best type of tool to their content needs. Additionally, they were able to design the type of experience they would most like to participate in such as choosing sites that use gamification, whole class/group vs. individual quizzes, and embedded opportunities for detailed student feedback. The final products will support students two-fold: allowing the student to be the “teacher” in designing the content, as well as letting the student be another peer's student by taking each other’s assessment’s now and in the Spring to prepare for the exam. Adios traditional, boring test prep!

A Revelation about Resolutions

Watching a short TED talk on “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, a former consultant turned middle school math teacher, brought about thoughts of personal goal setting and perseverance, thoughts of new years resolutions, thoughts of never-ending attempts at self-improvement, thoughts lacking follow through, and thoughts of failure. It didn’t take long for those thoughts to bring on an overwhelming feeling of defeat with reminders of past inadequacies and ineptitude. As a new year begins, many will set personal and professional goals while trying to figure out how to keep from losing sight of those intentions and eventually abandoning them altogether. In that TED talk, Ms. Duckworth said one thing that began to turn lingering self-defeat into clarity and motivation: “…the ability to learn is not fixed...it can change with your effort…We have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.” She very eloquently explained that the key to success and growth is not viewing failure as a permanent condition but as an opportunity for growth and forward progress.

Humans are conditioned to view failure in a very negative light and taught to take steps to avoid it at all cost. When failure is experienced, it is often seen as an endpoint in a journey instead of a brief detour or change in route. The question of how to change this mindset is one that is often neglected when working to facilitate skills for student success and, ultimately, life. However, when searching for solutions to this challenge, it becomes obvious that key elements for success must include clear and attainable goal setting and a frequent and effective self-reflection process.

Sticking with the traveling analogy, it stands to reason that experiential learning is a journey and beginning that journey without a clear destination in mind is futile and pointless. Even if the goal is to aimlessly explore and enjoy wherever life takes you, there is a destination, or goal, of some sort. While traveling, it is also good to keep in mind that when construction, a traffic problem, or an obstacle in a planned route arises, a detour can bring about many new and helpful experiences. The discovery of new places, the skill sets of flexibility and problem solving, and the knowledge of a better way of traveling for the future are all benefits to diverging from a planned path. Whatever it is that alters the planned route to a destination, the “failure” experienced in the pursuit of that original route is ultimately beneficial and one can only know this by reflecting on those experiences, understanding lessons learned, and setting a new course for success.

Eaton High School’s current resolution, or “problem of practice,” is to help students “demonstrate goal setting and reflection to foster critical thinking.” With this goal at the forefront of instruction, EHS provides prime examples of students utilizing digital resources for experiential learning, goal setting, and reflection. One of those examples can be seen in Jennifer Hamzy’s Psychology classes. Mrs. Hamzy uses Google Suite in two ways to provide EHS students with opportunities to reflect on content as well as course progress.

By copying a Google slide deck template, students receive detailed notes over chapter readings and lessons. In addition, these slide decks ask students to respond to reflection questions individually in their copy of the slide deck. They not only are able to increase understanding by making connections to complex psychology concepts but they can also go back to see their answers as they review information for course activities and assessments. Mrs. Hamzy’s students also receive a Google sheet that includes built-in fields and formulas for tracking assessment results and course progress.

This creates more student independence and allows students to see measured progress and areas of need or growth in one quick glance. By frequently documenting personal course data, students who find themselves in situations where they are facing an obstacle or failure, of sorts, can begin to see areas where they can alter their course and focus on a change in strategy for progress and growth, thus correcting previous failures and pushing forward.

While many students have the opportunity to learn practical lessons associated with experiential learning, some have thrived and begun to acquire the “grit” and perseverance necessary to push toward their goals. E-portfolios are an amazing tool for accomplishing this and for providing students with a platform for self-branding, goal setting, self-assessment, and reflection. One student who is an ideal example of utilizing digital resources for goal setting and reflection through experiential learning is Megan, a student in Kristal Holmes’ architecture course. Megan has set goals for herself related to professional architecture, design preparation, and future employment. She utilizes Google Sites to house her e-portfolio showcasing her collection of designs and floor plans as artifacts documenting her work and progress over the course of her studies.

Megan’s work with tiny house design is exemplary of how she documents her design experiences, reflects on them in her portfolio and makes new and improved designs that incorporate lessons she learns from previous architectural designs. Megan’s experiences in Mrs. Holmes’ course have also offered her the chance to develop skills and resources for her professional goals by participating in mock interviews and professional document preparation while constantly receiving feedback for improvement. All of these experiences with goal related tasks give Megan a chance to experience field specific work and tools that teach necessary skills and aid in driving her toward her destination.

Curtis Aguirre’s Spanish I students also utilize digital feedback and reflection tools as they practice using the Spanish language orally. These students use a web-based video tool called Recap where they are able to record themselves speaking Spanish and then receive video feedback concerning their recordings from their instructor and peers. Students can also record self-reflections regarding what they are working on and about their progress with course content. This feedback and reflective work are key to students seeing any challenges as areas needing focus rather than permanent set backs and failure.

Kathryn Watson’s French students are also frequently provided with opportunities to reflect on course assessments and grow through use of Poll Everywhere for informal personal and class reflection. Mrs. Watson uses this online survey tool for in-class reflections, discussions, and exit tickets assessing student feelings and understanding of course content. By allowing students to regularly utilize this tool for reflective tasks, they are being given the opportunity to think back on learning experiences and to contemplate how they dealt with previous assessments and challenges before attempting new ones.

With a true growth mindset at the forefront, anyone can find value in working through obstacles and reflecting on failure, which then facilitates independence, positive behavior changes, life-long learning, and permanent skill development. The learning process is incomplete without reflection. Rather than spending the new year resolving to learn knitting, overcome a personal fear, or lose weight, it would be beneficial to reflect on previously abandoned resolutions and begin to see failure as a temporary road block or detour pushing toward growth rather than a dead end. If we hope to see our students begin to drive themselves into the future, we must help them change views of failure and learn the “rules of the road” by discovering new perspectives and unearthing new routes along their journey to success.

Academic Social Media

Students long for a platform to make their voices heard. So much so that 94% of all teens ages 13-17 are on social media. While various negative factors have influenced an adult’s perception of the value of social media, “new research is shedding light on the good things that can happen when kids connect, share, and learn online” according to this article from Common Sense Media which identifies the following benefits of students being social media-savvy: 1. It strengthens friendships, 2. It offers a sense of belonging, 3. It provides genuine support, 4. It helps them express themselves, 5. It lets them do good.

Jenny Kinzbach and Frank Ceresoli, two CTE teachers at Byron Nelson High School, are honing into these benefits by using collaborative discussion boards via Google Classroom within their Health Science Theory classes. Opinion-based, open ended questions are posed one week before the material is covered in class in order to prompt thinking; additionally, it is used to gauge prior knowledge as well as perception of topics related to the field. Based on the responses, the teachers then direct their instruction towards the needs and interests that the discussion brought about.  

According to the Health Science TEKS, TEK b4 states “To pursue a career in the health science industry, students should recognize, learn to reason, think critically, make decisions, solve problems, and communicate effectively. Students should recognize that quality health care depends on the ability to work well with others.”

While it’s important for students to have a platform to express their content-based opinions, it is equally important that students sharpen the life skills that are associated with the task. Below are examples in which students respond in agreement or disagreement to their peers, as well as ask each other probing questions and foreseeing and understanding opposing viewpoints on the same topic.

Teacher-posed Question: "To combat doctor shortages, should their medical school tuition be free? (Paid for by taxpayer dollars). Explain."

Student initial response with peer agreement:

Student initial response with peer disagreement:

Student initial response with peer-posed probing questions:

Student initial response composed of supporting arguments for opposing viewpoints:

Student benefits of using this collaborative discussion board:

• Since nine classes collaborate on the same discussion board, this exponentially expands a student’s audience and power of their voice through expanding the walls of the physical classroom.
• A majority of the questions are opinion-based requiring students to agree or disagree and provide an explanation that defends their answer. This provides a platform where all opinions are welcomed and heard.
• Student Mickayla states, “I really like the discussion boards because it helps me see other peoples opinions on the topic. I also like that I can see people’s opinion of my own opinion which can further my education on parts of the topic that I didn't know or think about before.”
• Students are required to read and respond to at least two other student’s opinions; doing so requires students to explore multiple viewpoints whether that hearing evidence that hadn’t be considered to support the same opinion or bringing an opposing perspective to frame the concept differently.
• These structured discussions provide a safe environment for disagreements to occur. Reading other viewpoints facilitates opportunities to promote tolerance and facilitate the difficult task of crafting a respectful response.
• Providing a platform for “Academic Social Media” encourages students to pursue learning out of interest and curiosity.

Since this platform is used as a pre-assessment of sorts, these teachers plan to expand the purpose of this assignment to also include a post-assessment/reflection in which students respond to their own original post to either agree or disagree with their original opinion and provide text evidence from learned class material. Quite an interesting and engaging spin on a self-reflective summative/closing writing prompt!

This meets International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)’s standard of an Empowered Learner in which “students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process” (1B) and “students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice…” (1C). Furthermore, these students are also meeting the expectations of a Digital Citizen through which “students engage in positive, safe, legal, and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices” (2B).

Future Bound, Budget Aware

This spring the Pike Middle School 7th grade Pre Ap Math teachers, Alicia Morton and Meredith Burchett, took the financial literacy Math TEKS and designed a learning experience that will impact students for many years to come.

The intention was to grow a deep awareness of the cost of living, cost of college and the realities of what life can afford while staying within budget.

To help them on their course a website was designed with resources.

Additionally students went through the Naviance program provided through the NISD Counseling Department and College and Career Readiness program, to research colleges. Students selected colleges based on affordability, family influence and degree programs that were aligned to their strongest interests or career pursuits. Those interests were determined through a series of questions asked via the Naviance program.

After determining their degree choice, college to attend and career path, students then had to create a budget for what their vocation would provide. This included purchasing a home, vehicle and day to day expenses. Those expenses included paying off their college loans.

Once they had completed their findings, students then created a presentation. These presentations were presented to several Pike and District Staff, including Jamie Farber, Director of Counseling and Kyle Seipp, Director of College and Career Readiness. Where they were asked questions and given feedback on their presentations.

The project was transformative in many ways, but the greatest impact was captured through the reflection piece where there was a personal increased awareness of: what it costs to go to college, the sacrifices their parents make to make the pursuit of their dreams possible, and what it takes to live the kind of life they desire.

Students were given choice of the technology platform to present. Common platforms utilized were Canva, Google Slides, Weebly, Smore and Emaze. Additionally a rubric was provided.

Here are two student products that showcase the this amazing financial literacy project:





For more information about the Naviance program contact your Northwest ISD Middle School or High School counseling office.