This week, my assignment was to discuss with my classmates why we should use ePortfolios. I've spent a lot of time working on my eportfolio instead of participating in the discussion. I sometimes suffer from a one-track mind. Originally, I was convinced I was going to keep the platform I started with at the end of last class because I liked it and I was comfortable with it. After countless sign ups and getting started with different platforms, I'm learning that maybe there is something I like even better. So here I am saying, "OK process, you were right." I've been pushed out of my safe comfort zone, branched out and am trying new things.
I was able to attend some professional development yesterday. I know that in the past, I have, on occasion, been one of the grumblers. Why do I have to sit and get? I'm not going to get any processing time to fully digest what's coming at me and if I never really process it, I might not get around to trying it. Don't get me wrong, I have been to some great PD, but there are always seem to be ones that I walk away from in frustration. Friday's PD was actually part II of something I originally attended 4 years ago. As the PD started, there were references to part I (most of the attendees had much more recently taken part in the first session). There were a few things mentioned that sounded familiar, but when the presenter held up the book that was the reference material from part I, that's when it clicked. I just looked at that book earlier this week and wondered to myself, where did this book come from? Now I've made the connection. Why have I rambled about this story? Because, if I had reflected on my learning from part I or if I mentioned the book as something I was reading in an eportfolio, it wouldn't have taken me as long to make a connection. I'd have a record of what I learned from part I and what I utilized. I know that a colleague of mine and I did use tips from that first training in a presentation we gave just a few weeks later, but right now I can't tell you for sure what exactly we did. If only we had reflected on how it went in a way that could be referenced again later. Sure, we thought about and talked about our presentation, but don't have a record of how it went. What we liked. What didn't work. What we would try instead. If only I had an eportfolio 4 years ago.
Midweek, I added a "books I have been reading" page. When I got my new book at yesterday's PD, I immediately thought, I'll have to add this to my page. Be on the lookout...I won't add it until I actually start reading it though. I'm still working on Neil DeGrasse Tyson's (2017) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. When someone asks, "Have your read...?" or "What did you think about...?" weeks/months/years from now, I'll have evidence of my thoughts and learning. By the way, chapter 7 is my favorite so far (all about the elements). It's also full of some great science nerd humor. As a side note, I don't normally seek out books on astrophysics. My neighbor gave me a copy because she picked it up at an estate sale. She's a fellow teacher who also runs an online vintage ephemera store, but when she sees fun science things, she picks those up for me.
Yesterday, my presenters said "You don't learn from experience, you learn from reflection." It's like they knew I was in grad school and knew I had an assignment all about the why behind eportfolios. That single line sums it up. The eportfolio is the digital space I use for reflection and that is what will lead to learning/growing/improving whether an event, action, or experience was a failure or success.
References
Tyson, Neil deGrasse. (2017). Astrophysics for people in a hurry. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
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