You pose some interesting questions here --
Some brief thoughts below --
>
> 1.
> What is the purpose of the portfolio-assessment, growth,
> showcase, other?
Yes, yes, and yes.
> 2.
> When should we start a portfolio?
Really, there is never a bad time. But I'm biased.
> 3.
> How long will the portfolio live?
It can never live too long. But the idea that a portfolio has a life span is really a myth perpetuated by how portfolios have been created to date; mostly within institutions, on either paper or a proprietary, institutionally controlled space. We have more options now, but our perceptions of what a portfolio is have not caught up with what a portfolio could be.
> 4.
> Who decides what goes in the portfolio and does this change
> depending on the type of portfolio, culture of the school,
> etc.?
I also see this as an unnecessary dichotomy. A student can maintain a central portfolio from which they can select at will. Obviously, the context in which the portfolio is being used will determine the selection of artifacts for inclusion. But, the notion that one context needs to trump another is an artifact (pun intended) of the low-quality tools that have been used to date.
> 5.
> Who should have access to the portfolio? How does that
> change over the life of the portfolio?
This is largely determined by context, age of the student, the needs of the school, etc. But again, the notion that a portfolio can only be governed by one set of fixed, unchanging rules is dated and inaccurate.
> 6.
> What about portability of the portfolio (from year to year,
> new schools, work, etc.)
Anything less than full portability is not acceptable. From a technological place, this is an easy goal.
> 7.
> Who should be required to maintain a portfolio- students,
> teachers, staff (this is my favorite but I will reserve
> comment until the discussion takes off and someone pulls it
> out of me J)
Ahh, this is the rub, isn't it :) I would love to see more portfolio-based teacher professional development.
> 8.
> How do you want to capture the reflective aspects of the
> portfolio?
In a way that best reflects the learning habits of the student. Given that we're really not limited by types of media, we have many options here.
> 9.
> Who will be maintaining the portfolio at each stage of the
> process?
More of a context question, but it could be any (or all) of student, teacher, or institution. But this also gets back to #7
> 10.
> On the more mundane, how important is it that the
> portfolios synchronize with existing SIS applications?
Unimportant.
> 11.
> Would it be important to be able to support multiple forms
> of the portfolio? This would allow students to create custom
> portfolios for specific tasks/needs. Would faculty also need
> that capability with the portfolio?
Yes -- and as discussed above, the ability to recontextualize all or some of a portfolio is achievable now.
The remaining questions are great, but I'll defer responses for later in the conversation. Like Chris, I'm curious to see what unfolds.
Cheers,
Bill
> 12.
> How do you see portfolios being used within your school?
> 13.
> Are portfolios a collection of artifacts or is it much
> more? If more, then what makes a portfolio?
> 14.
> What is our epistemic stance and how does that inform the
> way our portfolios are produced, structure or used?
> 15.
> How do we educate our parent and board populations about
> portfolios?
>
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=ISED-L
