ePortfolios: Keeping Track of Online Work

I've quickly come to realize that keeping track of my students' work in paper folders is a thing of the past, especially since most of their work lives online or on their iPads. EPortfolios is the way to go. This year I was inspired to learn how to create ePortfolios with Google Sites from presentations at the CUE conference that I attended in Palm Springs, CA in March.  I had my own ideas of how I thought it might look, but what it ended up becoming was far superior to anything I could have dreamed up.

I started off by practicing with an informational writing piece. We broke the chapters up into separate pages. Then I required students to add a combination of photos, maps, or videos. In addition, they had to change the font size and/or color, plus wrap the text around any images they used.

Here's an example of using Google Sites for a report on the Great Wall of China:

Notice how the chapters are numbered. This was key to keeping them in order,
Otherwise, Google Sites will alphabetize the pages, which isn't always idea.

Here's another example:

This theme had a dramatic look!

This is a checklist that I gave to students for their informational writing site:

After this, my students were ready for an ePortfolio. It look some practice in getting everything to work on iPads, which can be temperamental and wonky at times, but we had a number of "experts" in no time. Soon, all students had ePortfolios up and running. Here are a few examples:

Notice the titles and subtitles on the left. Students were able to create photo galleries using photos that I had taken during the year and posted on our Weebly website. They simply saved them to their photo album on their iPads.

Here is a close-up of the titles and subtitles. Check out the countdown menu at the bottom. Many students used this for special events like birthdays, holidays, or to keep track of when school ended.

This is the checklist I gave for completed ePortfolios:

I gave this presentation to teachers on how to create ePortfolios with their students. It should answer a lot of tricky questions.

I can't wait to try this again next year. I'll start earlier with my fifth graders. I will make it a point to remind them to take their own pictures of their work to include in their ePortfolios. I hope you try it too!