Digital Portfolio Reflections: Easy as ABC, Simple as 123

Purpose & objective

Purpose
Through this presentation participants will learn a simple reflection strategy for students to follow when reflecting on their own learning in their digital portfolios. They will receive ideas as to how they may encourage and empower elementary students to have voice and choice in their digital portfolio items.
Participants will learn strategies to help students organize their items in a digital database, such as Seesaw, and then how to guide them in selecting appropriate portfolio pieces. They will learn how to use the “Digital Portfolios: Easy as ABC, Simple as 123” reflection format that first graders used in Seesaw. A variety of digital tools (K-5 with a focus on K-2)) that bring students to high levels of creativity and innovation to support, engage, and empower their learning will also be shared as examples of great digital portfolio items that display students’ learning in an innovative way. The simple three step reflection can be utilized for all subject areas, various grade levels, and even in different digital portfolio databases other than Seesaw. (See my blog post on using this format at https://whites1stgrade.weebly.com/blog )

Objectives
Digital portfolios are becoming necessary and even required by many schools as a method of showing student growth and understanding over time. Through research and experience, it is evident that true learning and growth are dependent upon reflection. During this presentation an elementary educator will share various digital learning, research, and creative presentation tools that can be utilized by students to display their understanding and mastery of multiple standards across various subjects as well as the formula for simple, but meaningful reflection, she created and uses with her class and has been shared in her district wide professional development. The proposed presentation supports ISTE standards:
Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

1a: Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.

1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Supporting research

https://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-reasons-to-use-digital-portfolios-in-your-classroom/

http://inservice.ascd.org/10-reasons-why-you-should-implement-digital-student-portfolios/

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-portfolios-art-of-reflection-beth-holland

https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/8585

https://www.gettingsmart.com/2019/07/how-digital-portfolios-empower-student-ownership-of-learning/