Sandbox for Professional Growth

I have set up my digital portfolio as a means to present the work I have done during my Masters of Arts in Education. During CEP813, I have used this digital portfolio as a sandbox for thinking about assessment in digital contexts. This has had a number of advantages for me as a teacher and a learner. Now that I am reaching the end of this course, I have been able to look back and enjoy reviewing the progress I have made.

Reflection of a portfolio can encourage the “re-examination of underlying beliefs and values in light of practical experience and reflection” that ultimately allows teachers to “think about their own learning and ideally, to identify their own teaching style, strengths and areas for growth”, (Chitpin and Simon, 2009, p290). Using a digital portfolio has encouraged me to consider where I should go next in relation to my professional development. Specifically this course has challenged me “to cyclically reflect on taken-for-granted assumptions, articulate growth and gain perspectives” (Chitpin and Simon, 2009, p277) as I personally have had more a more meaningful experience within CEP813 in comparison to the Sports and Leadership concentration.

The digital portfolios are a representation of a professional’s ability and accomplishments where they can create, store, review and update their work.  That in turn can empower a person to progress, learn more and share their work with other like-minded individuals. It has been interesting to look at my classmates work within their sandboxes in order to see how others from different subjects are experiencing and using the knowledge within CEP813.  Availability of others digital portfolios means it is easy access their showcase, covering a range of interest, knowledge and viewpoints helping professionals access new ideas.  The use of sharing tools such as Twitter has opened up a world of communication allowing professionals to summarize their ideas and connect with others from different sides of the world. In addition,

I have been proud to show other members of staff some of the work I have done as a means to engage in discussion. This has been with members of the department, other teachers (e.g. ICT Teachers), and members of the leadership team. I feel this has been beneficial in order to let people know that within the Physical Education department, we are looking to make improvements, develop our ideas and move away from the limitations of traditional approach to teaching in this subject. My sandbox of ideas are examples of what others could do in the future to develop their assessment using digital portfolios, IPads and apps.

I am in the process of creating student “Sportfolios” and during this, my students have mentioned how interesting it will be to look back on them in a number of years time. Maybe we, in CEP813 will be in that same position. In retrospect, what will technology look like and what developments will happen that will affect how we use digital medium in the future? Lets see!

References
S. Chitpin and M. Simon (2009), "'Even if no-one looked at it, it was important for my own development’: Pre-service teacher perceptions of professional portfolios," Australian Journal of Education 53(3) Article 5, 277 - 293