Virtual Learning Network

A great opportunity from Dr Helen Barrett:

Hello K-12 Educators,

The first version of the first course of the REAL ePortfolio Academy is now online and available to everyone immediately.

Title: Introduction to Electronic Portfolios in K-12 Education: 

https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolios/

Google Group set up for general and informal course discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/eportfolioacademy

There is a need to provide this information to educators around the world, using a variety of tools and strategies. In the spirit of many "open courseware" initiatives, the Academy will offer multiple levels of professional development: 

• Self-paced and Collaborative: a website with course content and readings, which will be free, plus a collaborative group for informal dialogue throughout the year. 
• Facilitated course: take a structured course, facilitated by Dr. Helen Barrett (requires a course fee). Credit available: participants in the facilitated course may earn university credit with full participation in the course requirements, for an additional credit fee. 
• Webinars: distance-delivered workshops and planning committee meetings are also available to be delivered via the Internet to schools for a fee (One hour included with Google Apps facilitated course registration)
• Face-to-face workshops: one- or two-day face-to-face workshop with Dr. Barrett for school or district. (for daily fee + travel expenses -- includes facilitated course fees for planning committee)

The website for a second course, Implement Electronic Portfolios with K-12 Students using Google Apps, will be available within the next month. That course includes all of the content of the Introduction course, but with additional strategies on using Google Apps for Education (Docs, Sites, Picasaweb, Blogger, Teacher Dashboard).

For informal course discussion, we will use the already established Google Group, Using Google Apps for ePortfolios in K-12 Education: http://groups.google.com/group/k12eportfolios

(The GoogleApps facilitated course includes a private one-hour web-based conference with Dr. Barrett to go over the Implementation Plan and discuss management strategies.)

Both courses include a strategy for creating a plan to implement ePortfolios in a K-12 classroom, school, or district. Teachers are encouraged to participate in class activities with a partner (there is a discount on registration for the facilitated course). In addition to weekly blog entries, the major product of the course is a team project to develop the implementation plan. 

Facilitated course interaction:

The normal process in facilitating distance classes is usually through a structured course management system, such as Blackboard or Moodle... systems that are very instructor-centered. It would be more appropriate to use more learner-centered tools. So why not use a social network? There are many available, including Facebook and Ning. Since these courses are for K-12 teachers, tools that can be used in K-12 classrooms would be preferable. Therefore, the primary social network will be Edmodo.com, with limited use of Google Groups and the new Google+ social network. The Edmodo group sign-in to the Facilitated Course will be provided upon payment of the course fee. Graduate-level credit is also being approved through Seattle Pacific University. Registration information can be found online:

http://electronicportfolios.org/academy/register/

(Online registration links will be available after October 1.)

I am looking forward to feedback about the course content and planning process.

Sincerely,

Helen

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Dr. Helen Barrett, Researcher and Consultant

Founder, REAL* ePortfolio Academy for K-12 Teachers

*Reflection, Engagement, Assessment for Learning

253-693-8801 (Google Voice)  * Skype & Twitter IDs: eportfolios 

Home page: http://electronicportfolios.org

Calendar: http://electronicportfolios.org/calendar/

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