Tech Play 2 Week 3

ETEC 524
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Spring 2015
Tech Play 2: Eportfolio Tools

For your second technology play-testing assignment, you will explore the variety of tools
that you might use to create an eportfolio. Educators use many different web-based tools to
house their portfolio thinking, including blogs, wikis, websites and proprietary eportfolio
platforms, such as Foliotek. For this play-testing assignment, please do not select blog
sites to explore because you play-tested that technology last week. Select and play
around with other technologies this week; however, you may consider how blogs could be
used to create an eportfolio in this weeks reflection post. Please post your Tech Play 2
reflection on the blog you created last week. You do not need to re-submit your blog link.
You can and should explore the many free tools available as you make a decision about
where you will host your own eportfolio. Weve listed a few of many options:
Wikis - A wiki is a website that many people can edit. Most have controls so that the
owner of the wiki can determine who can edit the page and who can just view the
page. Many free wikis can be found through a Google search. Some are free to
educators and their students.
Websites - You can use any of a broad array of creation and hosting tools that fit
into this category. Free sites, such as Weebly or Google Sites, can do both. These
online tools offer point-and-click design templates and content creation. However,
some might have ads or unwanted content. Those of you with more technical
proficiency might prefer to obtain your own domain and an HTML editor such as
Dreamweaver or code your site with HTML to create your eportfolio.
Proprietary tools - eportfolio vendors (developers and sellers of proprietary
software specifically for eportfolio creation, dissemination, and collection) often
provide free trials to allow for play or tutorial videos that describe the wondrous
capabilities of their tools (recognize that theres some bias in their descriptions);
these can be found with a Google search.
Weve created a threaded discussion for brainstorming below. If you are unsure about
where to begin, feel free to post questions in the forum below so that your classmates can
help you. If you feel very capable in this area, please read others questions and offer
assistance and guidance. Note that posting questions or answers below is not part of the
Play-testing Activity that will be graded. Instead, you must make a blog post reflecting on
your exploration of eportfolio tools. Post your reflection on the blog you created last week.
Your Tech Play 2 Assignment

The purpose of your Play-testing 2 assignment is to explore a variety of
eportfolio tool options, such as wikis, websites or proprietary platforms.
Youll also select one tool or platform that youll use to create your eportfolio
for this class.
In this weeks blog post . . .
Reflect on your understanding of folio thinking. Setting aside differences

among various digital tools that could be used to create eportfolios, consider
ETEC 524
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Spring 2015
portfolios in general (electronic or physical/paper-based). Compare/contrast

portfolios to other forms of assessment: quizzes and tests, essays and research
papers, student presentations, homework, worksheets, you name it. As a learner
pursuing a graduate degree or certification, which of the following would be more
relevant and meaningful to your academic and professional/career goals:
a. Answering questions about educational technology that ETEC professors have
identified as the most important things to know and having them judge the
logic, accuracy, depth, breadth, and precision of your answers.
b. Articulating what you know and have learned about educational technology
from your academic, professional, and other experiences and providing
evidence of that learning with a collection of artifacts youve created.
Then, reflect on which you would prefer (note: the first question asks which
would be more relevant/meaningful to your learning, not which you would
prefer) and explain why.
Identify technology affordances. Now compare/contrast physical portfolios to

digital or electronic portfolios, and compare/contrast the unique affordances of the
different tools you explored. Consider which tool is the best choice for you in creating
your eportfolio.
Shift context/perspective. Consider whether you would select a different tool if

you were asking your students to create an eportfolio? Why or why not? Discuss the
affordances of these tools for others in different contexts (i.e. describe what
technological knowledge, pedagogical approach, and content standards might align
better with the tool youd use with your students, rather than select for yourself).
Create something. You can begin building your portfolio or just play around with
various tools, but you need to select one tool that youll use to create your eportfolio
for this class. We ask that you post the link to the eportfolio that you create this
week in your blog post/reflection.

Tech Play 2 Week 3

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Tech Play 2 Week 3

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ETEC 524

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Tech Play 2: Eportfolio Tools

Your Tech Play 2 Assignment

Reflect on your understanding of folio thinking. Setting aside differences

Texas A&M University-Commerce

portfolios in general (electronic or physical/paper-based). Compare/contrast

Identify technology affordances. Now compare/contrast physical portfolios to

Shift context/perspective. Consider whether you would select a different tool if

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