After reviewing the article, Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning, the assessment for learning principle that I was most able to relate to was the sixth one:  AFL should take account of the importance of (and foster) learner motivation.  In my opinion, motivating our students is of utmost importance for all teachers.  When a student is motivated, either intrinsically or extrinsically, he/she is more likely to focus on the content being presented; ergo, it could be said that motivation begets true learning.  As we learned two weeks ago, our students are part of the “digital natives” generation.  They thrive on all things technological and balk at seemingly “old fashion” techniques.  Using electronic portfolios should, in theory, help to engage and motivate the students.  Once this occurs, the students can learn and understand the presented material.

Rather than continue to adhere to the ideas of the 90s, teachers can move towards more technology based projects.  Instead of students creating a poster depicting an artistic display of piece-wise functions, I could have them construct their graphic electronically and, then, post it on the class website or wiki.  Then, I could have my students comment on each other’s creations, tactfully of course, as opposed to having a formalized presentation during class.  At the end of the year, my students could submit their own electronic portfolio that includes links to all the projects they have created, as well as any resources they found to help them throughout the year.  I believe that by requiring students to maintain an electronic portfolio, they will better retain the content taught throughout the year; there may also be less grumbling about the upkeep of a website versus a physical notebook.

I think that the creation and development of my portfolio will help me to internalize the content we are learning.  Even though I have grown up with technology, it is an ever-changing field.  I am all for integrating technology into the classroom but have been confounded by exactly how to do so.  I believe that this course, along with my electronic portfolio, will help me to better embed technology into my math classes in the future.  Most importantly, by creating and maintaining my e-portfolio, I will have a template to show the Powers That Be when I request permission to use this technology with my students next year.