First Draft ePortfolio

Hello,

Here is the link to my ePortfolio, not quite finish yet.

Click here

Pupose of Honors Institute

When I think about Honors Institute I think about a program that will help students go beyond their thinking to be more open-minded to the world and have priceless experiences as a leadership.

The Honors program should hook us to conferences and events around the bay area that could be related to our majors.

I know people might think that being in the Honors Program gives you a good chance to get into UCLA but on what criteria UCLA thinks that we are that good of a student? Because after all the program at Foothill, as far as Honors stuff, only offers classes that are mainly literature classes and tells us about occasional events. What about the science majors? Because I agree that English and History honors classes are tough and really push you to another level of thinking which is great but how do universities know if we get the same experience for the science classes? I really wish we had more honors classes in the science field. Maybe I should just ask some of my instructors to think about it. It will be an amazing experience too.

Even if now the program gives you more chances to get into competitive universities I just don't feel like I am part of something BIG yet. I don't feel like I have academically got different from a student who is not in the Honors program. And if there is no plus to your education why would you be favored over students who are not part of the program for transfers to universities?

Introducing your ePortfolio

Welcome to my ePortfolio dedicated to Organic Chemistry. Do not run away yet because these web pages might help you to see o. chem like you've never seen before. Did you ever think that this subject was hard or that the amount of material to learn is just too much? Well, you are right to think that. O.Chem is definitely a tough subject and the amount of material to learn is significant. HOWEVER it is possible to do well in o.chem. There are three important things you need to succeed: you need TIME to review the material and make sure you understand what you are reading, you also need to MEMORIZE bits and bits at the time, finally you need a lot of TRAINING, lots and lots of exercises!

When I first started general chemistry, I didn't think much of it, I thought it was boring and random...Then I took organic chemistry and found that it was so much more interesting than the general chemistry. I think if you are a puzzle solver type, you'll definitely love organic chemistry. It is a hard class but it is also a really rewarding class when you can do it well!

So if you currently taking these courses and wish to have a condensed review+tips+exercises you are welcome to navigate here. Also if you are those students like me who can never have enough exercises to do, welcome! I will have some synthesis problems available for each chapters.

It's O. chem time!

Online Honors Institute Infomercial

SUNY Potsdam Honors Program: I thought the video was way too long. There were two of them and I actually could not even watch half of the first one. Also the sound recording was not really good therefore it was hard to hear the students talking.

JMU Honors Program: Even though I liked the humor approach I don't think it is the best way to reflect on how honorable it is to belong to the Honors Program. This kind of approach definitely attracts a lot of listeners because it is really pleasant to watch. Also it makes it look very accessible so that students will not think it is a hard core program.

Columbia College Honors Program: I liked this one the best. The presentation was good, really professional looking type video. Not too long also which is great otherwise you get bored. That is the kind of video that is going to make me think that it is worth joining the program because it looks really serious and will bring you a lot in your academic journey.

Slippery Rock College: This one was also good. Students talking about their experience in a short interview is always a plus to hear. The video was pleasant to listen to.

UAB: This is one was really interesting because they focus on the leadership part of the program. I think that it is a really good kind of approach because in the work world that is exactly what employers will look for: leadership skills. I would have totally enrolled in their honors program if I was studying over there.

SJSU: What I liked about this one is the short video. The music is also interesting however this looked more to me like a commercial rather than a honors tour.

I think what will be great for Foothill Honors Program video is to have a blend of the documentary approach with that of the leadership + student interview. The video will have to last no longer than 5min after that it's really a pain to continue listening. It has to summarize the best part of what our program is, emphasizing how great honors classes we have and what did they bring to us students. I really think Foothill has to expand the presence of the Honors Program on the campus. To be honest it is only after 3 quarters at Foothill that I heard there was an honors program. And even then on the Foothill Website, not much is said about what is exactly this program except that it is good for transferring...

Pre-planning the ePortfolio.

I am still trying to decide whether I should do an extra-curricular related blog or an academic one.
For the extracurricular one, I will do one about dancing. I think it will be the kind of blog that just traces back all the performances I did, pictures, video if possible, the list of musics I danced on etc.
I will put posts in chronological order so I will be able to see my own artistic evolution, the obstacles I went through, my feelings and thoughts.
The outside evaluators would be either my current dance professors or my formers one if I can reach them and make them write in English.
I think starting this week end I will try to figure out how should I organize my front page, the table of contents. Then I'll figure out exactly what goes into each posts, I will select my pictures and find videos and music (especially how to add them).
The challenge will be to go back in my memories to revisit the feelings and thoughts I had during all my previous performances (and I started at age 8).
This ePortfolio will allow me to look back on what I did and criticize myself. This is actually really important for an artist because you can ALWAYS do better, no matter how good you think you were or how hard you worked, you can always go beyond. If you stop doing that you will not progress and that's the end...

Otherwise I was thinking also to do an organic chemistry 12C revision website. At the end of this quarter, my classmates and I have to take the national exam of organic chemistry which covers a year of material. In other words, oh my goodness!
I was thinking it will be nice to have a website that summarizes the main points of each chapters, a list of all reactions + mechanisms involved.
The website will be divided into different theme or organic functional groups. I will also add some synthesis problems to practice + solutions that I will make up.
I think this will be helpful to any chemistry student but also for me when I will need to revisit my organic chemistry in two years to take the MCAT exam. This website will definitely help.
I can put drawings of molecules on the website. I was also thinking including videos where I would show myself going through a synthesis problem and how to solve it retrospectively (step by step).
My chemistry professor will be the one reviewing it as well as some of my classmates.
The challenge with this one will be the time involvement. Summarizing each chapter will demand a tremendous amount of time. But as I need to review the textbook anyways so I guess it's doable.
If I decide to do this one, I will start this week end summarizing the latest chapters (the ones I'm working on right now). And go back to the old ones as my study progresses backwards.

"Re-Assessing the Honors Institute"

I joined the Honors Institute in summer 2007 and actually this English seminar is one of the first honors classes I'm taking so I have little idea of how the Institute work.

I would say though that we should have more honors classes in the SCIENCE SUBJECTS!

Otherwise I think we do not have enough information on cultural and academic events around here. I think it will be great to know since attending them would be a good part of enlightening our intellect. It would be a way for us to stay open minded.

Also I know it is more difficult but we do not have a large choice of honors classes each quarter. Or the classes would have a really funny schedule time so that it will not be compatible with our other classes.

The level of academic achievement required is good though, I feel like I'm learning a lot in my other Engl 1C for honors. I alsmot feel like Im not gonna be able to make it through actually but the challenge is interesting.

Response to Steve Jobs Speech

Wow, Steve Jobs is for sure an amazing person. I really enjoyed reading the speech, it is inspiring.

I believe that it is really fundamental to study what we want to. As Jobs says, our time here is limited so we definitely need to enjoy every second of our life!

When Jobs said that he felt bad "wasting" his parents' money for studies he did not really enjoy, I totally understand him. My parents also support me financially at nearly 90%. I always make sure to take the classes required for my major (that I enjoy by the way) and be careful not to drop it when it is no longer refundable. Yes because I'm paying non-resident fees so it is quite expensive, almost the same as international fees...

Sometimes I do feel really bad for my parents having to pay everything for me so I can focus on my studies so I put even more effort to make sure everything is worth the price. And I thank my parents a lot, they're awesome.

As Steve Jobs' example I think that you become really successful when you do whatever you are passionate about. And even if life is hard, as long as you stick with your ideas then everything should be fine. The obvious example is when you study something you really enjoy, you tend to get good grades really easily and reverse when it is something you do not like.

What I think is incredible with Jobs' journey is that he had moments of epiphany where he realized that some things were better for him that way (even if its a flashback moment). Those moments are the most helpful in your life and you definitely get to appreciate whatever happened to you and be grateful to life in general.

Weaknesses as a learner

I am a really lazy girl. If I have time to do nothing I would just sit around or take a nap instead of doing the work I'm suppose to do. I think I have a hard time to get started with something, especially papers or revisions...

The good thing though is that once I start, then I can be really efficient and do a lot of study. It's just the starting part that slows everything. What could I do to make it better? I don't really know, usually I would push the work until I know I cannot do it anymore and finally start doing it. A little like procrastination except that it is not it because I don't have anything else to do (except napping) and I am not scared of my work being not good. Just laziness, pure laziness.

Last quarter I was so sure that I was the type of student who learns better from the textbooks than from the lectures. Turns out, that's not so true. This quarter, I started to pay attention and take notes in lecture and it actually works fine for me! I think what happened is that usually my lectures are at 2 pm, which is nap time basically so I would just fall asleep in class. Now my lecture is still at 2 pm except that I decided that I was going to pay attention in class for once. So maybe it is just the fact that I'm being sleep deprived that affects my learning.

The funny thing is that usually I can work fine on 6 hours of sleep a day (+ 1 hour nap during lecture). So that now I'm not napping anymore, it throws off all my schedule sleep and it results in the fact that I'm tired the whole day. I'm glad we have coffee...

There is no apparent solution to my lack of sleep problem unless somebody comes up with some sort of drug that supresses the need from our body to get some sleep. I'll be really grateful if somebody can find that.

I think as long as I do the work I need to do during day time, I can go to sleep early and get 7 hours of sleep and stop coffee. Yay.

Response to Paul Graham

Again another article on procrastination... So this time, Graham deals with two types of procrastination, the good ones and the bad ones.
I think that is actually a really good way to see procrastination because I do believe that not all procrastinators are lazy and unproductive people.

People might take good procrastination as being careless about yourself but if you read Graham's paper then you realize that it might not be such a bad thing. Although to be honest not doing laundry or omitting hygienics, that sounds impossible to me. But it is true that you do waste serious time cooking, keeping up with your emails, reading a book, watching TV, hanging out with friends. I guess after it's just an issue of balancing what is truly important to yourself.

Now I feel less bad not answering all my friends' emails haha. (It's because I'm doing good procrastination)

I think it is interesting to see how different people deal with their own view of good procrastination because it just reinforces the idea that each person is different so that you cannot get a specific definition of what is good or bad procrastination.

Response to CalPoly paper

I thought that was a really good description of what a procrastinator was. It gives the characteristics, the behavior, what those people think and how they might overcome it. Compared to Perry's paper, the CalPoly one is much more formal.

I liked both reading actually. Perry's one because you get to read someone who is directly affected by procrastination. It is like you witness the problem.

The Calpoly paper on the other hand gives you detailed symptoms and conditions of procrastination, and even suggestions on how to minimize your procrastination side.

On the other hand I think it might be really hard for somebody affected with procrastination to actually get better by himself. First of all you have to realize that it is a problem in your life. Some people will also deny the fact that they might have severe procrastination.

Procrastination has something to do also with the way you feel about yourself, especially if you are a perfectionist. Therefore, it's gonna take more than self-discipline to overcome it.

But overall, the CalPoly paper was a really interesting paper to read to learn what in scientific terms was procrastination, how does it show in people and what might be the solutions to it. If you are interested in psychology then it is a really good article to look at. For me, it was a little too much of a dry reading. Actually I had to skim through more than actually reading in details...

Response to the structured procratination

Wow, I thought first that I might be one of those people, procrastinators, but clearly I am not a structured procrastinator. Or not quite.

As I was reading John Perry's article I was thinking that it almost looks like it requires a lot of work to be a structured procrastinator. It is like a mental state where you believe that it is better to do anything else than the work you are supposed to do, even if it means to do extra work in order to avoid the original job. That is so interesting. Frankly, I'm such a lazy girl that I would always weigh whether or not it is worth it to do the assigned job or search for a way to avoid it.

It is true that there is quite a lot of people who wait until the last moment to do a work. Just look at me doing my tasks for week 6 the night before its due... Actually it's quite good since usually I will wait until tomorrow. But that doesn't make those people procrastinators necessarily. People might just feel lazy, or do work in order of priority etc...

But I guess the definition of a procrastinator will be that of somebody doing the work at the last moment under no means of pressure.

This almost sound like a psychological situation. Really interesting though.

So now what is it about procrastinators? I mean, do those people need some kind of help or is it just something that we need to understand?

Do procrastinators chose to be like that or is it something that you cannot control?

What is funny is that after reading this article I felt like I should start doing my work as soon as I have time rather than waiting the last moment as usual. For some reason the article's issues about being so late on all the work totally freaked me out. I guess I don't want to have to do two months worth of work in only three days.....

yay, let's do homeworks now!

The Journey

So about my journey, I could refer to “the call’ part of my life. It’s quite boring but oh well, it’s the assignment. (Oh and I cannot find another part of the Journey that I can refer to right now…)
So last night I get a call from my friend Victoria and she tells me she is at the mall. No, just joking, I’m describing the “wrong” call.

During my last year of high school, I had to start thinking which university I was going to attend and in which country. What usually happens for students in Tahiti is that we either go to the local university for 2 years before having to transfer to France, or go directly to France. For multiple reasons, I didn’t want to move to France and I knew that biomedical researchers over there where underpaid and had trouble finding a job. Not really a motivating situation and I knew I wanted to come to the U.S. It was really unsure that my parents would send me here away from them but I knew somehow that I had to come here to study. Up to now, I don’t regret my decision and I am glad my parents supported my decision.

Talking about the present moment, I would say that I am facing some kind of giant ugly Ogre, and the worse part of the story is that I have to figure out by myself how to get rid of him.
I am at a point of my life where I don’t know how to organize my life. My schedule is always crazy and it’s not because I am taking 21 units of major required classes, it’s because 1/3 of those 21 units are dedicated to my dance classes. It’s funny but I never considered dancing as being a “hobby” or “exercising”. It’s simply just a part of my personality. Now that Foothill Dance Company is approaching show time, I have rehearsals until really late at night even during the week. It is then really challenging to get all my homework done (in time), get a maximum of 6 hours of sleep and stay focused in class and at work. I am not complaining since this is my choice, but I am also planning to go to medical school and that means I am supposed to start getting involved in research projects. I know that at some point I am going to have to reduce my dancing hours and eventually stop in order to study, and that makes me really sad. I am trying to make myself believe that I will always find a way to manage some time to dance but who knows?
The question then becomes WHEN do I stop? Should I really stop? To what extent am I willing to sacrifice study time for dancing? This is something that I haven’t figured out yet.

Oh and just to clarify something from today’s discussion, I just wanted to let know professor Lankford that I actually do not consider “not talking in class” a weakness in my learning. It might sound strange but I actually don’t think that participating in class makes you learn better… I am used to learn from a textbook, maybe that is why, but every time something is not clear, I usually manage to figure out by myself, meaning that I would at least try before having to ask the teacher. I find out that asking too much questions in class makes you become a “lazy” thinker since “you get served as soon as you ask”. But that is just my personal opinion, no offenses.

Cloud Computing

So much tools for students and teachers, isn't it awesome?

I already experienced couple of those Google Applications:

The iGoogle is basically setting your own "homepage" . You can personalize it and they offer a whole range of "ornaments" you can add on: pictures, games, calendar, fake aquarium, reminders, time, news, weather etc. A whole load of "stuff" to let your personality printed on the homepage.

I used iGoogle for lets say 3 months or so, after that too busy to go and check on it. Also I like to have Yahoo as my homepage just because my primary email box is on it. The only I really liked was the scheduler. Really helpful when you forget all your appointments and also you can get to see your friends' schedule if they give you permission to do so.

iGoogle is really for a personal use, it is not shared between people, it is basically to make your main page "lookable" and not so boring. Some people might have some fun with it.

I've also experienced Google Groups and that was really useful especially when teachers posts assignment on it, grades, notes etc. People from a same group can communicate really easily just by sending internal messages. The privacy system is not so bad because you have to be invited in the group in order to join and benefit from it. The only drawback I could think of is when the group is to be terminated, I think they actually don't tell the users so that we do not really know if all the "stuff" on it was completely erased. But I could be wrong.

Google Documents is basically a place where you can share files with people you invite. It has already the "excel" type format so it is easy and convenient to work with. It also keeps tract of any change made in a document and by whom.

I think having all these tools are great for sharing files between people with a certain extent of privacy control. I am going to say that actually I did not really understand the question for task 1 assignment...ha sorry about that. So I am just going to say that all the Google Application definitely gives good idea of how to organize an ePortfolio in a efficient way. It is almost complete: emails, pictures, documents, homepage, notepad, reader...

Digital storytelling

When I first started reading about the storytelling text I could almost picture kids in a future time before going to bed, instead of having their dad reading a book, just going on their own computer and log onto a web page with digital stories. And not that it doesn't sound pretty at all, after all you can have way more colors and pictures and sound effects from a computer, but still, I would feel sorry for those kids if that situation is ever to happen.

Anyways going back to the subject, I think the digital storytelling tool could be quite interesting to explore. Although the only reason I would probably use such tool will be for school purpose... Like let's say you have a project to do, or a research paper to write, you can use the storytelling mode to make the project or research more interactive and less boring.

I think the only problem I have with the digital storytelling tool is that you are expected to record your own self and voice so that everybody else can watch and see you. Honestly, exposing myself in such way will probably be a hard thing for me to do...I'd rather stick with my paper. I would prefer people to be convinced or read my real words instead of having to be distracted by any other factors raised by digital storytelling. These could be in fact: the way you sound, the way you look (people tends to judge you a lot), the quality of the video, quality of the sound, the background (where did you record yourself).

It is also true that watching somebody talking directly at you can be a more convincing "exchange" than just having to read a flat paper.

I also read something about the languages saying that basically you could record yourself speaking a different language and sharing with people. I thought that was a great idea. Also that reminded me that you could display some web pages in different languages by just clicking on the one you are interested in. So that gave the idea that if I had the skills and technology to do so, I will probably have my own web page in french and English!

Overall digital storytelling will be an interesting area to keep an eye on as ePortfolios are becoming more and more popular. But even so, I doubt that I will use such tool in my ePortfolio, but who knows?

Learning Portfolios

I think I would design my ePortfolio according to the different steps of my education.
First I will create a link page for each of my "years" in college/university. Each of these year will have a list of the classes I have taken, giving specific feedback on either how I enjoyed the class, the amount of time and work I had to put. It will also contain the exams took during that class as well as my notes and lab reports etc. I think it is just easier to keep your notes online than having to carry the stacks of paper around. I would just have to scan the notes/exams and attached it to the web page.

Also after I will get into graduate school, I would like to include a web page dedicated to my research projects and all the extra activities that will serve the purpose to enter into medical school. I will keep a accurate report on what I will be doing, what I will learn and how deeply I would like to get involve in a particular research opportunity. This will be an amazing tool for me to come back on when applying to med school and decide which activity I would like to include on my application.

My dream ePortfolio will basically serve me primarily to look back on the work I would have done just as a way to make sure I am on the good way. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by my studies that I could forget to take a particular class or realize I have to more extra activities etc...

The main audience will be myself but anybody who is interested in what other biochemistry students are doing could go on and take a peek at my dream ePortfolio.

I also like colors and pictures so my ePortfolio will probably have a lot of fancy animations, sound effects and cute pictures. That will serve just for the pleasure of my own eyes.

So my ePortfolio will be a learning portfolio, one that will witness the evolution in my academic life, and one that will allow me to self evaluate the work that I would have done.

My imaginary ePortfolios

If I was a master in handling web tools and had plenty of time to go on the Internet I would probably create a whole bunch of ePortfolios:

I would have one that I could use as a CV. I don't like paperwork and I think having something just already posted on the Internet is just great. That kind of ePortfolio will have to be protected by a password because of privacy issues. I would probably not include any music but certainly pictures of important events that are relevant to my academic life.

I would have one on the theme of dance. I would love to have a web page with all the pictures and videos of my different performances. I could also use it to share opinions and tips, from which music is really cool to dance on to where to get a specific dance gear. This will also be a great way to keep in touch with my dancer friends from all around the globe. It is so much easier than just the regular "I will send you pics soon" and actually never get a chance to do it.

Then I would have one for the family. I moved to the US to study and sometimes it is hard for me to keep up with emails with every single member of my family, or friends that are dispersed all around the world. I would create an ePortfolio on myself and on what s going on in my life so that my parents and friends can just pop on the web page and have instant news from me, see pictures, videos etc. It is kind of like an email you will send to everybody but in a better way.

I would create a ePortfolio on the theme of organic chemistry. I am currently taking this class and it is a tremendous amount of studying. The key is to remember every single new reactions and up to now we probably already have more than 200 to remember. My ePortfolio will be designed to help future student to memorize their mechanisms and reactions. I would put up all the possible reactions we learned like a kind of interactive flash cards (I wish I had that to study...) with animations to show the mechanisms, color coding, exceptions to the rule etc. The portfolio will be a study tool for any students taking organic chemistry.

Oh and I almost forgot, I would actually make a Portfolio for the Operation Smile Club (at Foothill) that I belong to. I am really proud of being part of this club and I would like students on campus to know about what we are doing and hopefully get lots of members! It is actually not such a dream portfolio since I actually started one but never got to finish yet. I would have organized it in such a way that we would post our upcoming events (fundraisings...) and who we are, what we do, how to join and of course lots and lots of pictures! It has to look really fun because I want people to be interested when looking at the Portfolio.

Quick peek at some ePortfolios

First of all I have to say that searching for a particular ePortfolio is not a fast task. Among the billions results related to the topic you asked for on google.com there aren't only true Portfolios out there. Most of the time I will end up on a random newspaper article or a pdf page rather than a web page.Anyways I have selected a couple of ePortfolios that were maybe worth looking at it:

The MicrobiologyBytes ePortfolio

This web page has been designed by Dr. Alan Cann. The ePortfolio is designed to give the latest news about microbiology topics. The ePortfolio is easy to navigate through and really pleasant to look at: each posting has a illustration or picture, there are some videos, link to related content web pages. The page has a side menu where you can access directly to a particular topic of microbiology such as bioterrorism, emerging disease...According to Cann, "MicrobiologyBytes brings you the latest news about microbiology, in a form that everyone can understand". If it is true that Dr. Cann uses a language that is non formal overall, there is a lot of biological vocabulary that I doubt "everyone can understand". By this I mean that I can go and read the posts ans still know what "proteins", "antibodies", "apoptotic" and "mitochondria" are because I have been studying them. But it is not everybody's case and this ePortfolio does not always explain what those words mean. What would have been great is that on each biology related vocabulary word there was a link that brings you to a glossary page with some kind of definition. If Dr. Cann didn't bother doing that, my guess is that his ePortfolio was dedicated more to an audience of science related interest that has the basic knowledge to understand his posts than a general audience. To be honest even with a full year of general cell biology there was some posts in Dr. Cann's ePortfolio that I had a hard time to understand. (But because it is interesting to me, I will bother to go look for some definitions myself.)

OATES (Open Access To Eye and Skin)

This ePortfolio has been designed as a sort of online library to help doctors, researchers, or teachers to find other ePortfolios or web resources on topics related to dermatology and ophthalmology. The web page design is simple, the purpose is listed on the top right corner, on the main page you can find the latest posts added and on the right side menu you find a list of quick links that directs you to the posts with the links you need: aging, cancer, eye...For me it is not an exciting ePortfolio but I acknowledge that it can be really useful. Finding resources while writing a paper can be time consuming and having a ready-to-click web page with a list of links is just really powerful and saves you a good amount of time.I don't even have suggestions or critics for this ePortfolio since there is almost nothing in it expect links... It is just a formal kind of web page I guess... Boring but oh well it is useful. At least it looks professional.

Drew Manusharow's ePortfolio

I typed "cancer + ePortfolio" on the google search page amd I found this guy's ePortfolio that was actually an art ePortfolio. I was really surprised at first and I thought: this searching thing just brings you a lot of useless web page and now even unrelated ones!But on a second look, I realized that one of his painting job was actually dedicated to the theme of cancer. Manusharow had a representation of a blood vessel at a microscopic scale. So it was a good surprise I guess. Manusharow's ePortfolio is designated to show and present his art work. The design of the web page is pretty simple, links to his different projects, a gallery and a short home page. Even simple, it is still interesting to look at just like an art exhibition will be.

FAQ about Portfolios

When I enrolled for ENGL34H I had no idea what a portfolio was... After reading the web page, I stated learning a little bit about the subject. One of the question that stroke me was: "Why should I create an electronic portfolio?" That was exactly the first question I had after learning about portfolios: yeah, what for?

source: www.balibocraft.com/crafts/photoalbum.html


According to the article "A High School Inquiry" by Helen Barrett, portfolios are a reflection of a person's (especially a student) intellectual progress and achievement throughout his/her life. I thought that was a really good idea. I remembered when I was 5 or 6, every school work I would bring back home, my parents would keep it in a special box so I could take a look at it later in memories of those younger times. Even when we moved from countries to countries my parents would keep those boxes. The concept of a portfolio I believe is the same: keeping tract of all your efforts.
Barrett mentions, "I think the ePortfolio is the best means of providing evidence that students have met the school's requirements and state standards". On one hand I think that it will be great to have a Portfolio that can really show all the hard work you had done at school besides just having grades qualifying you as a person because grades can definitely not reflect your personality. And we know that nowadays the work world will no longer look for perfect CV or transcript but also for personalities. Portfolios will be a good way to simply put yourself at your advantage if you stay honest.
On the other hand, for employers or graduate school to consider looking at ePortfolios as part of an application process I will guess (and hope) there will be some kind of regulation standards about them. My first question will be: how do you know the ePortfolio is a reliable one? After all the person creating it can basically put whatever he wants including giving himself credit for something he didn't do. Then let's say employers start to consider seriously looking at ePortfolios, will people who refuse or don't desire to have one be penalized? Because I am pretty sure it is all at your advantage to show what you are really capable of through your portfolio versus a single interview. How are they going to make this fair for everybody?

Overall I think that the world of ePortfolio is very exciting and I can't wait to see how its meaning will affect our world in a couple of years. I will keep an eye on it that's for sure.

Some interesting blogs

One of my interest in biology is the ongoing debate and discoveries made in the area of stem cell research.

Here you can find a blog on such subject.

I was surprised to find that the blog was written by a lady (Anne Leonard) who has a BA in liberal arts and yet knowing so much about technical notions related to the study of stem cells. The writer specifies that she does a lot of reading and research on the latest news about this area. Because she looks really up to date with the current events her blog is really insightful.
The blog is really easy to navigate through, at the beginning you find a calendar of the recent events that occurred in the stem cell world. Most of the news come from newspaper or research paper which shows that Leonard is invested in the topic.
The writer also focuses on the ethical problems arising from the development of the stem cell research which is the flaming topic on debate nowadays. Leonard also mentions some juridical issues whenever stem cells was involved.
Overall it is really pleasant to read a blog that is getting constantly updated along with the progress made in the field of stem cell research. Discovering the possibility of isolating viable stem cell is a new and exciting event, but because of its recent finding, researchers still ignore a lot about the consequences such tool will have on our world. Reading summaries of the events happening in the stem cell world through Leonard's blog is an easy and simple way to have a general idea of what is currently going on in that area.

Welcome to my fantasy U-Museum

First of all and before you get lost in this crazy place let me guide you through the different places you will find here.

MAP

First Floor:
- the library

Second Floor:
- the piano room
- the laboratory

The Gardens:
- the dance studio
- the beach

Now let's look in details what in each of these places represents part of the person I am.

The Library

Often referred to as a quiet place I cannot say that it is the reason why I like libraries. In fact I can not stand studying in silence. Rather, the noiseless atmosphere you find there reflects the person I usually am in class, in other words you will not notice me because I do not participate in class.

And yes I love reading. I use to read 3 to 4 books a week in high school. I read primarily non fiction stories and thrillers. I can say that a great percentage of my knowledge comes from books. Most of the time I learn better by reading than listening which helped me develop my ability to memorize a lot of information.

The library represents the studious part of me.

The piano room

I learned how to play piano for 4 years. I cannot say that I am realy good at it, sadly, but I always enjoyed the sound. I had to stop my lessons because one of my other passions was too time consuming. I am still somehow frustrated about it and I promised myself that if I ever have some time later on I will definitely relearn it.

The laboratory

That will be one of my favorite and most exciting place. Here you create. You try to understand how life works at your cells' level. My goal is to besome a medical researcher. Research is a field I find really fascinating because it is an endless learning process. As technologies gets more efficient, so does our ability to observe and discover how the human body works so that researchers constantly have to update their knowledge.

The Dance studio

This is my other passion, dancing. I have been dancing for ever and even though I am not thinking going profesional, I would like to keep dancing as long as I can. Dancing helps me doing a necessary break in between my studies. I can say that it is a full part of my working process. Study hard, dance and cool down, study again.

The Beach

Finally I have to mention where I grew up because it builds up part of my personality. I am from a peaceful and sunny island lost in the Pacific Ocean that people knows as Tahiti. It makes sense to say that I like warm sunny days like we sometimes do have lately. So if by a cold and grey day I am really grumpy, you can blame it on the weather.

Although being a beautiful island I jave to say that it is also a BORING place for young people. As a result I deveolped the habit to keep myself busy: school work, job, more work, more activities... And now I end up having zero free time. It will sound weird but I actually think I like to be overloaded with work.