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.