During my first half of the semester in the EDLD, in 5302, I was tasked with creating a rudimentary blog website in order to present all my learning and coursework in a cohesive final product. I thought building an entire website was completely insane, but with a little guidance I was able to get the job done.
As a result of my previous course, I have already been exposed to the benefits of an ePortfolio in the form of a blog and I was given a few tips and pointers to get my creativity started. After reviewing a few resources I have solidified my understanding of the"big picture" and the importance of my ePortfolio as I progress not only through this program, but throughout my professional life as well. While I knew there was value in having all my graduate coursework in one place, I didn't realize that this would become an invaluable tool moving forward in more facets of my life than just my graduate work.
I am excited to build my ePortfolio for many reasons now because I am going to be able to easily prove all of the skills and knowledge I gained with my master's degree and all of the skills I have learned in the course of my teaching career. Not only is it physical proof of my skills and expertise, I am able to access it anywhere in the world that I may be and be able to share it with anyone that I want to. I have already seen a shift in my priorities from being obsessed with getting an "A" to creating the best blog or webpage I can. This shift in priorities from the final product to the process of my learning has been incredibly helpful in learning a lot of practical knowledge that I have immediately started implementing in my classes. Since I have a physical place to show off all of my skills and unique ideas and experiences I have found myself thinking about how I can grow and refresh everything I am doing.
My ePortfolio is pushing me to be the best version of myself because I can see all of the progress I am making. I can see my strengths and weaknesses with more clarity, which has empowered me to continually grow and improve upon my weaknesses. In fact, I realized that using very rudimentary design elements was comfortable, but not necessarily making me the most proud, so I have started playing around with design elements and templates within my ePortfolio site.
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