Assessment is messy. Day-to-day, in-the-moment assessments not only reveal information that drives future instruction but also offer a comprehensive picture of students’ abilities and dispositions toward learning. As teachers, we might know what this looks and feels like, yet it can be hard to put into action—hence the messiness. Say hello to digital student portfolios—dynamic, digital collections of authentic information from different media, in many forms, and with multiple purposes. Using digital portfolios to capture student thinking and progress allows us to better see our students as readers, writers, and learners—and help students see themselves in the same way! Matt Renwick’s Digital Portfolios in the Classroom is a guide to help teachers sort through, capture, and make sense of the messiness associated with assessment. By shining a spotlight on three types of student portfolios—performance, process, and progress—and how they can be used to assess student work, Renwick helps educators navigate the maze of digital tools and implement the results to drive instruction.
What’s keeping your school behind the technology curve? Is it a fear of the unfamiliar? Expenses? Or some other myth? Have you considered how students with special needs or students learning a second language may benefit from using digital tools?If you’ve fallen for the perception that technology is too expensive, unnecessary for real learning, or a distraction in the classroom, then you need this book. You use technology in your job. Why not help your students use it in theirs?Educator Matt Renwick debunks five common myths about technology and helps you consider how to fund and manage the devices and create a supportive, schoolwide program. Renwick uses his school’s experiences and examples as a foundation to explain how you can assess and answer your students’ technology needs in terms of access, purpose, and audience–and why you and your school cannot afford to keep students from using technology in their education.