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PoweredUp Portfolios with New Google Sites!


     


Student portfolios are a great way to reinforce the use, retention and application of curriculum as a student-centered activity. There are many types of portfolios but the flexibility and simplicity of using the New Google Sites makes this an ideal application. Google Sites makes it easy for students to collect and organize their work created in the G Suite ecosystem into one place. There is a very low learning curve with New Google Sites, and the simple designs give the published website a polished, professional feel. Whether working individually or collaboratively in groups on projects, teachers will find that students are highly engaged and self-motivated with the plethora of opportunities for demonstrating their learning within their own learning style.


Why an e-portfolio?
     With the New Google Sites, you can incorporate aspects of the engagement of kinesthetic learning with the efficiency of digital usage. An e-portfolio in the New Google Sites is beneficial for transferable skills.
  • Published website provides a public forum for students to showcase their work, creating a deeper sense of ownership and accountability 
  • Published website provides a way in which students can examine and evaluate other students’ work 
  • Embedded feedback forms provide a venue by which students can comment on others’ work more efficiently. 

What makes an e-portfolio a unique assessment tool in comparison to a test or quiz is that it is a personalized expression of learning for the student. Students are creating their responses, usually from an original thought, so it is more student centered and adapts to their individual learning style. Whether they are a visual learner with image focus learning, audio learner or kinesthetic, the various supporting apps available will allow students to capitalize on their strengths. Being that it is digital, it provides a real time experience that can be logged over a period of time. By doing so, students can reflect on their own growth which instills the growth mindset that we want students to develop as they learn.
What makes an effective portfolio?
  • Is student-centered 
  • Adapts to student’s learning style 
  • Creates a digital log of student learning over a period of time 
  • Provides opportunities for self-reflection 
  • Employs good Digital Citizenship 
  • Supports the practice of 21st Century Skills 
  • Encourages the 5C’s 


The Bells & Whistles!
The best part about working in Google Sites is all of the capability and functionality of working in a website is easy to do. Adding other apps into the mix makes the portfolio building process energizing. 
Students can: 
  • Create an audio discussion with flip grid. 
  • Record and embed a video using WeVideo. 
  • Record a famous quote, give directions or practice a new language with Vocaroo recording application. 
As mentioned earlier, all of the G Suite apps seamlessly embed into New Google Sites. Embed slides, sheets, forms, images, links and other docs easily by connecting to and signing in to your Google Drive.
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Getting Started!
     If you are excited about the possibilities, meet with your integrator to brainstorm the best plan of action. Here are few aspects of the New Google Sites that you can use as talking points for your meeting:
  • Get started directly in your drive by clicking the button or going to sites.google.com after signing in Chrome. 
  • Students cannot create a website in their drive; they must be added as editors to a teacher created site using the share button
  • Teachers can monitor students activities by choosing to prevent them from publishing to the web or adding their friends as editors in the owner settings 
  • Share sites with one or more students at a time with editable links. 
    • Store the created sites in a shared folder or make individual posts for students in Google Classroom
Don’t forget to consider student privacy, copyright laws and vetted resources as you facilitate the portfolio process with your students. Take a look at this CCPS resource for Powered up Projects iLearn session offered for Secondary level teachers that helps guide you through suggestions, considerations, tips and examples of e-portfolios.

Powered Up Projects-iLearn

Sites Cheat Sheet
Yolanda Eaves has been a licensed educator since 2004. Certified in both Business I/T and Art, she taught combining both sides of the brain in the Digital Arts, Visual Arts and Computer Apps on the middle school level for 7 years and as a visual arts teacher in the elementary school level for 4 years prior to that. Her greatest attribute is her warm, patient personality. She enjoys building relationships with others and makes friends easily. As a designer at heart, she enjoys being creative.

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