eFolio and PLTS For many years schools have wrestled with the problem of how to develop PLTS for our students. Many schools have delivered short modules within ‘Form Tutor’ periods, others have squeezed in PLTS almost as an afterthought when comming up to exam revision time, And yet others have taught towards PLTS in ‘General Studies’ options – I know, I did the module almost 50 years ago in the 6th-form at my grammar school! But now, it’s official, Government expects it, employers demand it, teachers need it, parents want it, friends and relatives are impressed, the kids love it! PLTS are now here and teachers need the tools to make it all happen. For far too long pupils’ have seen their exercises in PLTS as a bit of an interesting time-filler, particularly as their various scribbling have inevitably found themselves placed in a manila folder, stuck away in a filing cabinet and never to be looked at again. eFolio is designed to overcome all of this! Quite simply, an e-Portfolio is the best place to store one’s personal strategies and thought-processes. The beauty of the e-Portfolio is that the sharing of ideas, of peer review can all be done so seamlessly, Thinking and planning is not just done within the formal time of a ‘PLTS Lesson’ – quite the opposite, students may have their best ideas well outside of the 9-4 regime of most schools. Many times such deliberations may prompt the student to ask for advice from ‘another adult’, a parent or mentor - the e-Portfolio again can become the perfect place for the virtual benefits of ‘sitting alongside’ one another and chatting through issues with invited members. For staff, a simple messaging system can warn when new work is ready to be assessed. eFolio is a very simple to use e-Portfolio tool especially tailored to the needs of young students, whatever their ability. In fact the developers of
eFolio believe that the best place to start using eFolio is certainly by Key Stage 3. – eFolio can even be used by pre-school staff and parents. To begin with, just consider eFolio as a place to celebrate ‘best practice’ the things that the youngster is proud of, whether sport, music, coursework, family activities or clubs etc. Any digital artefacts can be copied by ‘drag-n-drop’ to pages in eFolio. Any form of text documents, scanned images or ‘rich media’ can be uploaded or hyperlinks can be put in place to other repositories. It’s just like owning your own website, but without the problems of understanding HTML or CSS. eFolio acts as a ‘gatekeeper’ in that the student must decide what to put in the portfolio rather than use it as a total repository for everything! Reflection can be a very profound learning experience whereby students learn to compare what they did several years ago with what they can do now. Why students select certain artefacts and not others, why children see something as significant for them, and possibly not their ‘best’ work, is all about PLTS. Managing a large number of courses and modules needs clarity of mind. The e-Portfolio is an excellent ‘organiser’ in this context, enabling the young student to focus upon what is important in each subject area, particularly when it comes to saying ‘This collection is what represents the Real ME.’ However, The ‘trump-card’ of the e-Portfolio is its ability to reuse artefacts from other subject areas as PLTS evidences. As young people progress through KS3 and on to KS4 much soul searching can take place about ‘options’ for KS4. Invariably this includes time spent in studying Careers advice, developing PLTS, Health & Social Studies and a host of pastoral issues. This is where PLTS are essential. Teachers are able to scaffold eFolio so that important guidance can be given as appropriate to the individual’s capabilities or interests. No longer scrappy bits of paper, but everything available to students and staff alike, anytime and anyplace.
For more information please check out the following: Website: www.maximise-ict.co.uk Blog: efoliointheuk.blogspot.com Demo eFolio: http://www.raytolley1.xfolioworld.com or e-mail: support@maximise-ict.co.uk