Spring, 2017: Using the Seesaw App for Maker Portfolios Nan Stifel, Concord Hill School, Chevy Chase, MD Concord Hill School, an independent school for preschoolers through 3rd graders in Chevy Chase MD, subscribes to Seesaw for Schools, a website/app for developing student portfolios. Librarian Nan Stifel uses the Seesaw app to develop Maker portfolios for third graders. (Next year she will do the same for second graders.) Two years after she started a small maker program in the library, the school opened a larger makerspace, which also serves as the home for coding instruction led by the school’s Director of Educational Technology, Karen Opdahl. Students use iPads to scan a QR code to access their Library/Maker portfolios. They add “artifacts” to their portfolios – photos, videos, links to websites, etc. – and reflect or comment on those items. Students save items, then Nan reviews them and approves them for sharing with parents via an email generated by the app. Parents have access only to their own child’s portfolio. In reviewing the added artifacts, Nan tags them with specific skills she has identified as student learning goals for Maker and Library-related projects. For example, the first time a student uses the DoInk green screen app to produce a video book review, his or her associated artifact will be tagged with one star for that skill. Repeated practice and mastery of that skill result in additional stars. When a student has earned four stars for a particular skill or tool, he or she is awarded a digital badge for that skill or tool. The badges, created by Nan, are placed in the student’s “Badges” Seesaw folder with a congratulatory note. As she starts to tag skills with younger grades, the students will develop a Maker portfolio that will carry over to the next grade. The prospect of developing cumulative portfolios that document building projects, collaborative design, woodworking proficiencies, robotics, and other Makerspace STEAM activities is exciting to Nan, as the portfolios will reflect student achievement and justify the Maker curriculum. Whether the badging system will be beneficial as the students move on to their next schools is unknown at this point, but at the very least, the badges are a source of great pride to the children. Although Nan’s focus at Concord Hill School is early childhood, the Seesaw app may be used for older students, as well, using shared or 1:1 devices and QR code logins, or with email or Google account logins, as well. For more information about Seesaw, see Seesaw.me and join/follow the Seesaw Teachers facebook group. Sample screenshots follow.
Fig. 1 Teacher’s view of a student’s portfolio entry (“artifact”). In this case the entry is a video with student-typed comments. Teacher has tagged a skill and approved the entry. Parent has seen this entry.
Fig. 2 The Skills View allows teacher to track student progress. The numbers in the blocks refer to the number of artifacts tagged with a specific skill. The colors refer to the continuum of proficiency: red = one star; yellow = two stars; light green = three stars; dark green = four stars Fig. 3 Sample badges that the teacher may put in the students’ “Badges” folder. Badge categories include Apps, Coding, Design/Build, Research, Textiles, and Tools. (These badges were made by Nan Stifel.)