​

At the start of the course, we were tasked with developing an innovation proposal to bring meaningful change to our campus. After considering several ideas, I settled on the concept of e-portfolios. I chose e-portfolios because they allow students to exercise their voice and choice in an authentic learning environment. I created a call-to-action video that focused on giving our students the skills they need as 21st-century learners and helping them develop e-portfolios to serve as a differentiator when applying to colleges. I wrote an official proposal to the administration on implementing e-portfolios in my U.S. History course. I later changed to reflect the senior-level course where we created e-portfolios in the Entrepreneurship II class.

 

The next step was to develop an implementation outline to plan a timeline for completing specific tasks in my proposal. I had to make several changes to the timetable, primarily on creating the e-portfolios in the course and the timeline for data collection and sharing. However, this was a great practice of thoroughly planning the activities and thinking realistically about the time for each task.

 

In the 5317, we created a podcast on using e-portfolios in the classroom for the course. I did this in partnership with two of my peers, who each brought a wealth of knowledge in recording the podcast and editing the bite-mojo we used for the cover art.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

Several books challenged my thinking throughout the course and forced me to change my focus as a teacher. In the Growth Mindset, I took the phrase of "not yet" and made it a motto in my classroom and at home with my three boys. In Crucial Conversations and 4x, I learned how to have challenging conversations and how to hold myself and my team more effectively accountable to the department goals that we created.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

In creating our publication in 5317, the lingering question I faced was whether I had something meaningful to offer to the education community and if I knew enough about the subject to discuss the topic. Through reading other publications and the support of my peers, we created a publication that would benefit teachers considering using e-portfolios in their classrooms.

 

Finally, in creating my action research plan, I had to consider how I would evaluate the impact of my innovation proposal on students. I decided to use quantitative data in my student interview to create a more definitive case, supporting using an e-portfolio or another tool I used in the course. Since I would be sharing the data with my peers, I attempted to be impartial in the collection of data and allowed students to rate several learning experiences in the course while allowing them to rate each one individually.

​

Identify where are you in your innovation project? What if anything do you have to complete? By when? 

​

Currently, I am in the stage of the innovation project where students are creating projects that the students will later integrate into the e-portfolios they have made over the fall semester. Students have just started building their home page, where they discuss their vision and why they decided to create their chosen business. Students have also made their Lean Canvas, which is a shorter version of a business plan. The next step would be for students to fully put their e-portfolio together by adding several pages to their ep's. This would include information from their lean canvas and proposed business structure for the new business. I still need to collect the quantitative data from the students at the end of the semester in '24. This data will include a series of questions to gauge the effectiveness of e-portfolios and other strategies used in the course. 

 

The Learning Process 

​

It was difficult to plan for an outcome when I was unsure of what I was creating. This proved one of my biggest challenges in discovering what I wanted to do and how to present the information.

There was a significant learning curve in completing many course assignments and even simple tasks such as uploading documents to make my e-portfolio easier to read, eliminating the need for users to open a separate window to view them. Despite these difficulties, as I continued to work through the system, the big picture of my end goal started to form in clarifying moments and revisions of previous assignments.

I also had to adjust my proposal accordingly with my changing schools and the new role of teaching middle and high school students.

 

​What worked?

​

I was pleased with my student's efforts and willingness to try something they had never done before. I was also surprised by my administration's will to implement my innovation proposal in the class while directing me to other resources in the course. I'm already discussing implementing the e-portfolios in more business courses next year. Although I have made several adjustments to the implementation outline, it was a good starting point for me to plan the process.

 

​What could you do better? 

​

Looking back, I could have done a better job communicating the goals of e-portfolios to all involved parties. I should have shared more examples of completed projects and included student feedback about their learning process. Moving forward, I plan to enhance the process by adding a section to my e-portfolio where students can create video posts detailing their shared experiences and offer feedback to current students. Additionally, I aim to assemble a collection of how-to videos on creating e-portfolios and adding videos and documents to websites.

 

​What lessons have you learned?

​

Throughout this learning process, I have gained a greater appreciation for the role of the student, which has opened my eyes to the evaluation of assignments that I assign in my class and the connection to the larger course goal. I have also learned the value of great feedback. I often waited in excitement and stress as I waited for grades and the feedback that I received from my instructors. I found the input from Dr. Harapnuik's in the form of a video to be very helpful, and I implemented video feedback in some of my classes for significant assignments. Lastly, I was reminded of the joy of learning new things and seeing a larger vision come together. This lesson was more about me learning about myself and my honest interest in my career path. Going into this program, I wanted to pursue administration or digital instructional leadership, focusing on technology. However, after taking the classes in the ADL program, I learned that I'm interested in ed tech that focuses on professional development that is engaging and meaningful for teachers. 

 

​Plan to promote and communicate your innovation project?

​

 In the future, I would like to publish the article that I created in the 5317 Course on publishing and offer genuine insight to educators interested in using e-portfolios in the classroom. In addition to publishing the article on the use of e-portfolios in the school, I would also like to share my findings in a district PD session for business teacher in my county as an opportunity to create authentic learning environments in their classrooms. 

 

​What  would you do differently?  

In hindsight, I would have introduced e-portfolios more engagingly to help students understand their value and how they can benefit from them in the future, such as when applying for jobs or colleges. By sharing the feedback and data collected from my students' experiences, I hope to convince other staff members to incorporate e-portfolios into their classes.

 

​Future Innovation Projects

For my next innovation project, I will focus more on an identified and solvable problem for which my plan could provide a solution to students or teachers. Therefore, I would be more intentional in my approach to the problem and work backward to create a viable solution. 

​

​

​

​