The Electronic Portfolio

While portfolios are commonplace in education, the term portfolio is used to describe many things. There is the teacher portfolio, student portfolio, presentation portfolio, assessment portfolio, professional portfolio, and more. Whatever the specific focus, the materials in a portfolio need a container. Before technology, portfolios were largely paper-based and housed in things like three-ring binders, folders, or cardboard boxes. Technology has enabled students, teachers, and professionals to create portfolios in the digital domain using a wide variety of software and hardware tools. Common tools for creating electronic portfolios include word processors, databases, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, digital media capturing and editing tools, and web authoring tools such as Adobe DreamWeaver and Adobe GoLive. In addition, there are commercial ePortfolios products such as TaskStream and Angel Learning that centralize the portfolio process. Using tools that allow for the inclusion of text, graphics, photographs, audio, and video add a deeper dimension to a portfolio’s content and purpose, and give the creator the flexibility to reorganize or redesign the portfolio at any time.

The Importance of Electronic Portfolios in Music Education

Developing an electronic portfolio has many advantages for the music education student. Structuring a portfolio around a set of goals or standards related to specific proficiencies allows students to document their personal and professional growth. An integral component in the development of a portfolio is one in which students articulate and reflect upon their accomplishments. This reflection directs attention towards a collection of evidence, also known as artifacts, that directly demonstrates who they are, what they know, what they can do, and what they value. The process of collection and reflection ideally encourages students to become more actively involved in planning and taking responsibility for achieving their own educational goals.

NoteTaker: What is it and What Can it Do?

One aspect that is crucial to the successful implementation of electronic portfolios lies in the ease with which a student can collect samples of their work, reflect on their performance and achievements, and assemble it all in a meaningful, comprehensive format. While the use of technology enables a portfolio to provide a richer representation of a student’s work, the demands on both skill and time challenge even the most responsible student. Therefore, tools that are easy to learn and use serve to bolster student initiative.

In the Music Education department at Berklee College of Music, students are using a program called NoteTaker as a container for their electronic portfolios. Each entering student is required to purchase the Berklee Laptop Package, which includes an Apple Macintosh PowerBook laptop computer, an M-Audio Oxygen 8 keyboard controller, and an array of music and productivity software, including NoteTaker, which comes pre-installed and configured for the Berklee environment.

NoteTaker is a unique productivity tool with a powerful feature-set that allows users to organize information using a notebook metaphor. On the surface, NoteTaker is very easy to use and looks and functions similarly to a spiral bound notebook. You can page through it, or open up to a particular section by clicking on a tab. Each notebook starts with a Contents tab. As you add sections to a notebook, a new tab appears along the right side of the notebook, along with a numbered page entry in the Contents tab. Each section can contain as many pages as necessary, and likewise, each page can contain as many entries as necessary. Each section, page or entry can easily be moved at any time, and all text formatting functions as you would expect.

There are a number of features that set NoteTaker apart from your typical word processor. Although too numerous to mention here, I’d like to highlight some features that make it a useful and flexible tool for education and portfolio development.

A NoteTaker entry can contain of any number of media file types, including:

• text (.rtf) • graphics and photographs (most formats, including -.tiff, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, and .png)

• audio (.aiff, .mp3, .m4a, .wav)

• video (.mov, .avi. mpeg4)

• Flash animation (.swf)

Adding media to an entry is a simple drag and drop procedure. Students can easily add audio and video recordings of microteaching and conducting activities, PDFs of lesson plans and scores, and other assignment artifacts. Reflections and self-evaluations can accompany each artifact on every page, and there is no limit to the length of any page entry.

Any web link can be added to an entry, including an RSS feed, and NoteTaker will display the web page inside the notebook in an embedded browser, allowing for citing and displaying live, interactive web page entries within the portfolio notebook. NoteTaker’s MegaSearch tool allows the student to post a search query to Google, Teoma, Yahoo, and MSN, and collect the results in a separate notebook. Relevant pages from the search can be extracted and put into the portfolio notebook, or the search notebook can be linked to the portfolio notebook.

Along with text, students can use their laptop’s built-in mic and NoteTaker’s voice memo tool to create audio recordings of their reflections, self-evaluations, class presentations, or performances right inside their notebook.

NoteTaker also provides the user with the ability to share notebooks in two important ways. The first is through the PDF file tool. A single page, a range of pages, or the entire notebook can be saved as a PDF with the click of a button. In addition, any notebook can be saved as a Web notebook and published on the Internet. The web site will include any images, sound files, text, movies, and links that were contained in the original notebook. These features allow students to easily share all or part of their portfolio with anyone, no matter what kind of computer they are using.

Implementing Electronic Portfolios using NoteTaker

The Berklee College of Music music education students begin their portfolios from a customized NoteTaker file that includes a section for each course in the Core Music Education curriculum and a page for all required artifacts for each course. This template file is posted to the Music Education Department web site so that students can download a copy at any time. Other relevant materials for the portfolio are made available to the students on a class-by-class basis.

here is a screenshot:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/1391430953_5bb86d04c5.jpg

The skill development for creating a media-rich portfolio are covered in the two required technology courses, and online materials and tutorials have been developed so that students will have easy access to technical help.

There are a few caveats to using this system for portfolio development. First, technology can fail. Student laptops get stolen, fall off a desk or out of a backpack, or fall apart from overuse. In addition, students need to be responsible for storing and backing up their work, and must be diligent in keeping their portfolios up-to-date. But the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. The nature of the portfolio process fosters independent and self-directed learning. NoteTaker’s ease of use, flexibility, and powerful feature-set gives students the freedom to focus on the content and quality of their work and allows them to develop a sense of ownership and confidence as they see their accomplishments accumulate and their abilities deepen.

Electronic Portfolio Resources

Notetaker is just one of many tools that can be used for electronic portfolio development. There are many other suitable tools that will allow your students to develop rich representations of their work and who they are as people. However, the most important aspect of putting together a portfolio lies in determining the goals and purpose of the portfolio. The tools used for developing and designing a portfolio are simply a vehicle for the process. There are plentiful resources on electronic portfolio development, both on the Internet and in print, that can help you or your students get started. Do a Google search or an Amazon search for electronic portfolios and you will find myriad web links and book titles. Another good place to start is by visiting the work of Dr. Helen Barrett. Dr. Barrett is a major proponent of using electronic portfolios to support lifelong learning, and her work has guided and influenced portfolio development across a wide spectrum of ages, beginning with early childhood, through K-12 and higher education, to professional teaching portfolios. Her Expert Showcase on the Apple Learning Interchange web site is a great introduction to her extensive work, as well as her web site. While Dr. Barrett’s work does not specifically focus on music education, her vast contributions to the field of multimedia and electronic portfolio development are invaluable resources for anyone designing electronic portfolios.

In addition, there are many excellent examples of electronic portfolios that have been implemented in other music education programs. The following universities have established electronic portfolio requirements for their music education majors, and each site offers resources that are useful for electronic portfolio development:

• Center for Excellence in Music Education – Ball State University

• University of Florida School of Music

• Case Western Reserve University Music Education

The benefits of an electronic portfolio for music education students are many: the process of developing a portfolio is one that enhances the student learning experience and strengthens educational goals; it serves as a dynamic record of student growth and progress; and will motivate students to do their best work.