After reading Dr. Barrett's article and analyzing her ten research-based principles of Assessment for Learning, I decided that the sixth principle, "AFL should take account of the importance of (and foster) learner motivation," represented the tenet that most closely correlated with my personal philosophy. I am currently reading a novel for educators by William Glasser entitled, Control Theory in the Classroom, and one of the initial ideas that Glasser writes about is the necessity of student motivation for active learning. By definition, Assessment for Learning is a "process of seeking and interpreting;" thus, the entire foundation of understanding this principle is based off of educators realizing the process is both active and reflective. However, all the effort in the world on behalf of the educator will not amount to much unless the educator can find a way to successfully motivate and foster self-motivation within the learner. I have found in my first few weeks of teaching that the toughest battle in the classroom is not teaching the content or disciplining my students... it is simply inspiring them enough to be self-motivated to complete the task at hand. Essentially, in order for educators to guage student learning, knowledge, and success by way of AFL, they must equally understand the impact of their teaching methods on the motivation levels of their students.
First of all, and Dr. Barrett highlights this point in her article, in order for any significant amount of potential for electronic portfolios as tools for AFL to be recognized, educators and learners must understand the electronic portfolio has to represent an on-going process. Electronic portfolios will be of little to no value to an active learning process if they are simply constructed for the sake of construction. Rather than completing an electron portfolio for the purpose of a collection of work and data, these portfolios should represent ever-changing reflections of the student's process of learning. Dr. Barrett points out that the first characteristic an effective AFL electronic portfolio is that the learner and educator agree upon the purpose of the portfolio. I find this tenet to be clearly indicative of any type of potential for electronic portfolios as learners are given the freedom, and conversely- the accountability, to dictate what the portfolio will mean to their learning career. Personally, I would love to see some type of online database that houses an expansive and detailed electronic portfolio for every student in the district. Not only do I teach English I, but I am also the campus 504 coordinator for Winnsboro High School, so an electronic portfolio database that houses both information from educators and students that details how each learns would make my job much more meaningful. Ultimately, the potential that I see for electronic portfolios is accomplishing what educators have desired for so very long... a concrete, yet tranforming, roadmap of each student's academic and personal progression that replaces impersonal data, test scores, and charts.
In the past, I have not practiced efficient portfolio habits as Dr. Barrett would probably suggest. I have not taken an active and on-going approach to documenting and analyzing my own learning. However, by formulating an AFL portfolio for my own learning process, I believe I will retain much more of the skills that I practice.
I'm most certainly in agreement about having a way to track progress that transcends the typical charts-and-figures method. Students, in my opinion, will be more open to learning if it is, in fact, personal, and not just something that is required and expected of them.
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