My Competencies • Dr. Helen Barrett's Electronic Portfolio

Electronic Portfolios • Digital Storytelling • Technology • Teaching and Instructional Design

Electronic Portfolio Competencies

This is my collection of artifacts that are selected to demonstrate specific competencies in portfolio development knowledge and skills. I have been researching, presenting and writing about electronic portfolios since 1991. This collection shows the growth in my thinking about electronic portfolio development between 1991 and 2004.

Apple Learning Interchange Exhibit on Electronic Portfolios
I developed this Expert Exhibit on Electronic Portfolios for Apple Computer as an Apple Distinguished Educator. I was flown down to Apple's office in Austin to record the video clips, which I am not very pleased with the results. Some day I will redo the whole exhibit, with new video clips.

My Website on Electronic Portfolios
This is my web site on electronic portfolios in education. I started working on this website in 1995, on the server that I set up for the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Education. I bought my own domain names in 2000, and have been updating it ever since. You might say that this web site contains the archive of my professional work in electronic portfolio development since my research started in 1991.

My 'Blogger' blog
I started to experiment with blogs in the spring of 2004. Within a couple of months, this blog has been highlighted on several lists of recommended educational blogs. I have enjoyed writing in this blog, to use it as a way to explore my own thoughts and reflections on my experiences. As a result of writing in this blog, I am experimenting with other tools, as well, to see how various blogging software would work to construct e-portfolios.

Digital Storytelling Competencies

The QuickTime movies below provide examples of digital stories that I have created over the last three years. I attended the Center for Digital Storytelling workshop in January 2003, and have been exploring the practice since then. I have designed and delivered workshops to help Teacher Education students and faculty to develop digital stories as reflective artifacts in their electronic portfolios.

Family Portfolios and Digital Stories
These documents contain portfolios developed with my granddaughter for her Kindergarten, First and Second Grade years. The digital stories for K & 1 are reflections on the year. The digital story for 2nd grade is her autobiography written as part of a school project. The "Dad" story is the project we created at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

Prepare for a Digital Storytelling Workshop (.mov)
I created this digital story to help participants prepare for a digital storytelling workshop.

Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Learning (.mov)
This narrated slide show presents the content of my article posted at http://electronicportfolios.org/digistory/epstory.html This presentation looks at technologies that are engaging for students to foster intrinsic motivation, specifically digital storytelling.

Choices - A Digital Story of Learning (.mov)
Seventh grade provided one of my most vivid memories of learning. I have made sense of this experience with a reflective digital story. Reflecting back on that learning experience as a professional educator, I realize that the problem was not with me, but with the assignment. What a difficult task I was given... it takes time to build those synapses in the brain. Memorization has its place in learning, but I didn't derive the true meaning of the poem I had to memorize until much later in life.

Technology Competencies

These artifacts represent my skills in multimedia development and web page authoring. I have developed a CD-ROM using Adobe Acrobat and QuickTime movies. In addition, there are Digital Stories that are posted in another collection, and my web site which showcases my knowledge and skills in electronic portfolio development.

At-a-Glance Guides
Common Software Tools for Creating and Publishing Electronic Portfolios. These short guides were developed to support the stages of electronic portfolio development, from the collection/digitization process, through the selection/reflection construction/hyperlinking process to the final publication process. I developed these guides as part of the Apple Learning Interchange Exhibit.

CD-ROM-based Handbook
I developed a CD-ROM in 2002 to use in workshops and to sell on my website. I made a major revision in the spring of 2004, adding Digital Storytelling to support deep learning.

Using Adobe Acrobat for Electronic Portfolio Development
This paper outlines Adobe's Portable Document Format as the ideal container for electronic portfolio reflections connected to digital artifacts, describes the software environment, and then describes the process for converting digital artifacts from many applications into the Portable Document Format, and maintaining a cross-platform, web-accessible, hyperlinked digital portfolio. I received an award at the SITE 2001 Conference as "Best Technical Paper."

My "Online Portfolio Adventure"
I started this project when I had no trips scheduled in the month of September 2004, and I decided to recreate my portfolio with different tools. I started with the Maricopa Community College tool. I have links to each portfolio, where they are accessible, and to the tool provider.

Creating ePortfolios with Web 2.0 tools
This newest web page, with a variety of examples and “How-To” instructions, provides guidance to creating ePortfolios with online-only tools.

Teaching and Instructional Design Competencies

These documents were selected to showcase my competencies in teaching and instructional design. I have developed and delivered workshops on electronic portfolio development, from three hours to three days, and most have been evaluated through my PT3 grant. I have also developed a set of two-day workshops on electronic portfolios and digital storytelling for a major technology company.

Descriptions of presentations and workshops available
These are descriptions of the presentations and workshops that I have developed.

Workshop Outlines on Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling
These two-day workshops were developed in the winter of 2004 for a major technology company. The Digital Storytelling workshop was piloted twice in 2004 through my PT3 grant. The evaluation report from Rockman et.al. demonstrates the success of the first workshop.

Distance Courses on Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling
I developed this series of courses on electronic portfolios and digital storytelling, which were piloted with Wichita State University in 2003 using Blackboard. The courses need to be updated, but can be offered using any web-based environment.

Professional Development for Implementing Electronic Portfolios
My most recent web page on my website, responding to requests by school districts for information on how to help teachers who need to support student electronic portfolio development. Includes Change theory, portfolio and technology skills assessments.

An evaluation of a workshop that I did in Arizona for Maricopa Community Colleges in 2005