Early+Childhood

ePortfolios in the Early Childhood setting are designed to build upon ‘a strong interest in community and engaging parents in their children's learning’ (Ministry of Education, 2010). ePortfolios are seen as having the potential to strengthening these ties and facilitate communication and learning between the centre and home, and between children and adults. These benefits are also recognized in the greater intent of the Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whariki, in New Zealand. It states (1996, p. 9), “ Each community to which a child belongs, whether it is a family home or an early childhood setting outside the home, provides opportunities for new learning to be fostered… Children learn through collaboration with adults and peers, through guided participation and observation of others, as well as through individual exploration and reflection.” Traditional paper based portfolios have had a long association within the early childhood sector. Cohen (2006) describes four benefits of using portfolios;  · A means of communication between teachers, children, parents and family  · Involving students in reflecting on and understanding their own needs and strengths  · Teachers are more informed with where students are at and can plan learning appropriately  · A record of progress over time. In case studies examining how eportfolios were implemented into two centres (Ministry of Education, 2010), these benefits were also recognised and expanded upon. Moving from traditional to digital eportfolios built on the benefits of portfolios and additionally highlighted some further advantages but also a number of possible implications that needed to be considered. The benefits for the students included a greater interest in literacy, increased interste in other children’s learning resulting in conversation with peers and teachers, making decisions about what learning is included, personalising the look and feel of the portfolios and the immediacy of seeing and reflection on learning and events. Teachers also gained significant advantages such as strengthened relationships with families, purposeful learning conversations with parents, transparency of teaching practice and the use of multimedia giving a greater picture of events and learning. Similarly, parents were clear on the effect the use of eportfolios had on them. Discussed were how eportfolios made them feel more connected to the centre, increased emotion with their child’s achievements, the ability to go back and revisit learning, being able to share achievements with other family members and having a greater understanding of how learning is achieved over time. As the move from traditional to digital portfolios has taken place so has the movement from standalone software use for eportfolios, such as PowerPoint, transitioning to make use of online Web 2.0 solutions such as blogs. As a result of this one implication that is discussed is the need for teachers to become knowledgeable in cyber safety to educate and protect young children as they begin crating their online digital footprint. The Rotorua Girls High School Childcare Trust (nd., p. 12) recognises this need, ‘as we were now aware this was essential practice to creating a safe online presence’. In the video below, Sue Genefas, lead teacher at the Rotorua Girls High School Childcare Trust discusses the strategies used to protect the students at her centre as they implemented eportfolios as well as unpacking the journey of discovery from conception to realisation. Video source: http://edtalks.org/play.php?vid=219