Toy #2: ePortfolio Tools

Breaking Through the Confusion

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."--Hans Hoffman

This week, I am diving into the concept of ePortfolios with this quote in mind.  At the minimum, success would be to rule out which platforms I feel would NOT be effective for me or my middle and high school students to use to create our ePortfolios and to learn more about portfolios through the process.

Explore: What site/software should I use to create my ePortfolio?

• Google Apps: A quick Google search led me to this super cool article about using the Google Apps bundle to create your ePortfolio. 
• Negatives: Seems way too complicated. I would have to master way too many different individual sites (like youtube.com, Google Docs, Blogger, Google Sites, etc.) to compile my portfolio. 
• Positives: All of the applications are free. No worrying about limitations or being bugged to "upgrade." Also, way Google is well-established and likely to be there years from now as I add to my portfolio across my career.
• Other Uses (Affordances): I would probably choose this grouping of sites to create my personal eportfolio because I am already familiar with all of the different apps and trust the Google brand. Although more complicated, this approach would be great for my older students as well because they would get exposure to so many different apps.
• Weebly: A neat WYSIWYG website creator. Great premium options. Popular with educators.
• Negatives: Certain features are only available to paying users. Fees range between about $3-$6/month. I was instantly frustrated by not being able to figure out how to "undo" my last action. Also, within five minutes, I'd already click on a feature I wanted to add, but it's only for paying members.
• Positives: Lots of different templates (although not nearly as customizable as Blogger); well established site
• Other Uses (Affordances): Great site for teaching basic web design to my students since it has detailed videos available for each step of the site planning process.
• Foliofor.me: Randomly chosen free eportfolio tool
• Negatives: Still waiting for the site to send me my login information. Seems like a bad way to start.
• Positives: The site is allegedly free. Can't add other information since I still can't log in
• Other Uses (Affordances): Can't tell since I still (hours later!) have not received my login information from the site after signing up

Create Something:

My Weebly: Toni L. Harrison-Kelly ePortfolio (starter pages)

I chose Weebly because it is a one-stop-shop and seemed easy to use. However, once I actually got into creating my eportfolio, I ran into numerous small but annoying issues (e.g., not being able to resize a photo, getting used to the drag and drop format, etc.). That said, I still think Weebly will be simpler for my middle school students to use. I can always allow my high school students to choose between the two approaches.

Question to Ponder: Have you tried any online eportfolio approaches that did NOT work? If so, what were the issues?