JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE Interdisciplinaty Science, 2014, Vol 59, No 5, pp 158 164 This paper is available online at http //stdb hnue edu vn USING OPEN SOURCE PLATFORM MAHARA TO BUILD TEACHING E POR[.]
Trang 1Interdisciplinaty Science, 2014, Vol 59, No 5, pp 158-164
This paper is available online at http://stdb.hnue.edu.vn
USING OPEN SOURCE PLATFORM MAHARA
TO BUILD TEACHING E-PORTFOLIO SUPPORT MANAGEMENT
OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS
Do Thanh Toan
Department of Training, Hai Phong University
Abstract Professional development is a cornerstone for any reform efforts designed to increase teachers' capacity, and this is the key task of leveraging new fundamental and comprehensive educational reform in Vietaam Regarding the management of professional development of teachers, this paper focuses on the e-portfoHo as a technological platform to be used to manage the professional development of teachers One specific open-source system, Mahara, is used to illusttatethis idea
Keywords: Professional teaching development; teaching portfolio; e-portfolio
1 Introduction
Approved by the government, new, fiindamental and comprehensive reform of education is taking place national-wide in Vietaam One key task of reform groups is tae improvement of professional quaUfications, competency and skills of teachers in all levels of the education system The professional development of teachers is thought to
be critical for this task and this is confirmed by numerous stadies carried out around the world This paper does not look at the professional development of teachers per se but rather focuses on the e-portfoUo as a technological platform for the management of the professional development of teachers We use one specific open-somce system, Mahara,
to iUustirating this idea
2 Content
2.1 Professional teaching development and portfolio
Professional development is understood and described in different ways Joyce
et al ([1], p 6), for example, defined professional development as "formal and Received January 2, 2014 Accepted June 10, 2014
Contact Do Thanh Toan, e-mail address: dothanhtoan.dhhp@gmail.com
Trang 2informal provisions for tae improvement of educators as people, educated persons and professionals, as weU as in terms of competence to carry out their assigned roles." Gall and Renchler ([2], p 6) described professional development more specifically as "efforts to improve teachers' capacity to fimction as effective professionals by having them learn new knowledge, attitudes and skills." FuUan ([3], p 265) defmed professional development as
"the sum total of formal and informal leaming pursued and experienced by tae teacher in
a compelUng leaming envfronment under conditions of complexity and dynamic change."
In term of professional teaching development, MacLaren [4] identifies three main ttends that support and promote professional teaching development: accreditation, teaching portfoUos and reflective joumals Brockbank and MagiU (in Light & Cox
2001 [5]) note a fourth trend: reflective porffoUos, which combine featmes of teaching portfoUos and reflective joumals
'Accreditation' is shortaand for tae promotion of accredited leaming and teaching programs
Teaching portfoUos support these activities by aUowing academics to: i) document teaching practice, u) provide evidence of quaUty and a professional approach to development and iU) provide evidence in support of an altemative route to accreditation (rataer than undertaking formal qualifications in teaching and leaming), professional membership or postgraduate qualification
Reflective joumals are: i) maintained on an ongoing basis; they are never completed, ii) usually produced during a period of teaching (reflection-in-action), iii) personal and iv) often stractured by the individual maintaining the joumal (altiiough it may be that taey foUow an outUne or template)
Thus, while a teaching portfoUo provides evidence of teaching experience and expertise for a particular purpose (promotion, accreditation or quaUfication), a reflective joumal supports tiic continuous development of teaching practice
A reflective portfolio, on the other hand, focuses on the importance of reflective writing, but usuaUy also includes other media, such as artifacts used in teaching, flipcharts, presentation materials and feedback from smdents or teaching evaluation
By common concept, a teaching portfoUo is a coUection of evidence, and reflections
on that evidence, documenting yom teaching development and achievements PortfoUos are used for a number of purposes, including applying for promotion and awards As portfoUos for these purposes rely on a thorough and extensive coUection of evidence and reflection, it is a good idea to start developing a professional development portfoUo as soon as you begin teaching
2.2 Building an effective professional teaching portfolio
In [6,7], a professional development portfoUo can be developed in five steps:
t Develop yom personal teaching philosophy: yom teaching motivations can be
Trang 3summed up in a teaching philosophy which forms the basis of the portfoUo Seldin ([8]) recommends taat, when developing your teaching philosophy, you ask yourseff;
- What are yom beliefs about teaching?
- What are yom aims for stodents, and why are taese aims important to you?
- How do your actions as a teacher reflect your beUefs about teaching and leaming?
- What evidence wiU show taat yom actions reflect yom beUefs? (p 7)
« CoUect evidence: the evidence you collect should show the scope and quaUty of your teaching, and come fi^m a variety of somces It can include both ttaditional (e.g written documents) and electronic (e.g videos) media A review of somces that have influenced yom approach may be usefiil Evidence may include:
Background
Information
Presentations and Best
Papers
Teadiing Artifacts Reflections ( with itary)
Professional Documents
Resume
www
Homepage
- Background
information
on teaching
context
Background
information
on teacher
preparation
program
Involvement
in professional
organizations
- Community
service record
- Philosophy Statement
related to teaching
for understanding and
professional development
Personal Statement
describing reasons and
motivations for choosing
the teaching profession
- Goals and statement
regarding immediate and
future goals as an educator
- Analysis of curriculum,
teaching and/or student
learning Outiines of
formal presentations
Case stadies of stadent
leaming - Representations
of your use of technology
(e.g computer generated
teaching materials)
- Overview of unit goals and instmctional plan that represent teaching for understanding and professional development List of resources used Sample lesson plans Assessment tools Evaluation
of stadent leaming -Evidence of meeting individual stadents' needs Photographs of class projects or displays, discussions, bulletin boards
Sample stadent work -Reflective commentary and self-evaluation Feedback from colleagues
on teaching
Transcripts
- Letters of Recommendation
- Letters of Appreciation
- Awards and certificates
Hi Organize die evidence; professional development portfoUos can be organized in
a number of different ways Some examples of headings could include:
- Table of contents
- Teaching ptulosophy
- Teaching responsibiUties
-Goals
- Appendices
- sample course syUabi
Trang 4- Teaching materials
- Teaching metaods
- Innovative teaching practices
- Assessment of teaching effectiveness
- Awards
- course hand outs
- summary of stadent evaluations
- comments concerning supervision of graduate stadents
statements from peers on teaching effectiveness [6;5]
iv Write reflections on yom evidence: reflections help connect the evidence to
your teaching philosophy Yom reflections present the process you have undertaken to further understand and develop yom work as a teacher It incorporates both yom teaching philosophy and evidence into a single narrative
V Seek feedback from otaers and implement this into yom portfolio and practice: feedback from others will help you to edit and develop yom teaching portfolio and may give you ideas on how to extend yom practice It may be useful to work wita coUeagues who are also developing thefr portfolios and to work togetaer to develop and refine yom portfolios
•uNmatMuiva
SOCIOCULIVRM CONTexT
PROCESS PBISPECTIVE
Figure 1 E-portfolio functionalities in professional development
2.3 E-portfolio
Working Ufe envfronments are explored as an individual and social context for professional leaming Improvement of professional development activities and resomces, aimed at quality leaming research, is increasingly focusing on:
- web-based communities for leaming and communities of practice,
- e-portfoUo as a leaming tool for assisting reflection in autiientic coUaboration
Trang 5The traditional portfolio has limited options of flexibility, coUegial and group work, all of which significantly contribute to the success of an individual at learning and development The role of leaming context, societal and cultural environment in an individual's leaming was emphasized by theoreticians of sociocultural constructivism (Vygotski [9])
Among the more estabUshed forms is the e-portfolio, which has the functions
of valuation, presentation and development in the educational process and professional development of a teacher Eigure 1 shows E-portfolio functionalities in professional development [10]
2.4 Mahara as an e-portfolio for professional development
Portfolio
1 ' '
IJLLH
0
•
Figure 2 Portfolio work with Mahara
Mahara is two things: an e-PortfoUo and a social networking system combined
An e-Portfolio is a system in which teacher can record "evidence of professional development" such as essays, artwork or other things they produce that can be stored digitaUy Such things are known as artifacts in Mahara
The other feattires taat Mahara provides are file repository, a comprehensive blogging tool, social networking and a resume builder which allows users to create digital CV's by entering information such as: contact and personal information; education history; certifications, accreditations and awards; books and pubUcations, professional memberships; personal, academic and work skiUs; and personal, academic and career goals
With Mahara, you conttol which items and what information witain yom portfoUo other users see Such items and information are termed artifacts To facilitate this access conttol, aU artifacts you wish to show to other users need to be arranged into one area
In Mahara this compilation of selected artifacts is caUed a 'page' You can have as many pages as you like, each with a different number of artffacts, intended purpose and audience Yom audience, or the people you wish to give access to yom page, can be added
Trang 6Artefects Pages Groups
Media teachers
Figure 3 Maham framework
as individuals or as a member of a group It can even be made pubUcly available For example you could create:
- a page for your friends and family taat includes hoUday photos and a personal joumal
- a page for yom totor, which includes assessments and yom reflective joumal
- a page to showcase your best pieces of work and yom resume for promotion
3 Conclusion
This paper inttoduces the concept of professional teaching development as a process supported and promoted by professional teaching portfoUos that, in turn, can manage the process of tiie professional development of teachers as weU It shows how to bmld
a teaching portfoUo, and the content and organization of evidence within the teaching portfoUo It then desoibes the coimection of professional teaching development witii e-portfoUo and iUustrates the open-source e-porffoUo system of Mahara that fits the teaching portfoUo This is a design guide to setting up a specific teaching portfoUo used
to manage the professional development of teachers
REFERENCES
[1] Joyce, B R., Howey, K., & Yarger, S 1976.1.S.TE Report! Palo Alto, CaUfomia:
Stanford Center for Research and Development in Teaching
[2] GaU, M D., Renchler, R S et al., 1985 Effective staff development for teachers: A
research-based model (ERIC) CoUege of Education, University of Oregon
Trang 7[3] Eullan, M., 1995 Professional Development in Education: New Paradigms and
Practices (Guskey, T & Huberman, M Eds.) New York: Teachers College Press
[4] MacLaien, I., 2005 New trends in academic staff development: Reflective Journals,
teaching portfolios, accreditation and professional development In Emerging Issues
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[5] Light, G & Cbx, R., 2001 Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: The
Reflective Professional Sage Publications, London
[6] Rodriguez-Earrar, H.B., 2006 The Teaching Portfolio: A handbook for faculty,
teaching assistants and teadiing fellows (2nd ed.) Providence, RI: Brown University
[7] National Centre for Tfeaching and Learning Massey University, New Zealand
Prcfessiorml development portfolio
[8] Seldin P., 2004 The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved peifbrmance
aitdpromotional/tenure decisions (3rd ed.) Bolton, MA: Anker
[9] L S Vygotsky, Mind in Society, 1978 The Development of Higher Psychological
Processes London: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press
[10] Andreja Istenic Starcic, 2008 E-portfolio for prqfessiorutl leaming community
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ADVANCES in ENGINEERING EDUCATION Issue
7, Volume 5, July 2008