(cc) Photo by mrhayata via Flickr
I enjoyed the process of creating an ePortoflio specifically for this course. After my second course, I began the task of putting together an eportfolio for my experiences within the program using WordPress. That definitely helped with the though process behind planning a site like this was still fresh in my mind. It also helps that I am a big fan of WordPress and pretty familiar with its interface and features. I have used it in my personal and professional lives with a wide range of purposes and applications (e.g. sites for anniversaries, business, personal blog, classroom websites, etc.). It is hard to believe that it is a free open source application and with such a devoted community base. If anything, I found the challenge here was to create a site where I did not have accessibility to some of the tools that I do on my own server such as plugins and the web selection of free themes.
Web design for me is an outlet that allows for problem solving and an expression of creativity. Once I got the layout drawn out (I still like pencil and paper for these – go figure) with what I thought were the main components based on the assignment details, I moved on to recreating them online. I decided to create 2 main post categories and linked them to the horizontal menu which basically treats them as separate blogs with out the need to create those. The menu also provides links to the Flight Plan assignment, RSS feed for entries on this site and a link to a contact form.Users can access info in two clicks either by horizontal menu or via widget on home page showing most recent posts from either the reflections or artifacts sections.
On the home page, I decided to add RSS feeds, as they are a course topic, and used them to give peers a a border sense of who I am with access to my educational technology blog and my MET portfolio. I included my Twitter feed for similar reasons as I use Twitter mainly for professional reasons but occasionally give some insight into my personal activities and interests.A YouTube video was created and embedded with hopes that it would also give visitors a personal greeting with a brief professional overview, orientation to the site and give a sense of who I am which I find difficulty to do with text alone. They could follow the YouTube link to my account and browse my use of this media in education as well.
Now onto completing my flight path…
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I am an Educator living in Quispamsis, New Brunswick Canada. Currently, I am seconded from my Grade 5 class at Island View School to the position of Educational Support Teacher – Technology in the Southern Anglophone School District. Technology has been a common thread throughout my careers in education and community services. Now I am fortunate to be able to use my enthusiasm for integrating digital technologies into my teaching pedagogy and share those experiences with others in my district.
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