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| Here's how student work was displayed to the world at High Tech High in 2014. The feature of "open access" has been turned off. |
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| Hover over the name of a school (High Tech High International) and you can select "HTHI Digital Portfolios" |
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| The HTH website in 2014 |
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| Click on a school's grade and you could see a list of "first name, initial of the last name" |
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| This link was kept PRIVATE. Students who wanted to "show the world" their portfolio had the option to make their links public |
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| Here's an example of a "public" student website. The student opened her work for the public to view |
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| The student didn't show much... |
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| There were two projects in the 10th grade |
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| This is the screen for this student's portfolio for the 9th grade |
Schools might consider the value of posting links to the sites created by students...
Why would High Tech High choose to turn off the links to individual student sites?
a) Quality of work
I have seen mispellings [this is intended] and typos. Student work would have to be monitored. It's just easier to keep the portfolios off of the general Internet.
b) Safety concerns
Some students might list a personal mobile phone number or a home address or show a photo that gave away facial features. It's easier to have no access" to student work and avoid the risk of lawsuits. "If the school had not allowed student work to be seen by the general pblic, then the pervert who attacked / kidnapped / targeted my child would not have had access to the information that allowed the pervert to get close to my child."
c) Copyright and plagiarism
"Hey, another student at another school stole my essay and submitted the work as his work."
d) Concerns of teachers who might have to re-make some questions ...
A student might post his final exam pages with the answers clearly shown.
High Tech High in 2017 does not display links to student websites. You can see the current display at hightechhigh.org click on "Student Work" and the link to "Projects"
Example of a project
A 6th grade project
Links to supporting documents
(who knows how long that link will be active?)
I heard that Abel received offers from four colleges for "full ride" scholarships for tuition ... His video has only 47 views and I was probably responsible for 20 of those views (since I showed the video to over a dozen students). It doesn't take many views to push a student to the top of a college's list of "who to let in."
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I wrote to Abel Thon and asked if he had a larger Digital Portfolio (DP).
He replied that he indeed has another DP, but he chose to display highlights in the DP that he showed to colleges.
I found a "larger" DP at TINYURL.com/ExampleDP. The images from Ben Staley's portfolios are posted on another post of this blog. CLICK HERE to see them.
You can see more examples here TINYURL.com/ExampleDPs
Start a Center for Projects, Portfolios in your school
"You will know our school better by looking at the work of our students"
Why would High Tech High choose to turn off the links to individual student sites?
a) Quality of work
I have seen mispellings [this is intended] and typos. Student work would have to be monitored. It's just easier to keep the portfolios off of the general Internet.
b) Safety concerns
Some students might list a personal mobile phone number or a home address or show a photo that gave away facial features. It's easier to have no access" to student work and avoid the risk of lawsuits. "If the school had not allowed student work to be seen by the general pblic, then the pervert who attacked / kidnapped / targeted my child would not have had access to the information that allowed the pervert to get close to my child."
c) Copyright and plagiarism
"Hey, another student at another school stole my essay and submitted the work as his work."
d) Concerns of teachers who might have to re-make some questions ...
A student might post his final exam pages with the answers clearly shown.
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| This is the "Student Projects" page in 2017 |
Example of a project
A 6th grade project
Links to supporting documents
- LanternProjectindividualresearchmindmappingformat
- Lantern Project Camp 3 Packet
- Camp 1 Lantern Packet
Why not go to this site and look at some projects? It appears that actual student work is not shown but the projects (and the features of the projects) are shown. Teachers at other schools could download these materials. This website clearly pushes the value of digital portfolios and projects to a new level by sharing the methods of HTH with the world.
Still, I would like to see student work. I have downloaded screenshots of parts of Abel Thun's website (made with weebly) and it is currently viewable at www.TINYURL.com/ABELSite
(who knows how long that link will be active?)
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| Add caption |
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| This is the heart of the portfolio... What did the kid do with the classwork? What internship did the kid choose? |
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| Would you click on this guy's resume? I would. I want to know more... |
I heard that Abel received offers from four colleges for "full ride" scholarships for tuition ... His video has only 47 views and I was probably responsible for 20 of those views (since I showed the video to over a dozen students). It doesn't take many views to push a student to the top of a college's list of "who to let in."
==================================================
I wrote to Abel Thon and asked if he had a larger Digital Portfolio (DP).
He replied that he indeed has another DP, but he chose to display highlights in the DP that he showed to colleges.
I found a "larger" DP at TINYURL.com/ExampleDP. The images from Ben Staley's portfolios are posted on another post of this blog. CLICK HERE to see them.
You can see more examples here TINYURL.com/ExampleDPs
Start a Center for Projects, Portfolios in your school
I hope that this post will attract attention of principals. The idea is to share with students the possibility of "how to display your work" ... Abel didn't show much school work. He showed reflections about what the work meant to him. The only original essay appears to be the essay about his internship (and the ABOUT ME page).
ReplyDeleteI hope more principals will be fearless and will display the work of their students
By the way, you can find more DPs at the High Tech High INDEX of portfolios at https://www.hightechhigh.org/digital-portfolios/ or the quick link of TINYURL.com/HTHindex
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