e Port folio

O F A S T U D E N T

Experiences and ideas of Slovenian teachers

in International project European ePortfolio Classrooms (EUfolio)



ePortfolio of a Student

Experiences and ideas of Slovenian teachers in International project

European ePortfolio Classrooms (EUfolio)

Editor: Tanja Rupnik Vec, Ph.D.

Authors: Tanja Rupnik Vec, Ph.D., Leonida Novak, M.Sc., Vesna Gros, Petra Mikeln, Vesna Kodrič, Bojana Breznikar, Suzana Cvirn Guček, Tatjana Lotrič Komac, Simona Zobec,

Magda Dobršek, Sonja Bregar Mazzini, Tatjana Kreč, Valentina Mlakar, Katja Knific,

Maruša Bogataj, Marjetka Čas, Mojca Novoselec, Mitja Turk

Language revision: Vineta Eržen, M.A.

Publisher: The National Education Institute Slovenia

For the publisher: Vinko Logaj, Ph.D.

Editor: Alenka Štrukelj

Design: Suzana Kogoj

Published on line: http://www.zrss.si/pdf/eportfolio-of-student.pdf

First edition

Ljubljana, 2015

This booklet was created within the EUfolio project and with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.

This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana

37.091.26:004(0.034.2)

EPORTFOLIO of a student [Elektronski vir] : experiences and ideas of Slovenian teachers in international project European ePortfolio classrooms (EUfolio) / [authors Tanja Rupnik Vec ... [et al.] ; editor Tanja Rupnik Vec]. - El. knjiga. -

Ljubljana : The National Education Institute Slovenia, 2015

Način dostopa (URL): http://www.zrss.si/pdf/eportfolio-of-student.pdf

ISBN 978-961-03-0312-1 (pdf)

1. Rupnik Vec, Tanja

278667776

© The National Education Institute Slovenia, 2015

All rights reserved. Without the publisher’s written permission the material may not be reproduced, copied or otherwise distributed.

This prohibition applies to both mechanical (photocopying) and electronic (recording on and copying to any storage medium) forms of reproduction.

Table of Contents



Preface | 5

I.

ePortfolio as a tool for formative assessment



of knowledge and skills | Tanja Rupnik Vec, Leonida Novak | 7

1

EUfolio project | 9

1. 1.

1 1 Introduction | 9

1 1.2

.2 Slovenian pilot project | 10

1 1.3

.3 Developmental ePortfolio | 10

1 1.4

.4 Initial teacher training, further trainings and support



for ePortfolio implementation in Slovenian pilot schools | 15

2

Project evaluation | 19

2. 2.

1 1 Aims of the evaluation and the methodology used | 19

2.2

2.2 Results of the evaluation | 21

2.3

2.3 Conclusion | 29

3

Literature | 31

II.

II.

Examples of good practice | 35

1

ENGLISH: Communicative approach to teaching reading | Vesna Gros | 37

2

ENGLISH: Writing a book review | Petra Mikeln | 45

3

3

SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE, GEOGRAPHY, ETHICS, PHYSICS: Travelling to Australia |



Jožica Tratar, Slavica Balek Haddaoui, Breda Kerčmar, Sandra Vereš | 51

4

CHEMISTRY: Hardness and soft water | Vesna Kodrič | 59

5

5

CAREER GUIDANCE: Use of “My learning” in career guidance |



Bojana Breznikar | 63

6

6

SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE: Making a telephone conversation |



Suzana Cvirn Guček | 67

7

SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE: My portfolio | Tatjana Lotrič Komac | 77

8

NATURAL SCIENCE: The tree in three seasons | Simona Zobec,



Ivanka Federnsberg Turinek | 83

9

FOLK DANCES: Creating a new folk dance choreography | Magda Dobršek | 91

1 1

0 0

ETHICS AND HISTORY: Development of the voting rights



from the American revolution to the present days |



Sonja Bregar Mazzini, Tatjana Kreč | 97



1 11

1 PHYSICS: The pressure in solids | Valentina Mlakar | 109

1 12

2 GEOGRAPHY, ENGLISH: Apartheid | Katja Knific, Maruša Bogataj | 125

1 13

3 GEOGRAPHY: Problems of the modern world | Marjetka Čas | 133

1 1

4 4

MATHEMATICS: Using Math/finding Math in everyday life |



Mojca Novoselec | 145

1 1

5 5 HISTORY: Traces of Roman influence on the Slovenian territory |



Mitja Turk | 153



Acknowledgements | 161

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Preface

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ortfolio of a SeP

Dear reader,

this publication is a result of very intensive work and cooperation of a group

of Slovenian teachers, their students and the National Education Institute

team of experts. We have been one of the thirteen partners of the inter-

national EUfolio – EU Classroom ePortfolios project team funded by the

European Commission.

Our basic aim has been to support students’ learning and skill development

through the new information-communication technologies. We searched for

an answer to the following question: “How can I as a teacher support my

students in their planning, monitoring and evaluating their own learning

process, as well as in their assessing their knowledge and skills?”

5

This has been quite a big challenge since in our school culture students’

responsibility for their own learning is not clearly defined. We decided to

systematically involve our students in developing their sense of respon-

sibility and their taking control both of their learning process and of their

achievements. The developmental ePortfolio has proved to be just the right

approach and a useful tool to stimulate the desired change.

Our work and some of our insights are documented in this publication. We

are well aware of the fact that we have made just the first steps and that

a lot of further action will be needed to reach our overall aim: the change

of the school culture from being teacher-controlled to the culture which is

student-centred, that is, the culture where each student can be actively

involved in decision making about his/her own learning.

In the first part of the publication, we briefly introduce the theoretical frame

of our work and an interim evaluation of our project. In the second part

some of our teachers’ ideas and experiences with the implementation of

the developmental ePortfolio philosophy are presented. Each school team

has contributed an example of good practice. Let the examples speak for

themselves.

Tanja Rupnik Vec, Project manager





e Port folio

as a tool for formative assessment

of knowledge and skills

Tanja Rupnik Vec • Leonida Novak

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ative assessm

ortfolio as a tool for formPe

1 EUfolio project*

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1.1 Introduction

The European ePortfolio Classrooms (EUfolio) project started in May 2013

when thirteen institutions from seven countries combined their interest in

electronic portfolios as a tool for fostering students’ learning. In this article

we address two basic aims of the project: (1) to design ePortfolio models for

teaching, learning and assessment use, and (2) to apply valuable real-life

lessons for integrating the use of ICT (specifically the portfolio approach) in

teaching, learning and assessment processes. Cyprus, Ireland, Lithuania,

Slovenia and Spain are the piloting countries working with teachers and sup-

porting them in the processes of students’ ePortfolio implementation. More

about the project in general can be read at www.eufolio.eu.

This chapter includes an outline of the Slovenian experience with the im-

plementation of ePortfolio as a formative assessment tool, followed by a

description of the support provided (teacher training) and explanation of

some aspects of the project evaluation findings.

* This article was presented on ePIC ePortfolio and Identity Conference 2014, July 9-11, 2014 in London, UK.

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1.2 Slovenian pilot project

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The basic aim of the Slovenian pilot is implementing formative assess-

ment (or assessment for learning) of student knowledge and skills with

the support of the developmental ePortfolio. Through the process of

ortfolio of a S

ePortfolio implementation, teachers support their students’ self-regulation

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skills, their critical thinking skills (argumentation, working with resources),

as well as creativity, communication and cooperation. The participating

teachers’ developmental-research question was: “How to use an ePortfolio

to empower students to plan, monitor and evaluate their own progress at

different stages of their knowledge and skills development?

The key concepts and philosophy at the core of our work are based on re-

search findings about formative assessment (Wiliam, 2011, 2013, Clark,

2008, Black and Wiliam, 1998, Marsh, 2009, Komljanc, 2008), devel-

opmental and reflective electronic portfolio (Giannandrea, 2006, Ross in

Graham, 2006, Rupnik Vec in Stanojev, 2011, 2013), experiential learning

(Kolb, 1984), self-regulated learning (Zimmermann, 2001, in Pečjak and

Košir, 2002), and 21st century skills: critical thinking (Facione, 1998, Bowel

and Kamp, 2002, Marzano, 1988), cooperation and communication (Hattie,

2009, de Corte, 2013, Marentič Požarnik, 2000, Peklaj, 2001, Rupnik and

Celin, 2013, Devjak etc., 2009) and creativity (Seelig, 2012). All teacher

10

trainings, and consequently their work in the classroom are based on the

assumption that these concepts are relevant because they are based on

strong empirical evidence.

There are 15 schools participating in the Slovenian pilot project (13 up-

per primary schools with students aged between 11 and 14, and two high

schools with students aged between 15 and 19). Each school has formed a

project team consisting of about four to seven teachers, all of which imple-

ment the developmental ePortfolio in their classes (altogether 80 teachers

and one or two classes per school).

1.3 Developmental ePortfolio

Definition of developmental ePortfolio of a student

There are different terms and definitions of an ePortfolio in educational and

scientific literature. It can be described as a means of col ecting (formal

and informal) evidence of achieved knowledge and skil s for the purpose of

self-presentation (career ePortfolio or showcase ePortfolio). Grant (2005, in

Giannandrea, 2006) shows how definitions of an ePortfolio stretch between

d skills

more traditional and more contemporary views. In earlier cases ePortfolio used

to be defined as a means of col ecting formal proofs of learning. Contemporary

definitions conceptualise an ePortfolio as a description/demonstration of

learning paths, career, experiences and achievements. The basic aim of such

an ePortfolio is to improve student’s learning through the processes of self-

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reflection of his/her own learning and interaction with others.

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Barrett (2001, in Lambert, 2006) distinguishes between three basic aims

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of the ePortfolio in education – learning, assessment and presentation. A

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learning ePortfolio is formative in nature and is directed towards personal

development of students through self-reflection and self-evaluation. An

assessment ePortfolio includes students’ reflection on their school expe-

riences, activities and a selection of evidences, which demonstrate their

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skills development with the purpose of assessment. According to Barrett,

the third aim of ePortfolio is self-presentation for the purpose of searching

employment.

Baumgartner (2011) formed a taxonomy which distinguishes between 12

types of ePortfolios. The highest level of his taxonomy is represented by a

reflection, development and presentation portfolio. Each type can be further

subdivided, depending on who owns it (depending on its author). The two

ortfolio as a tool for formP

types of the reflection ePortfolio are a) personal portfolio (learning ePortfo-

e

lio), with the basic aim of knowledge and competences acquisition and b)

the organizational ePortfolio (assessment ePortfolio), focusing on evaluation

11

of knowledge and competences. The two types of the developmental portfo-

lio are a personal developmental portfolio (it supports development of stu-

dent’s personality) and a career portfolio (it is organizational and supports

professional career). The personal alternative of the presentation portfolio

is a demonstration portfolio, with the basic aim to demonstrate one’s own

products and competences. The organizational alternative of the presenta-

tion portfolio is a professional portfolio, with the main aim to demonstrate

business products and competencies. There is also the third level of dif-

ferentiation of ePortfolios, regarding the products and processes behind.

So, for example, an assessment portfolio can be summative or formative in

nature and a developmental portfolio can be a qualification portfolio (show-

ing results/products of skills and abilities) and a competence portfolio (e.g.

showing author’s self-organization and other competencies).

The concept of our (Slovenian) ePortfolio is based on the combination of all

three Baumgartner’s types of ePortfolios with a slightly stronger accent on

its developmental function (reflection being at the core of conscious and

planned self-development). For the purpose of our project aims, the devel-

opmental ePortfolio of a student represents a virtual learning environment

in which a student plans, monitors, reflects and evaluates his/her own work

and progress, particularly knowledge and skills. This definition is based on

the previous definition of a developmental ePortfolio of a teacher (Rupnik

Vec in Stanojev, 2013). The most important function of an ePortfolio, as we

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define it, is its developmental-reflective function, or its potential for support-

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ing self-development in planning, and for reflective and self-evaluative proc-

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esses of an individual. In this process an individual takes on the responsibil-

ity and cares for his/her own learning, progress and development, as well as

plans and implements it systematically. Besides, this process enables each

student to raise his/her awareness of his/her own learning needs, learn-

ortfolio of a S

ing styles, which enables the sudent to plan and monitor his/her individual

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learning path more efficiently.

Developmental ePortfolio as a tool for formative

assessment of knowledge and skills

Assessment for learning (AfL) includes two phases: diagnostic and formative

assessment. The latter should be based on a variety of information sources

(e.g. portfolios, work in progress, conversation, student-teacher conferences

etc.). (Sentočnik, 2012) According to Clarke (2008), formative assessment

is recognised as an important strategy for raising student’s achievement.

For the purpose of the Slovenian Eufolio project, AfL is defined as a group of

strategies (William, 2013) which focus on:

• participation of students in defining the learning purposes and deter-

mining the success criteria,

12

• building on students’ prior knowledge,

• providing effective feedback,

• collection of diverse evidence of learning,

• peer-learning as a source of learning and teaching,

• self-evaluation for self-regulation of learning.

One of the two general aims of the ePortfolio pilot in Slovenia is implemen-

tation of the assessment for learning (AfL) or formative assessment (FA)

principles using the ePortfolio, in which teachers encourage students to

self-evaluate their knowledge and skills. Doing so, students get an opportu-

nity to identify their strengths and weaknesses and then, considering their

findings, they specify their personal goals and success criteria in the context

of the goals set by their teachers. With formative assesment, knowledge is

built on student’s strenghts and his personal interests (Komljanc, 2008).

Student’s strong background knowledge can help reduce his/her weakness-

es and explore new knowledge. A student is directed towards a personal

goal, described as an expected result, adjusted to the curriculum standards

of knowledge (Komljanc, 2009).

For the purpose of ePortfolio creation and organisation of the above men-

tioned activities an open code application Mahara has been used with a

new feature, My learning marker, that was programmed and integrated into

its Slovenian version, following the AfL principles.

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The feature consists of the following five elements:

a) Aims of learning

Bandura (1997: 11 ) shows that emotions, effort, perseverance and learn-

ing affect an individual’s assessment of learning effectiveness. With this

ledge an

in mind, we can say that motivational factors and emotions have a major

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indirect influence on student’s learning achievements. Students should be

assisted in setting realistic goals. When the student internalises the goal

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that he himself has set, reaching this goal encourages his motivation. When

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students see how the goals are supposed to be set and eventually reached,

their self-esteem improves and they take on greater responsibility. Achieving

short-term goals helps the student gain a sense of self-efficacy. Komljanc

(2009) argues that personal goals offer opportunities for independent and

ative assessm

collective learning and performance outcomes respectively. To have maxi-

mum impact, success criteria must be generated by students (Clark, 2008:

93). Different tools and procedures for co-planning goals and success crite-

ria, such as sample case studies, discussions etc., can be used.

b) Prior knowledge

Planning learning goals needs to be focused on what students already

know, what they want to know (knowledge), what skills they want to de-

ortfolio as a tool for formP

velop (processes), and what learning strategies they will use (Clark, 2008:

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71). Activating prior knowledge should include (Pintrich, 2005): content

know-ledge ( What? – information, data, facts, concepts, schemes), proce-

13

dural knowledge ( Know how? – how to perform certain things) and aware-

ness of the circumstances ( When and how to use the content knowledge? ).

The options that are explored range from questionnaires, role plays, records,

reports about What do I already know?, check lists to group conversations.

c) Strategies

On basis of student’s prior knowledge, the teacher plans strategies and

methods of work. Students and teachers jointly select, plan, implement, and

evaluate instructional paths and approaches through which students can

attain the standards of knowledge – with the personal goal of the learner in

mind.

d) Evidence

The student considers ways of proving that the planned objective is achieved.

Through the process of learning and reflection, he assesses the proof of his

learning and identifies the goal reached.

e) Self-assessment

Teachers organise discussions based on students’ ePortfolios about their

achievements, which prove that the objectives were reached, so students can

choose the evidence they want to use for each goal. During the stage of self-

reflection, students use a variety of devices (cues, questionnaires etc.) and

receive feedback (from teachers, classmates). Options for implementation:

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anecdotal records, checklists, learning diaries/blog feedback, reflection and

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goal-setting diaries/blogs, questionnaires, reflective letters etc.

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Portfolio is a demonstration of student’s progress, achieved with quality

formative assesment of a teacher, parent’s encouragement and the use of

different sources and learning opportunities (Komljanc, 2009). During the

ortfolio of a S

assessment for learning (AfL) or formative assessment (FA) process, as we

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define it, teachers encourage students to evaluate their knowledge and

skills prior to portfolio introduction. By doing so, students get an opportu-

nity to identify their strengths and weaknesses and then, considering their

findings, they specify their personal goals and success criteria in the con-

text of teachers’ (curriculum) goals. Teachers organise discussions about

students’ achievements, which prove that the objectives were reached, so

students have the opportunity to choose the kind of evidence they want to

use for each goal. During the stage of self-reflection, students use a variety

of devices (cues, methods, questionnaires etc.) and feedback (from teacher,

classmates etc.) throughout all stages of the learning process. It is essential

the student receives feedback which is specific, descriptive, and relates to

the student’s intended goals. Checking their success against the set criteria

helps students to reorganise what they have done, and empowers them to

decide what they want to do on their way towards the learning goals and

success criteria (Sentočnik, 2012).

14

Mahara as a virtual space for creating developmental

ePortfolio

For the purpose of developing the full potential of our project work, we used

an open coded web application Mahara. It was developed in New Zealand

for the purpose of creating ePortfolios, and it suits most of the needs of our

project. Our programme manager upgraded Mahara with two new function-

alities: Questionnaires and My Learning marker. The latter directly supports

the formative assessment process and guides student’s thinking (e.g. about

an issue or a skill) through the following five steps: 1. setting goals ( What

are my goals? ), 2. activating prior knowledge/skills ( What I already know

about this? What am I already able to do? How good am I at this particular

skill now? ), 3. strategy setting ( How will I reach this goal? ); 4. evidence ( How will I prove that I have reached the goal? ), 5. self-evaluation, feedback ( How effective was I in reaching my goals? ).

d skills

1.4 Initial teacher training,

further trainings and support

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for ePortfolio implementation

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in Slovenian pilot schools

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Pre-implementation training and support

The pre-implementation teacher training and support program focused on

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the following three topics: developmental ePortfolio of a teacher, formative

assessment and 21st century skills.

Developmental ePortfolio of a teacher

A hybrid (half live and half on-line) seminar with the title Developmental

ePortfolio of a teacher was organised by the strategic team of the National Education Institute of Slovenia. The seminar attendance was a necessary

precondition for a teacher to participate in the EUfolio project team . The ortfolio as a tool for formP

decision to invite all the interested teachers to this initial seminar was based

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on the assumption that teachers’ experience in creating their own ePortfolio

would be very helpful in their grasping of the essence of the developmen-

15

tal ePortfolio as well as some other background theoretical concepts (for

example, assessment for learning, self-reflection and self-regulation skills),

and, later on, in planning, teaching and designing learning activities for their

students. The seminar was expected to have a strong positive impact on

teachers’ self-reflection and self-regulation skills.

The seminar consisted of three parts:

1. getting to know and understand the ePortfolio concept and consid-

ering the Mahara functionalities as one of the possible ePortfolio

platforms;

2. nine activities were organised in three groups, focusing on different

aspects of teacher’s professional role and professional development

(the first group of tasks, Me as a teacher, explored questions like Who

am I as a professional?, My philosophy of teaching, My strengths and

my weaknesses; the second group of tasks, My professional plans

and my professional learning, focused on topics such as My profes-

sional vision, My short-term goals, Learning from each other; and the

third group of tasks, My achievements and my successes, looked at

teachers’ formal achievements and e-competencies);

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3. exchanging ideas, reflecting on the seminar outcomes, using the critical

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friendship method regarding teachers’ early plans to use the ePortfolio

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in their teaching.

Teacher training for integration of formative assessment

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philosophy into ePortfolio

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As mentioned before, one of the two major aims of the ePortfolio pilot in

Slovenia is implementation of formative assessment (FA) principles in us-

ing the ePortfolio (Mahara). A one-day workshop was organised in order to

discuss the FA theoretical framework as well as to share examples of good

practice and exchange some of the initial ideas about how to support the

assessment for learning processes with the Mahara features.

As the Slovenian version of Mahara (www.listovnik.si) contains an extra feature My Learning tab , which was created with the specific aim of supporting the assessment for learning process, the main workshop challenge was to

discuss the possibilities of integrating this feature in the teaching and learn-

ing processes.

Teacher training for using an ePortfolio as a tool

for supporting (some of) the 21st century skills

The third very important aim of the Slovenian pilot is using ePortfolio as a tool

16

for enhancing some of the 21st century skills, in particular 1. self-regulation,

2. critical thinking (argumentation and working with resources), 3. creativity,

and 4. cooperation and communication skills. Two 6-hour workshops were

organised, focusing on each of these skills (eight workshops altogether). The

members of the school development teams chose to work on one of the

above mentioned skills and participated in both workshops. The first of the

two planned workshops, focusing on a specific skill, was implemented as a

pre-pilot activity, while the second one was run within the pilot stage. The

seminar programe was designed to cover the theoretical background (ex. 1) -

different theoretical concepts of each skill, and then focusing on one single

perspective; 2) examples of good practice – case studies, 3) putting the

skill in the context of FA and ePortfolio philosophy – using the My learning

tab in Mahara, 4) planning different strategies in motivating and support-

ing students to define their own goals, prior knowledge, learning strategies,

evidence and self-reflection; planning activities for a concrete curriculum

content and exchanging ideas.

Supporting teachers during the pilot implementation

During the pilot implementation the NEI staff supports teachers in two

ways: a. we organise regular meetings of school project team members with

a NEI consultant (each school has their own consultant) and b. we organ-

ise workshops to exchange ideas and teachers’ solutions and to enhance

their understanding and skills of using the ePortfolio in teaching. The basic

aim of these reflective meetings is to support teachers when things seem

d skills

complicated to them and to guide their thinking in the desired directions.

As integration of the theoretical background and concepts (developmental

ePortfolio, FA philosophy, explicit teaching of 21st century skills) proved to

be quite a complex task for the majority of the participating teachers, our

meetings with these small teams were organised on monthly basis.

ledge an

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With the aim of deepening teachers’ knowledge and skills in all the above

mentioned concepts (FA, teaching of skills, integrating both in using the

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ePortfolio), a number of workshops were planned. The following during-im-

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plementation workshops have been carried out so far: 1. intensifying the use

of Mahara and of some other ICT applications useful in teaching (Socrative,

Jing etc.), 2. How to use ePortfolio to support the development of students’

21st century skills? – exchanging teachers’ ideas.

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The teachers’ reports and materials, created in the first cycle (out of the

three planned cycles) of their teaching based on the Slovenian Pilot theoreti-

cal concept, are stored in the EUfolio web classroom (www.sio.si Eufolio).

Some of them are planned to be translated and accessible at the Slovenian

EUfolio web page in near future (in preparation at the moment).

ortfolio as a tool for formP

Future plans

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The ePortfolio as a part of the Slovenian pilot (with the Mahara platform) has

been conceptualised as a personal learning, reflective and self-assessment

17

space of an individual student in which he/she can plan, do, monitor and

reflect on his/her learning progress in different areas of knowledge and

skills. In other words, the Mahara platform has been used primarily for self-

reflection and self-regulation of single student’s learning. Cooperation and

sharing of the content has been made ‘subordinate’ or secondary to this

aim.

During the next stage of the Slovenian pilot, we want to test the Mahara plat-

form as a space for collaborative learning (as a web classroom), therefore we

plan another set of workshops and reflective meetings to successfully fulfill

this goal. Finally, we are planning to invite teachers to test the MS Office as

a platform for creating the ePortfolio of a student.

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2 Project evaluation

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2.1 Aims of the evaluation

and the methodology used

Our project evaluation aims at answering the following two questions:

a) How did the teachers experience their first-year of ePortfolio imple-

mentation?

b) How is the basic concept (formative assessment) reflected in teachers’

lesson planning? To what extent and how often do teachers plan to im-

plement the key concepts of the project (working with ePortfolio, the AfL

and the development of 21st century skills)?

With the first research question in mind, eight focus groups (33 teachers)

were interviewed. Each focus group included project team members from

one school. The interview was subdivided into the following five themes (dis-

cussion areas):

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1. Looking back

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2. The role of formative assessment in teaching

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3. Implementing developmental ePortfolio: strengths and weaknesses

4. Reactions of pupils

5. Challenges for the future.

ortfolio of a S

The exact questions for each theme are included in Appendix 1.

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With the second research question in mind, 40 learning design templates**

were analysed. Four times a year teachers uploaded their data in Moodle,

including their learning design samples. A sample of 40 lesson plans was

selected to be analysed. The sample captured the lesson design templates

of 14 different school subjects. All learning design templates included the

learning topics covered during a period of 3 up to 10 hours of instruction.

Teachers were recommended which basic elements to include in the learn-

ing design templates (i.e. learning goals and outcomes/activities and tasks

for learners, teachers, operations, tools, methods, and expected learning

outcomes). Along with the learning design templates, accompanying rubrics

with defined areas of assessment criteria and descriptors were designed.

The outline of the learning design templates included the elements related

to the three essential concepts of the project (working with ePortfolio, the

20

AFL and students’ development of 21st century skills).

We were particularly interested in finding out whether the stage when school

teachers include ePortfolio is evident in their lesson plans. Besides, we re-

searched which components of ePortfolio teachers most frequently choose,

the extent to which they systematical y plan the integration of the principles of

AfL, as wel as how intensively and systematical y teachers integrate evaluation

of the development of 21st century skil s in their learning design templates.

The formative assessment component checklist focused on checking teach-

ers’ approaches (as well as presence or absence) to activating students’ pre-

vious knowledge, goal-planning and determining success criteria, designing

learning strategies, collecting and assessing evidence of learning and self-

evaluation. In addition, we checked if feedback was included in all stages,

who provided feedback and what the planned feedback was directed at.

The elements observed in relation to ePortfolio (Mahara) were the following:

frequency and diversity of involvement of blogs, diaries, forum, My Learning

tab, use of Mahara as a virtual classroom etc.

Integration of the 21st century skills was observed by looking at evidence

of involvement of My learning tab in a particular skill development as well

** The term learning design template refers to teachers’ lesson planning focused on learning.

d skills

as by looking at evidence of alignment between formative assessment, the

methods designed, and the taget skills.

The collected data made it possible for us to observe frequency of integration

of the essential elements in the development of the project design, assess

ledge an

the purposefulness of ePortfolio implementation in education, evaluate the

ow

impact of the formative assessment approach, have insight into intermedi-

ate results of the project implementation, and plan objectives for further

t of kn

education of teachers.

en

ative assessm

2.2 Results of the evaluation

2.2.1 Focus group interviews

The overarching question addressed by the focus group interviews was: How

did the teachers experience their first year of ePortfolio implementation?

ortfolio as a tool for formP

Looking back

e

The first group of questions aimed at teachers’ conceptions of formative

assessment and ePortfolio before they entered the EUfolio project.

21

The analysis of teachers’ responses shows that they either have no knowl-

edge at all or that they have very superficial knowledge or that they have just

different concepts about formative assessment and ePortfolio (in compari-

son to ours). In two focus groups some teachers understand the formative

assessment as a teacher’s document:

“I understand formative assessment as a notebook

in which I record student’s mistakes. Student are not

actively involved in the process.”

In case they are familiar with the idea of ePortfolio, they define it as a col-

lection of learning proofs and results (showcase ePortfolio). Some of the

teachers intuitively used some elements of formative assessment (feedback

as an example). Here are two examples of teachers’ reflections:

“I regularly give feedback and suggest some students

with learning problems how to improve their learning,

but I have never done this systematically.”

“I used formative assessment when I worked with students

with special needs in the sense that I supported analysis

of their work and mistakes and planning the future steps.”

t

Similarly, they also didn’t teach the 21st century skills systematically and

den

explicitly before starting the project. Seven out of 33 interviewed teach-

tu

ers said that they didn’t pay any attention to the chosen skill. Seven did it

occasionally.

At the start of the project, the biggest challenge was the use of ICT (men-

ortfolio of a S

tioned by eleven teachers). Teachers faced various challenges such as hav-

eP

ing difficulties starting with assessment for learning, time management,

making sense of using ePortfolio for children and integration of all the new

concepts (ICT, formative assessment, explicit teaching of 21st century skills).

None of the participating teachers used ePortfolio to support formative

assessment or 21st century skills before. Some teachers did use Moodle

classrooms and other ICT tools but not as a tool for formative assessment or

skill development.

The role of formative assessment in teaching

The second group of questions focused on the actual concept of formative

assessment (FA). We were originally interested in potential changes of teach-

ers’ attitudes towards the phenomenon. We asked them about their percep-

tion of the role of formative assessment after a year of implementation.

20 out of 33 interviewed teachers see formative assessment as a very im-

portant process with the crucial aim to support student’s self-regulation of

22

his or her work, learning and achievement.

Here are some quotes from this section:

“ FA is something that I must develop further. It’s

a challenge for me, I want to make it really become alive

in my teaching. It’s something that I believe in with all my

heart, because it helps children to control their learning.”

“It’s important. It’s becoming my style of teaching

and I want to transfer the idea into other non-project

classrooms, too.”

“For me the FA is planned learning with a view backward

and forward.”

“ The point of FA is the change in teaching and learning:

students are active, they learn to learn, they are

independent, more critical, more responsible and hard

working.”

“FA is a tool for empowering children. It would be great if

our system supported it from the beginning of schooling.”

d skills

Eight teachers find self-reflection the most important element of formative

assessment. Five teachers believe that all elements are equally important.

The rest of the answers include other categories: planning strategies of

learning, raising awareness of prior knowledge, getting and giving feed-

back and goal setting. Nobody mentioned cooperative designing of success

ledge an

criteria.

ow

Implementing developmental ePortfolio: strengths

t of kn

and weaknesses

en

The next theme was ePortfolio implementation: the strengths and weak-

nesses. In most project teams teachers invited children to Mahara and en-

gaged them in some fun activities: create an interesting profile, chat, form

groups. They introduced Mahara as a social network:

ative assessm

“Mahara is like Facebook. … We will socialise with each

other, share things and learn in this web setting.”

The biggest challenge was Mahara itself, as was argued by nine teachers.

Five teachers explicitly stated that even after one year they have some dif-

ficulty using it. Teachers in two project teams have changed the perspective

and can now see the benefits of ePortfolio even though they thought at the

ortfolio as a tool for formP

beginning of the project that they would abandon it and use just (the non-e)

e

portfolio as a FA tool:

23



First team:

“ePortfolio is fine. FA can be without ePortfolio, but we will

implement it in future in lower classes. We are going to

start without the e-version, on paper maybe, but in higher

classes we will definitely use ePortfolio.”



Second team:

“At the beginning we saw the ePortfolio as a real obstacle,

for us. FA process was more important. We decided

that FA will stay and ePortfolio will go away after the

project. But now we see how precious it is. We will keep it

definitely in the future.”

For four teachers ePortfolio is not so important, but for the rest it is quite

important because it stimulates some new processes in the classroom (giv-

ing feedback, reflection, goal setting, motivation of students, a student is

more active, teaching is more student-centered). Nine teachers mentioned

My Learning feature in Mahara as a really useful function to direct students’

thinking throughout the whole learning process and to support self-regula-

tion of their learning. Following the FA process systematically is mentioned

as the biggest change in their teaching (12 teachers). Here are some exam-

ples of teachers’ responses:

t

dentu

“We follow the phases of formative assessment

systematically and we involve children throughout

all stages.”

“Children work more autonomously, they set goals and

take responsibility for their learning. That was absolutely

ortfolio of a S

not true before.”

eP

Teachers differ also in their specific goals in the project. In three teams

teachers wanted just “to survive”, for them “/…/ the integration of all new

concepts was really a challenge”. Seven teachers specifically wanted to co-

create goals and success criteria with their pupils and they were successful

at this, one of them wanted to work on feedback and one wanted “to pass

more responsibility for learning to the child.” All teachers with specified goals

mentioned that they want to continue developing these new skills. Seven

teachers are very proud of the fact that they can use My Learning feature

successfully with their pupils. They are also proud of their own learning in

the project:

“I’m proud of my learning, I progressed from cycle to cycle.

After the third cycle in Mahara I feel really good.”,

24

“I’m proud of the fact, that in this project I stepped out

of my daily routine in the classroom.”

Reactions of pupils

The responses of children to FA and ePortfolio (Mahara) varied from rejec-

tion to enthusiasm, but the majority finally accepted the tool. Some were

enthusiastic about Mahara at the beginning, but later some technical prob-

lems demotivated them. Nevertheless, as teachers told us, the use of My

Learning feature is now becoming a routine:

“Motivation also depends on the kind of activity

and on how it progresses throughout the cycle.”

“Children become better in their ability

to articulate things.”

Challenges for the future

The last interview theme focused on teachers’ views of the future. The most

frequent answer (9) was: “We want to spread the idea of FA and ePortfolio

in other classrooms.” Seven teachers want to use Mahara also as a web

classroom, other seven of them want to use My Learning feature more sys-

tematically. Examples of other answers reflect specific insights and learning

of teachers:

d skills

“I noticed how giving constructive and specific feedback

is important for children. I want to improve my skill

of giving strong feedback.”

ledge an

ow

“I want to be more flexible and to learn how to consider

and build on children’s prior knowledge in my lesson

design.”

t of kn

The last question was: If you could influence educational policy in your coun-

en

try, would you support the idea about obligatory/mandatory ‘top down’ im-

plementation of formative assessment and ePortfolio? In all project teams

teachers support obligatory implementation of formative assessment,

though not necessarily with support of ePortfolio:

ative assessm

“ePortfolio should be optional.”

“Before obligatory implementation of ePortfolio

we should give it more meaning.”

ortfolio as a tool for form

“Our syllabuses are too full of themes and facts.

For ePortfolio implementation we should get rid

P

of unimportant content and then, ePortfolio: yes!”

e

25

2.2.2 Analysis of teachers’ learning design templates

The overarching question addressed by the learning design template analy-

sis was: To what extent and how often do teachers plan to implement the

key concepts of the project (working with ePortfolio, the AFL and the devel-

opment of 21st century skills)?

Integration of elements of the formative assessment process

in the learning design templates

40 teachers’ learning design teplates were analysed. We found out that

the majority of teachers whose learning design templates were analysed

(table 1) included elements of formative assessment. Differences among

teachers can be traced in all phases of instruction. A more detailed analysis

shows that 31 teachers checked students’ prior knowledge, the remaining

9 teachers didn’t. Planning goals with the students was indicated in 39 out

of 40 cases. Somewhat fewer lesson plans include learning strategies (25).

Fewer than half (19) templates indicate teachers’ collecting evidence of

learning and considering it as evidence of progress. The great majority (39)

of teachers included an element of self-evaluation in their lesson designs.

We noticed that 31 teachers explicitly planned giving feedback about chil-

dren’s work (results). Teacher to student feedback is the most frequently

t

planned kind of feedback. Fewer teachers (15) planned the exchange of

den

feedback among students (peer feedback). Teachers rarely planned giving

tu

feedback on prior knowledge, skills and learner’s progress. In the templates

that involve feedback, it aims at addressing goals and strategies (9) and

collecting evidence of learning (9).

ortfolio of a S

Table 1:

eP

Criteria and descriptors for the analysis of learning design templates

in terms of AfL

Area of

Frequencies

evaluation

Criteria

Included

Not included

Prior

knowledge

INCLUDED: 31

NOT INCLUDED: 9

Planning

goals and

success

INCLUDED: 39

NOT INCLUDED: 1

criteria

Planning

stretagies

INCLUDED: 23

NOT INCLUDED: 18

26

Evidence

of learning

INCLUDED: 19

NOT INCLUDED: 21

AfL

elements

Self-

evaluation

INCLUDED: 39

NOT INCLUDED: 1

Feedback

Evidence

of feedback

YES: 31

NO: 9

Who?

teacher to

learner to

learner = 28 learner = 15

learner to teacher = 0

Prior

Planning

Evidence

On what?

knowledge

goals and

of learning

Skill

Progress

= 3

strategies

= 9

= 1

= 0

= 9

The analysis of the learning design templates from the point of view of

formative assessment, shows that teachers recognise the importance of

each element, while the greatest emphasis is placed on planning goals,

strategies and self-evaluation. Prior knowledge is included, though teach-

ers do not plan the analysis of the results which would determine students’

prior knowledge and which would be essential for further learning process.

d skills

Teacher-to-learner feedback is planned more often than peer feedback.

With their planning, teachers show that feedback is more frequently di-

rected to the learner’s plan and to the gathered evidences than to the

process and progress.

ledge an

Integration of ePortfolio (Mahara) functions

ow

in the learning design templates

The analysis of data shows that teachers largely rely on My Learning tab (in

t of kn

35 out of 40 cases) (table 2). Forums and blogs are quite frequently planned.

en

Lessons planned with the Mahara as a cooperative learning environment were

not detected in the observed cases.

Table 2:

ative assessm

Criteria for the analysis of lesson plans in terms of frequency of ePortfolio tools

Area of

Frequencies

evaluation

Criteria

Included

Not included

Blog

INCLUDED = 6

NOT INCLUDED = 34

Forum

INCLUDED = 10

NOT INCLUDED = 30

ortfolio as a tool for formPe

ePortfolio

My learning tab

INCLUDED = 35

NOT INCLUDED = 4

tools

27

Mahara as a virtual classroom

INCLUDED = 0

NOT INCLUDED = 40

Other: Files

INCLUDED = 19

The analysis suggests that My learning tab was a far most frequently used

ePortfolio tool. We believe the results reflect thorough preparation of teach-

ers for integration of the AFL elements in working with ePortfolio. In addition,

Mahara allows implementation of teaching and learning processes in the

form of a virtual classroom, which the teachers involved in the project did

not use before.

Integration of elements of the 21st century skills

in the learning design templates

Four out of 40 templates include the development of 21st century skills,

i.e. through the My Learning tab (Table 3). Teachers rarely (4) report using

My learning tab in order to support the development of the target skill. The

methods used are designed to support the target skill development. For

example, creative writing, evaluating and questioning were used to support

the skill of critical thinking (6), solving problems and creating new cases sup-

ported creativity (4), collaborative learning and pair work were used to de-

velop cooperation and communication skills (4), while working with sources

and using quotations helped students at working with resources (3).

t

Table 3:

den

Criteria and descriptors for the analysis of lesson plans related

tu

to skills development

Area of

Frequencies

ortfolio of a S

evaluation

Criteria

Included

Not included

eP

My

Learning

– self-

YES = 4

NO = 36

regulation

of skill

AFL

aimed at

developing

YES = 4

NO = 28

skills

Critical

Working

Creativity

Cooperation &

thinking

with

communication

resources

Creative

Resource use Solving

Group work

21st

writing,

an open problem Collaborative

28

century

real-life

Working

(2)

learning

skills

problems

with

(4)

The

(2)

resources –

Creating a voice/

method

citations

Dance accom-

used to

Evaluation

(1)

paniment/

develop

(2)

choreography

skills

(2)

Questioning

(2)

Work

with text (1)

Round

Table (1)

The analysis of the learning design templates shows that, rather than the

development of skills, teachers’ most frequent target in the formative as-

sessment and ePortfolio implementation processes is My Learning tab.

ePortfolio is quite effectively included in the planning, as it allows teachers

to keep track of the key elements of formative assessment. Since the major-

ity of cases show lack of careful planning or evaluation of students’ progress

d skills

in skill development, more emphasis on explicit teaching of the 21st century

skills will be necessary in the future. The areas we will need to work on are

teachers’ perception of the role of students’ prior knowledge, their ability to

identify and evaluate students’ prior knowledge, peer feedback and more

thoughtful skill development, supported with ePortfolio. In the future the

ledge an

project will be directed towards closing these gaps.

ow

t of kn

en

2.3 Conclusion

It is evident that some changes in teaching are being introduced by Slovenian

ative assessm

EUfolio teachers this year. From the NEI staff perspective, most of the re-

ported changes are relevant and related to the aims of our project. Firstly,

all the teachers have implemented some elements of formative assessment

(as reported in the interviews and as it is evident from their learning design

templates). Secondly, all the teachers organised activities for their students

to create some elements of ePortfolio in a virtual classroom at least four

times. This means that about 350 Slovenian students have their own ePort-

folios with some content (and so do all our teachers, but it’s not the topic of

ortfolio as a tool for formP

this article). 350 students have completed My Learning tab at least three

e

times (in Mahara and, occasionally, on paper), and have some experience

with self-regulation of their own learning. This is quite an important experi-

29

ence for both our teachers and our students, as in Slovenian school culture

the responsibility for learning is not clearly defined. In fact, teachers often

take too much responsibility for students’ learning (they control every child’s

move and push them to work and learn) and, as a result, students take

less responsibility for their learning as well as for the achieved results (they

wait to be pushed and attribute guilt for their failure to teachers). Therefore,

one of the most relevant, though not articulated, goal of our project is to

influence this tacit culture-related assumption. We believe that formative

assessment with the help of ePortfolio is a strong tool to help us reach the

goal. Our project, of course, is only just beginning: one year is certainly not

enough and one project with a limited number of teachers involved is not

enough either. It might take some time, but we are convinced it is worth the

effort.

t

den

Appendix 1

tu

Focus group interview – examples of questions

Looking back

How did you understand the concept of formative assessment before enter-

ortfolio of a S

ing the EUfolio project? What were the biggest challenges for you at the

eP

beginning of the project? How did you experience your start …?

The role of formative assessment in teaching

What is your perception of the role of formative assessment now, after

a year of implementation of ePortfolio as a FA tool? What, in your opinion,

is the heart of FA? Which element of formative assessment process is the

most important from your perspective?

Implementation of developmental ePortfolio - strengths

and weaknessess

How did you introduce ePortfolio? What did you say to children, how did you

explain the benefits of doing that? What was most challenging at first? What

makes using child’s ePortfolio easier for you? What makes using child’s

ePortfolio more complicated for you?

Reactions of pupils

30

How did pupils react? What are they keen on? What they don’t like regarding

ePortfolio?

Challenges for the future

What are your plans for the future? What do you want to try out? What

will you certainly not do in the future regarding formative assessment and

ePortfolio?

d skills

ledge an

ow

t of kn

en

ative assessm

ortfolio as a tool for formPe

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ortfolio as a tool for formPe

33





Examples

of good practice

1 ENGLISH:

Communicative approach

to teaching reading

Vesna Gros, Primary school Polje, Ljubljana

Subject

English

Learning Design Title COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING

TOPIC: READING

Year group

Grade 6 (average age: 11 years)

Language

English and Slovenian

ples of good practice

Duration

One cycle (about 15 lessons: cca 5 lessons in the computer room, other lessons

in the classroom + home study)

xamE

Students:

Goals

ž	enhance reading comprehension skills; prepare for the national examination;

accomplish the English reading badge (EPI + Bookworms).

After having filled out the My learning tab in Mahara (about how students

plan organizing and monitoring their learning throughout the cycle), students

are familiarised with the reading comprehension task types at the national

examination. They do some examples and write a reflection on how they felt

during task completion. Then they practise different reading strategies with

the teacher to see if this can help them get better results. At the same time,

Concise description

they are encouraged to read more – some of the books for the reading badge

of the content

are read in class, some at home. Reading comprehension tasks are done in

class, book reports at home. Afterwards, students create ads for their favourite

books by using paint programme. As a follow-up, Mahara mini blogs (the so-

called ‘views’) can be created by students to present a book. Finally, the exams

(both the reading badge and the national examination) are taken and students

fill in the questionnaire about their reading habits, reading abilities, possible

improvements and results.

37

Keywords

reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading badge

Methodology

group work, project work, individual work

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, internet literacy, creative thinking

ž

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

ž

Google Docs – a free, web-based word processor, a spreadsheet program,

ICT tools used

and a presentation program

ž

embedding – inserting media into a text document, forming

a compound document

Students:

ž

fill out the My learning tab,

ž

do the reading comprehension tasks and reflect upon them,

Students’ activities

ž

practise reading strategies,

ž

read books from the reading list,

ž

take part in the reading badge competition,

ž

reflect upon their achievements,

ž

create ads and Mahara blogs (views) for a chosen book.

Other

Website

t

dentu

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

ortfolio of a SeP

Materials

during

‘My

A tab in the on-line

activities

learning’ tab E-portfolio (Mahara)

Slovenian

An AfL tab in Mahara,

where students plan their

own learning (teacher

can comment on it) with

the help of the following

questions:

Setting the goals

What is my goal?

What do I want to achieve?

Prior knowledge

Students’

What do I already know?

artefacts

Appendix 1

Slovenian

What can I already do?

Strategies

38

How can I achieve my goal?

Evidence

How will I prove that I have

achieved the goal?

Self-evaluation

How successful have

I been?

Have I reached my goal?

Example:

Setting the goals

What is my goal?

What do I want to achieve?

Answer the following

questions:

Teacher can provide

Which books do you want

to read?

Optional:

questions to help students

scaffolding

(especially younger

How much time do you want

Slovenian

questions

learners and first-time

to dedicate to reading?

Mahara users) develop

H

independence in planning.

Do you want to read more

in English? If so, what kind

LISG

of books?

N E

What's your target result

at the national examination?

What are you aiming at

in terms of your final grade

in English?

os/videos

National examinations

http://www.ric.si/preverjanje_

ples of good practice: 1

from previous years

znanja/predmeti/tuji_

tation phot

(available on-line);

jezik2/2011120915240948/

xamE

Implemen

other tasks prepared

by the teacher;

Other:

It is a bryllyg day, and the

slythy togs go to school.

books from the reading list. The lesson is about gyres and

gimbles. At mimsy o‘clock

Materials

they eat mombles for dinner.

for practice

And the mother grabes the

of reading

grass before she goes to bed.

English

compre-

(adapted from a text by Lewis

hension

Carroll)

39

1. What is the weather like?

2. Who goes to school?

3. What do they learn

at school?

4. When do they eat dinner?

5. What do they eat for dinner?

6. Does mother slithe

in the evening?

Ad for

Students create

Appendix 2

English

a book

advertisements in the ICT

room by using the Paint.

os/videos

‘My

Students learn how

Appendix 3

English

favourite

to create and share views

http://listovnik.

tation phot

book’ view

in Mahara, exchange

sio.si/view/view.

comments and constructive php?t=l1gUQW2JHM3NiIkhfytc

feedback, embed different

materials (youtube videos,

Implemen

images, word and ppt

t

documents …).

dentu

ortfolio of a S

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

eP

Description

After overcoming some initial obstacles with reading comprehension

(very poor results with some students, frustration due to lack of

understanding, little enthusiasm for reading in English), the students felt

relaxed and also showed great enthusiasm for the reading badge

(the whole generation passed the Bookworms reading badge and

What went well

51 % took part in the EPI reading badge competition).

The self-evaluation form showed that 66 % percent of the students read

substantially more during this period and they also reflected upon what

they had read. 81 % of the students agree that their vocabulary has

expanded noticeably since the beginning of this school year thanks

to reading.

As some students have really poor ICT skills, we spent a substantial

amount of time on the basics (such as creating a profile, managing

What did not go well

an e-mail account etc.), while others were really quick at grasping

everything – with a lot of differentiation on the part of the teacher

40

needed.

1. Creation of Mahara views and embedding of videos, images, etc.

really encourages creativity and students greatly enjoyed the activ-

ity. It seems that if the teacher is willing to learn and show enthusi-

asm for ICT, so will the students.

Lessons learnt

2. Results at the national examination are partly dependent on how

well students are familiarised with task types and can, to some

extent, be improved through practice (even though the student’s

English remains more or less at the same level).

3. Students will read more only when told to do so by the teacher.

APPENDIX 1

Example of a student’s learning plan – Reading

Postavljanje ciljev/Setting the goals

What is my goal? What do I want to achieve?

I will do the EPI reading badge.

I will start to read more.

I will achieve good results at the National Examination.

I will read thicker books in English.

I will put together a reading list of books I want to read.

H

Predznanje/Prior knowledge

LIS

What do I already know? What can I already do?

GN

I have read in English before, e.g. Toy Story 2.

E

I read required school reading, but I also read for pleasure.

I usually read sci-fi novels.

I also like adventure and funny books.

I read about 50 books a year.

I don’t read newspapers.

I read my favourite magazine Bravo.

Strategije/Strategies

ples of good practice: 1

How can I achieve my goals?

xam

I will create a reading schedule.

E

I will talk to my sister about books.

I will buy books that people recommend to me.

I will read books of different genres.

I will ask my teacher for help.

I will use a dictionary.

Dokazi/Evidence

How will I prove that I have achieved my goals?

I will write down the list books I‘ve read on the internet (Goodreads).

I will do the reading badge.

I will achieve good school grades and good results at the National Examination.

My vocabulary will expand.

41

Samoevalvacija/Self-evaluation

Self-evaluation was done by using a questionnaire, created with Google Forms, available

at: https://docs.google.com/a/ospolje.si/forms/d/1YXaTBzpgw0cwJR5vpwov3TOR-

JNAM3icxJ2XqMhardc/viewform



APPENDIX 2

Digital advertisement for Student’s favourite book

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

42



APPENDIX 3

Mahara view: ‘My favourite book’

H

LISGN E

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

43

2 ENGLISH:

Writing a book review

Petra Mikeln, Primary school Polje, Ljubljana

Subject

English

Learning Design Title WRITING A BOOK REVIEW

Year group

Grade 9 (average age: 14–15 years)

Language

English and Slovenian

One cycle (six to eight 45-minute lessons: two/three in the computer room,

Duration

others in the classroom + home study – reading a book and writing a review) –

lessons should not be consecutive, enough time should be allowed for students

to read a book and write a review.

ples of good practice

xam

Students:

E

Goals

ž

develop reading skills and improve their reading comprehension,

ž

know the characteristics of a good book review and can write one,

ž

develop the skill of planning and evaluating their own work.

The aim of the cycle: each student reads a book in English and then writes

a review, thus improving their reading and writing skills, while at the same time

constantly reflecting on their work.

After a lead-in into the cycle (a questionnaire about reading habits and creating

memes), students discuss success criteria for writing a book review. Having set

Concise description

the criteria, students then set their goals and write their learning plans

of the content

(‘ My learning’ tab in Mahara). Then they start to read the book each of them has

chosen, and at the same time fill out a reading diary and regulate their work and

improvement. In the meantime they get familiarised with the structure of a book

review and learn useful phrases and vocabulary during English lessons. When

they finish reading, they write their book reviews, create a cover or an ad for it

and publish both as a page/view in Mahara. At the end they reflect on their work

by filling out a questionnaire.

45

Keywords

reading skills, writing skills, book review

Methodology

Students worked as a group and individually.

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking

ž

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

ž

Google Docs – a free, web-based tool to create web questionnaires (among

ICT tools used

other things)

ž

Meme generator (http://memegenerator.net/) – a free program for designing memes (a modern form of communicating one's opinion, combining a picture

and a short text)

Students:

ž

fill out a questionnaire about their reading habits,

ž

create a meme expressing their attitude to reading,

ž

take part in setting success criteria for a book review,

ž

create their learning plan (fill out ‘ My learning’ tab),

t

Students’ activities

ž

read an English book of their choice (at least 40 pages long),

ž

fill out a reading diary,

dentu

ž

write a review of the book they have read,

ž

create a cover/ad for their book and create their own page (view)

about their book,

ž

fill out a questionnaire, reflecting about and evaluating their work.

ortfolio of a S

Other

eP

Website

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Page/view for

https://listovnik.

Materials during

the students

A view/page

sio.si/view/view.

activities

(guiding them

English

through all the

in Mahara

php?t=NyxMhd-Q82tasuf-

steps of the cycle)

CrePI6

Memes created

by students

Pictures

Appendix 1

English

46

AfL tab in

Mahara, where

Students’ artefacts

A student’s

lesson plan

students plan

Appendix 2

English

their own

learning

A student’s book

View/page

review and cover

in Mahara

Appendix 3

English

Implementation

photos/videos



Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

Most of the students liked the creative aspects of the cycle and enjoyed

creating memes about reading and covers for their books.

What went well

Since they could choose a book of their liking (the only limitation was

the minimum number of pages), most of them actually read the book.

Students needed a lot of encouragement and a lot of help when discussing

and setting the success criteria, and when filling out their learning plans –

What did not go well

they are still not used to taking control of their own learning. Because of that

we were pressed for time and students had to create their views alone at

H

home.

LISGN E

ž

More time should be allowed also in the classroom (computer room as well)

for students to work on their pages/views, so that they could ask for help

Lessons learnt

and also get feedback from the teacher and their peers.

ž

Students should be given the possibility of a choice more often.

ž

Students like expressing their opinions in creative ways.

ples of good practice: 2

xamE

APPENDIX 1

Examples of students’ memes

47



Vir slik: http://memegenerator.net/ (učenci so sami generirali slike)

APPENDIX 2

Example of a student’s learning plan – Book review***

Postavljanje ciljev

What is my goal? What do I want to achieve?

My goal is to read faster and understeand more.

I want to write a good book review. I don't want to tell too much in it and really focus

on the content.

Predznanje

t

What do I already know? What can I already do?

I don't read much in Slovene. I have read a couple of books in English but they

dentu

were not as long as that one. But I do read news about Showjumping in English every day.

I'm not writing in English a lot. I only write in English iat school.

Strategije

How can I achieve my goals?

ortfolio of a S

I can achive them by reading a book carefully and by considering what I have said

eP

to myself to do.

I can read some other book reviews to see how to do it and then do my best at writting.

Dokazi

How will I prove that I have achieved my goals?

By knowing some new words and understeanding the story.

By getting a good grade and being satisfied with my work.

Samoevalvacija

How successful have I been? Have I reached my goals?

I did understeand a story and get to knew few words.

I don't know yet.

48

*** Predstavljeno je originalno besedilo dijaka brez popravkov.



APPENDIX 3

Example of a student’s book review

H

LISGN E

ples of good practice: 2

xamE

49

3 SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE,

GEOGRAPHY, ETHICS, PHYSICS:

Travelling to Australia

Jožica Tratar, Slavica Balek Haddaoui, Breda Kerčmar, Sandra Vereš,

Primary school Šalovci

Subject

Slovenian language, Geography, Ethics, Physics

Learning Design Title

TRAVELLING TO AUSTRALIA (Interdisciplinary learning unit)

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13–14 years)

Language

Slovenian

ples of good practice

xam

Duration

Five 45-minute lessons (two lessons in the computer room, other lessons

E

in the classroom)

Students:

ž	learn how to apply knowledge and use classroom task procedures as well

as skills in a new, real world situation connected to different subject areas

Goals

in a logical context,

ž	develop critical thinking skills by formulating questions and their own

arguments,

ž	evaluate the credibility of the available sources,

ž	improve their literacy.

Students create their own learning plan in the Mahara learning environment

following the steps of formative assessment. They fill in the My learning

Concise description

tab where they activate their prior knowledge, set their learning goals and

of the content

incorporate them into the cross-curricular goals, find strategies to achieve

the goals, collect evidence, evaluate their work, give feedback to peers etc.

Searching the web, they find appropriate data and design a travel brochure

51

using their text editing knowledge and skills.

Keywords

ePortfolio, e-learning environment Mahara, cross-curricular connections

Methodology

group work, individual work, cooperative learning

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking

ICT tools used

Mahara, Microsoft office – Word, Internet

Students:

ž

activate their prior interdisciplinary knowledge by brainstorming, e.g.

about natural and cultural sights of Australia, religions etc.,

ž

fill in the rubrics of the My learning tab in Mahara

ž

look for and gather necessary and useful data, practising critical evaluation

of the sources,

Students’ activities

ž

prepare and design a travel brochure (group work),

ž

present their product (oral presentation),

ž

interview the opposite team about their work (practising question formation

and argument presentation skills),

ž

give peer feedback on oral presentations; the feedback is based on the jointly

set success criteria,

ž

reflect on their own learning progress,

t

ž

evaluate both their own work and the work of their schoolmates.

dentu

Other

Website

ortfolio of a SeP

52



Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Brochures by different

travel agencies, books

A tab in the

https://listovnik.sio.

on Australia, web sites,

on-line

si/user/sinba/za-

‘ My learning’: a collage

E-portfolio

javnost

of photos documenting

(Mahara)

Materials during

the learning process,

activities

Slovenian

success criteria,

reflection stems (Looking Scan of the

back, Looking forward)

reflection

Scan of a student’s

Reflection stems for self-

stem ‘ Looking

ePortfolio page

S

forward’

IC

evaluation

in Appendix 1

YSH

Student’s personal

A student’s

https://listovnik.sio.

, PS

learning plan: My

view in Mahara

si/user/ninaozvald/

IC

learning in ePortfolio

za-javnost

TH

Y, E

ples of good practice: HP

Rubrics of My learning

Scan

Scan of a student’s

AR

Students’ artefacts

(key strategies of

of a student’s

ePortfolio page

xamE G

formative assessment)

view in Mahara

in Appendix 2

EO

, G

Slovenian

E

Travel brochure with

Document

Scan of a student’s

AG

tourist information on

product

UG

Australia

in Appendix 3

N

LANIA

Student’s self-evaluation

Scan of the

Scan of a studentś

N

ePortfolio page

ePortfolio page

VE

in Appendix 4

LO S3

Implementation

Group work

photos/videos

Interview and evaluation Pictures

of the presentations

53

Evaluation of the presentations

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

The method of work was well received by the students as they were all

constantly actively involved.

The steps were well planned, the goals were specific, the product was

as expected and in accordance with the set criteria. The students were

actively engaged through cooperative learning.

What went well

The students improved using their critical thinking skills in evaluating

credibility of the gathered information and in forming questions, as well as

in trying to find good arguments (e.g. reasons for the choice of the content,

t

selection of the brochure pictures etc.).

dentu

The quality of peer feedback greatly improved.

The students took much more responsibility for their learning as well

as for their individual and group achievements.

ortfolio of a S

Due to the openness of the topic more time was needed than originally

eP

planned, and for this reason the student self-evaluation activity had to be

What did not go well

done at home, with no immediate feedback and support available.

We can conclude that the students need more explicit instructions for

group work (e.g. for allocating roles).

Teachers should activate students’ prior interdisciplinary knowledge regularly

and empower them to be able to find meaningful connections, and use

Lessons learnt

them in authentic, specific real-life situations where different subject areas

interconnect; crosscurricular learning and creativity should be encouraged

through cooperative learning with specific instructions for student work.

54



APPENDIX 1

Reflection stem for self-evaluation



SICYSH

, PSIC

TH

Y, E

ples of good practice: HPA

xam R

E GEO

, GE

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S3

55



APPENDIX 2

Scan of a student’s view in Mahara

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

56





APPENDIX 3

Scan of a student’s product: Travel brochure

SICYSH

, PSIC

TH

Y, E

ples of good practice: HPA

xam R

E GEO

, GE

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S3

57

4 CHEMISTRY:

Hardness and soft water

Vesna Kodrič, Primary school Globoko

Subject

Chemistry

Learning Design Title HARDNESS AND SOFT WATER

Year group

Grade 7 (average age: 12–13 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (four 45-minute lessons: two lessons in the computer room, others

in the classroom + experimenting and experiment analysis)

Students:

Goals

ž	can tell the difference between various types of water in nature,

ples of good practice

ž	understand the terms hard water, soft water, water softening,

ž	understand the connection between water and soap foaming.

xamE

In Mahara’s ‘ My Learning’ tab I outlined the goals I wanted the pupils to achieve.

The pupils read the goals and reflected the themes they could remember from

previous lessons. To make the task easier and more accessible for them I used

Concise description

animation www.safe.si/kotiček za otroke (special part dedicated to children) –

of the content

game called Cevko. Another way of providing support was my extra explanation.

The pupils´ task in My learning tab was to describe the ways they used in order

to achieve the goals. Teacher’s help – instructions about detergent powder.

The next step was doing the experiments and analysing them.

Keywords

skills of experimenting, observing and deduction

Methodology

group and individual work

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking

ž	Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

ICT tools used

ž	The game Cevk o on www.safe.si

59

Students:

ž	read the goals in ‘ My learning’ tab,

ž	reflect on what they already know about hardness of water,

ž	write this down in ‘ My learning’ tab – background knowledge,

Students’ activities

ž	check the didactic material (game Cevko),

ž	describe the strategy they will use to achieve their goals,

ž	do the experiment in groups – foaming of soapy water,

ž	present their findings in groups,

ž	write down the evidence and self-evaluation in ‘ My learning’ tab.

Other

Website

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Page/view for the

https://listovnik.sio.

Materials

students (guiding

View/page

si/group/ucenci-7-r-

during activities

them through all

os-globoko

Slovenian

the steps of the

in Mahara

cycle)

Students’ artefacts

Memes created

by students

Pictures

Appendix 1

Slovenian

t

https://listovnik.sio.

den

si/user/marusarus/

tu

An AfL tab in

moje-ucenje

A student’s

Mahara, where

lesson plan

students plan

https://listovnik.

English

their own learning sio.si/user/

gabrijelaivancic/

ortfolio of a S

moje-ucenje

eP

A student’s book

a view/page

review and cover

in Mahara

English

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

The students liked working with computers.

What went well

They liked doing experiments.

They learned how to use the knowledge gained at school in their

everyday life.

60

Some students found it difficult to activate their previous knowledge.

What did not go well

Problems occurred in strategy planning, when looking for information.

Some students found it difficult to provide explanation of their findings/

results.

It is important that students look for information by themselves,

Lessons learnt

experiment and test new things because this is how they can remember

and understand the subject matter better.



APPENDIX 1

Memes created by the students

Y

TRISMEH C

ples of good practice: 4

xamE

61

5 CAREER GUIDANCE:

Use of “My learning” in career guidance

Bojana Breznikar, Primary school Logatec

Subject

Career guidance

Learning Design Title

USE OF “MY LEARNING” IN CAREER GUIDANCE

Year group

Grade 9 (average age: 14–15 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (two lessons in the computer room, other lessons in the classroom,

the main activity as a home study)

Students:

ž

develop their self-evaluation skills,

ples of good practice

Goals

ž

learn about a useful instrument for the last step

xam

in the process of choosing their profession,

E

ž

raise their self-awareness of their interests, abilities, personality traits etc.

The aim of the learning cycle is, for each student, to go through the steps of an

efficient decision-making process. The content is relevant as the students are just

about to change their level of education – moving from primary to secondary

school.

The teacher prepares a template for ‘ My learning’ – a so called “ My true calling”

in Mahara and shares it with the group. The subject is introduced in the

Concise description

classroom, where we define interest, ability and personality traits (minimum

of the content

two sessions). Then students begin to fill in the first four of ‘M y learning’ steps

in the computer room, where they need guidance during the process. They

continue researching their interests, abilities and personality traits at home.

They use different sources to collect information (they fill out questionnaires

at e-svetovanje, ask their parents, peers etc.). Then they create ‘ My learning’

view and share it with the teacher. They can reflect on the proccess (step 5

in ‘ My learning’) and at the same time, or later, create a new view and share it

with the teacher. The teacher provides feedback.

63

Keywords

career guidance, decision making process

Methodology

group work, individual work

ž	ICT competences (the ability of communication and on-line cooperation,

21

the ability to plan, monitor and self-assess using ICT)

st century skill(s)

ž	the ability to make a responsible decision

ž	the ability to raise self-awareness

ICT tools used

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

Students:

ž

fill out the ‘ My learning’ tab – the first four steps;

ž

conduct a research about their interests, abilities, personality traits;

Students’

ž

use different sources to get the necessary information (fill out questionnaires

activities

at e-svetovanje, interview their parents etc.);

ž

create a view and share it with the teacher;

ž

reflect about the process (step 5 in ‘ My learning’);

ž

create a new view and share it with the teacher.

Other

Website

t

dentu

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

ortfolio of a SeP

Page/view for

View/page

Materials during the students (guiding

https://listovnik.sio.si/

in Mahara

activities

them through all

user/bbrezn/moj-srcni- Slovenian the steps of the task)

poklic

An AfL tab

Students’

‘My learning’ tab –

in Mahara, where

artefacts

filled out

students plan

Appendix 1

Slovenian

their own learning

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

64

What went well

The work in the computer room.

Students still have difficulties sharing their views. They needed a lot

What did not go well of instructions in how to do things. Motivation wasn´t very high.

1. More time should be allowed for students to work in the computer room

Lessons learnt

with support of a teacher-instructor.

2. Importance of spreading feedback activities, including peer feedback.





APPENDIX 1

Example of a student’s learning plan

ECNAIDU GREERA C

ples of good practice: 5

xamE

65

6 SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE:

Making a telephone conversation

Suzana Cvirn Guček, Primary school Mirana Jarca, Ljubljana

Subject

Slovenian language

Learning

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING

Design Title

MAKING A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

Year group

Grade 9 (average age: 14 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (two lessons in the computer room, three lessons in the classroom +

home study)

Students enhance:

ž

their communication skills in Slovenian language, namely:

ples of good practice

- discussing about different types of conversations (on basis of their previous

experience),

xamE

- understanding and using the terminology of research, persuasive and negotiation

conversation,

- watching/listening, understanding, experiencing and assessing a recorded formal

negotiation telephone conversation,

- presenting and assessing pragmatic and linguistic elements and characteristics

Goals

of a recorded conversation,

- improve the quality of making a formal telephone call (negotiation),

- developing conversational skills.

ž

other types of key skills, such as:

- a critical approach to peer communication,

- explaining their own opinions,

- logical thinking,

- using acquired knowledge in everyday life situations,

- initiative and creativity,

- cooperative skills.

One of the 21st century skills is pupils’ ability to know how to successfully manage

Concise

different spoken interaction situations, such as a conversation with an unknown person

description

(official/clerk/worker etc). For this purpose, a role play activity was designed in which

of the

pupils had either a role of an official or a person talking to the official. Pupils chose

67

content

different examples (a phone conversation with a nurse, a mechanic, a librarian etc.)

We listened to all the recordings in the classroom and the pupils made comments.

Keywords

formal conversation

Methodology group work, project work, individual work, pair work

21st century

skill(s)

activating previous knowledge, defining goals, ICT skil s, internet literacy, creative thinking

ž

Mahara – a web application to build your electronic portfolio,

ICT tools used ž	Mobile phones – to record the phone conversations,

ž

embedding – inserting media into a text document, forming a compound document

Students:

ž

activate their previous knowledge about making (e.g. phone) conversations,

ž

list types of conversations and look at the differences among them,

ž

listen to and watch the following types of recorded conversations (published

in different media) and act out similar types of conversations:

- informal and formal research personal/phone conversation,

- informal and formal persuasive personal/phone conversation,

- informal and formal negotiation personal/phone conversation,

ž

follow teacher’s instructions regarding the preparation of a recorded formal

negotiation phone conversation,

ž

students write down the goals and are supposed to create phone conversation

assessment criteria (Appendix 1: Worksheet).

t

The students work in pairs and they create a group in Mahara.

dentu

Before the listening and observing part they get ready for the critical evaluation

of the conversation. They, for example:

ž

describe a phone conversation,

ž

list the characteristics of a polite conversation,

ortfolio of a S

ž

present the characteristics of a given type of a conversation,

eP

ž

decide what they will pay attention to during the listening and observing part,

ž

describe their own experience with the given type of a conversation,

ž

present their expectations.

Students’

Students plan their roles in pairs.

activities

They publish their work plan in Mahara’s ‘ My learning’ tab, where they highlight

and define their roles.

Students upload and publish the recorded negotiation conversation in the folder

named Slovenian (after the name of the school subject).

Students share the ‘ My learning’ view with the teacher. (Appendix 4: An example

of a view shared with the teacher)

Students listen to all the conversations/recordings; in pairs they discuss the problems

they had, share experiences, they comment on their own and on their schoolmates’

recordings. (Appendix 3: An example of a formal phone conversation)

Students pay attention to the circumstances of the conversation, its structure and the

role of the co-speaker, the topic and the content of their conversation, as well as to the

verbal and nonverbal responses of the speaker. They act out a specific type of a conver-

sation – at this stage they follow the rules of an efficient and polite conversation.

68

Students:

ž

cooperate during the conversation (pair members assess their own and their school-

mates’ share in the conversation),

ž

assess their ability to converse and their knowledge of the given type of the conversa-

tion,

ž

make a development plan of their conversation skills,

ž

evaluate the effect of the newly acquired knowledge on their ability to converse and on

their previous knowledge about the characteristics of the type of the text.

In ‘ My learning’ tab students describe how efficient they were.

After listening and observing students:

ž

discuss, summarise and assess the conversation and present their arguments,

ž

identify and summarise the characteristics of a specific type of the conversation

and compare them to the characteristics of other types of conversations,

Students’

ž

describe their strategy of critical listening and compare it to the strategies used

activities

by their schoolmates,

ž

get ready for team work in a specific type of a conversation – they choose their

co-speaker, define the circumstances, the topic and content of the conversation,

activate their knowledge about the characteristics of the conversation and their

knowledge of a polite conversation and plan a strategy of cooperation to be used

during the conversation (Appendix 1: Worksheet).

Other

E

AG

Website

UGN

LANIAN

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

VE

LO S

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Materials

during activities

‘ My learning’

A tab in the on-line

E-portfolio (Mahara)

Slovenian

An AfL tab in Mahara,

where students plan their

own learning (teacher can

ples of good practice: 6

Appendix 2.1:

comment on it) with the

An example

xam

help

of ‘My learning’

E

of the following questions:

tab: A formal phone

conversation

Setting the goals

What is my goal?

Appendix 2.2:

What do I want to achieve?

An example

Students’

Prior knowledge

of ‘My learning’

artefacts

Slovenian

What do I already know?

tab: A formal phone

conversation

69

What can I already do?

Strategies

How can I achieve my goal?

Evidence

How will I prove that I have

achieved the goal?

Self-evaluation

How successful have I been?

Have I reached my goal?

Example:

Setting the goals

What is my goal?

What do I want

to achieve?

Answer the following

questions:

Questions to

help students

Which types of phone

to set their

conversations are you

goal:

Teacher helps students

familiar with?

Implementation What is

by giving questions

to develop independence

Which phone

t

photos/videos

my goal?

conversations do you

Slovenian

What

in planning.

den

use the most?

tu

do I want

to achieve?

How good do you think

you are when you talk

to a third person

on the phone and

what do you want

ortfolio of a S

to improve?

eP

Do you use formal

language when you

talk to a third unknown

person?

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

All the pupils, including those who normally have communication difficulties,

responded to the task positively. It seems their attention was attracted by the

part of the task which involved recording. By listening to and commenting

What went well

on the recordings in front of the class, the pupils became aware of their own

mistakes and showed interest in improving their conversational skills with the

newly acquired knowledge. Some of them improved their conversational skills

70

(polite behaviour towards an official, using formal language, self-correction

of mispronunciation etc.).

We faced some difficulties in the computer room, since it wasn’t fully functional

at the beginning of the school year, so we were forced to start the tasks much

What did not go well

later than planned. Most of the pupils didn’t have problems with creating their

profiles in Mahara. However, there were some pupils who were not able to use

their e-mail accounts. The students who had difficulties creating their profiles

in Mahara needed teacher’s support.

The pupils enjoyed creating their profiles in Mahara; some of them even opened

Lessons learnt

groups’ forums. Students really showed a great interest in the part of the task

when they had to act out different roles and record the phone conversations.



APPENDIX 1

Worksheet

E

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S

ples of good practice: 6

xamE

71



APPENDIX 2.1

An example of ‘My learning’ tab: A formal phone conversation

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

72



APPENDIX 2.2

An example of ‘My learning’ tab: A formal phone conversation

E

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S

ples of good practice: 6

xamE

73



APPENDIX 3

An example of a formal phone conversation

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

A: Dober dan, tukaj Mladinska knjiga, … pri telefonu, prosim.

B: Dober da, tukaj … Kličem, ker sem v katalogu videla, da prodajate

Shakespearjevo knjigo. Rada bi jo naročila.

A: Katero knjigo pa bi želeli naročiti?

B: Naročiti želim knjigo Romeo in Julija.

A: Žal mi je, toda te knjige nimamo na zalogi.

B: Imate morda kako drugo njegovo knjigo?

A: Seveda, imamo še tri izvode Ukročene trmoglavke.

B: Lahko naročim en izvod te knjige?

74

A: Seveda, naj vam jo pošljemo po pošti?

B: Ja, prosim, moj naslov je Kekčeva cesta 75, 1000 Ljubljana.

A: V redu, dobite jo v roku treh dni, prav tako pa tudi položnico.

B: Najlepša hvala in nasvidenje

A: Nasvidenje, lep dan.



APPENDIX 4

An example of a view shared with the teacher

E

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S

ples of good practice: 6

xamE

75

7 SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE:

My portfolio

Tatjana Lotrič Komac, Primary school Naklo

Subject

Slovenian language

Learning Design Title MY PORTFOLIO

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13–14 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (three 45-minute lessons: one in the computer room, others

in the classroom)

ples of good practice

Students:

xamE

ž	become familiar with Mahara, they design their profile,

Goals

ž	introduce themselves, their interests and goals,

ž	specify their strong fields,

ž	think about their future, set short-term and long-term goals.

The purpose of this unit is to motivate pupils to work with the portfolio,

to emphasise the importance of sharing personal data and looking for critical

friends.

Through presentation of their interests, music, photos and smells, pupils try to

find out which things they have in common and where they differ. They also think

about and discuss the fact that they often adapt to their peers because they

don’t want to stand out. Pupils support their findings with examples. In groups,

they think about their sense of belonging to a group on one hand, and about

their individuality on the other. Besides, they compare their findings and search

Concise description

for topic-related examples in Slovene literature.

of the content

They insert an illustration with a brief description into their portfolio, complete

their profile and respond to their friend’s presentations (wherewith they get

a critical friend). Afterwards they group themselves according to certain interests.

77

This is followed by students’ careful consideration of their life goals, short-

term as well as long-term goals. First pupils ask themselves about the meaning

of setting goals. They try to define at least one personal short-term and one

long-term goal, and then they define their educational goals. They reflect upon

their choices as well as their friends’ choices. However, they focus only on the

practicability and not on the goal as such. By the end of the unit they grasp

the idea behind setting goals.

Keywords

introducing portfolio, setting goals

Methodology

group and individual work

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking

ICT tools used

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

Students:

ž	introduce themselves with words and through art,

ž	make a mind map and present it,

Students’ activities

ž	participate in a discussion, make critical friends,

ž	think about dilemmas with completing profiles,

ž	distinguish between their short-term and their long-term goals,

ž	think about evidence for testing the efficiency of the set goals,

ž	reflect on and evaluate their own and their friend’s work.

t

den

Other

tu

Website

ortfolio of a SeP

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Materials

Worksheet,

during activities

oral instructions

Document

Slovenian

Memes created

Appendix 1

by students

Pictures

English

Students’ artefacts

An AfL tab

Completed profile

in Mahara, where

and setting goals

students plan their Appendix 2

Slovenian

own learning

Implementation

photos/videos

78

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

Pupils showed great creativity in their presentations. They immediately realised

that they had common views of the world, smell and music. This made them

reconsider the question about reasons for their ‘going with the flow’: Is it

What went well

because they don’t dare to stand out or is it the influence of the majority? They

were able to set short-term as well as long-term goals and find the purpose in

this task.

They started to realise the importance of sharing personal data.

Students needed a lot of encouragement, especially with setting goals since

E

they dealt with the task in a stereotypical way. They hadn’t thought about these

AGU

What did not go well questions before, therefore they found the task quite challenging. They made GN

fun of other fellow students’ goals quite often while playing the role of ‘critical

friends’.

LANIAN

1. More time should be spent on emphasizing the importance of setting goals.

VE

LO

2. While presenting, students should be free to choose the media – including

S

Lessons learnt

sound and video or even a website.

3. Getting to know Mahara took a lot of time, therefore extra lessons should be

planned.

ples of good practice: 7

xamE

79





APPENDIX 1

Memes created by students

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

80



APPENDIX 2

Example of a student’s learning plan

E

AGUGN

LANIAN

VE

LO S

ples of good practice: 7

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81

8 NATURAL SCIENCE:

The tree in three seasons

Simona Zobec and Ivanka Federnsberg Turinek, IV Primary school Celje

Subject

Natural Science

Learning Design Title THE TREE IN THREE SEASONS

Year group

Grade 6 (average age: 12 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (two months: October and November)

The learning goal of each student is to get familiar with the characteristics

of their selected deciduous tree in autumn. They observe, analyse and evaluate

Goals

the changes of the tree over time, making regular notes, so as to better

ples of good practice

understand the changes. Their observations help them understand the principles

of natural phenomena and become more motivated for learning.

xamE

First, students are given general written instructions on how to observe their

selected tree in autumn (Appendix 1). Then, they are instructed how to work

with the ePortfolio. The ePortfolio learning platform becomes a space where

students can make notes, store photos and drawings made during their

Concise description

observation of the selected tree. They deepen and enrich their knowledge

of the content

of natural sciences using ICT and they also make critical friends with their

classmates and teachers. By participating in the learning design students are

familiarised with experiential and cross-curricular learning, team work, critical

friendship, formative assessment and self-evaluation. This approach allows them

an access to quick feedback, self-evaluation and self-regulation.

Keywords

ePortfolio, experiential learning, cross-curricular learning, self-evaluation, team

work and communication, information and communication technology literacy

Methodology

students’ individual work, ePortfolio

goal setting, developing problem solving strategies, reasoning, analysis,

21st century skill(s)

interpretation, synthesizing information, science literacy and reasoning,

83

environmental and conservation literacy, ecosystem understanding

ICT tools used

ePortfolio (Mahara)

Each student chooses a particular deciduous tree near school/home that

he/she finds interesting and creates the tree identity card. When the leaves

Students’ activities

begin shedding, the student starts collecting them; every week he/she picks

one leaf and observes it closely, draws it, photographs it and identifies changes.

The student monitors the shedding of leaves and critically discusses the

phenomena with his/her classmates.

Other

Website

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL Language

Tree

Paper

Materials

(Coloured) pencils

Various

during activities

Camera

(see description)

Slovenian

Computer (ePortfolio,

Mahara)

t

den

The tree’s ID

tu

(name in Slovenian and

Latin, with etymology;

the tree’s height and trunk’s

circumference; the shape

Drawings,

of the treetop; the bark’s

photos and

ortfolio of a S

print; the name, drawing

notes scanned

Appendix 2

eP

Students’ artefacts

and photos of fruits and

and saved in the

Slovenian

seeds; interesting facts, use

Mahara learning

and importance of the tree)

environment

Collection of autumn leaves

(ePortfolio)

Leaf prints

Observation drawings

and notes

The tree’s ID

Print screen

Students’ artefacts

of the student’s

in the Mahara

Observation of the leaf during Mahara

Appendix 3

Slovenian

different seasons

environment

Implementation

Photos and a video recording

Photos and a

photos/videos

of students’ work in nature

and in the classroom

video recording

Appendix 4

Slovenian

84



Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

At the beginning, the students showed great enthusiasm and interest, mainly

concerning working with computers. They looked forward to using their

ePortfolios, creating their personal profiles, having ePortfolio friends, exchanging

messages with the teacher. Regular and immediate feedback was a great

advantage as it allowed for continuous encouragement and guidance. The

What went well

students also learnt how to upgrade their everyday routine usage of the computer

applications (e.g. how to scan photos and how to transfer them to the computer

from their phones).

The learning design clearly improved students’ ICT literacy as well as their science

E

literacy and reasoning through experiential learning.

CNIEC

While about a third of the students successfully accomplished all the designed

L S

stages, roughly a sixth of them were less successful. After the initial excitement

AR

some of the students lost some interests – as soon as it became clear that quite

some work was expected to be done (homework, observations, making prints etc.).

ATU N

In addition, some of the students found it difficult to get to grips with the Mahara

learning environment (it seemed too complex for some, which may have been

the result of the fact that it was redesigned during the course of their work).

ples of good practice: 8

xamE

What did not

go well

85

Nevertheless, they all did their best in the end.

Students need clear and detailed instructions as well as considerable amount

of encouragement. Clearer differentiation of stages of progress to support

Lessons learnt

students’ learning and regard for individual students’ age would be welcome.

Effective and open communication turned out to be of crucial importance.

APPENDIX 1

General written instructions on how to observe the selected tree

THE TREE IN THREE SEASONS (autumn, winter, spring)

1. Select a tree close to your school or home.

2. You will be observing the tree for a longer period of time (autumn, winter, spring). In May you will prepare the final report on your foundings about your selected tree (see instructions).

3. Get to know your selected tree (see the identity card section). Find out as many interesting facts about the tree as you can. Observe closely and note all the changes related to the tree during each t

season. To make your work easier, you will get specific instructions for each season.

4. The tree’s identity card:

den

•	 The name of the tree (Slovenian, Latin, etymology, if possible)

tu

•	 Draw your tree on a big sheet of paper. Draw the tree while actually observing it. Do it as carefully and realistically as possible. Use coloured pencils.

•	 The tree’s height (lean a meter long stick against the trunk and walk 20 steps away, hold a pencil in your stretched arm and measure the length of the stick; then move the length along the tree up to its top).

ortfolio of a S

•	 The circumference of the trunk (the circumference of the trunk 1 m above the ground and at eP

the ground). What do you notice? Write down your observations.

•	 The treetop – What is it like? Round, elongated, triangular etc.?

•	 The bark – Look at the bark closely. Touch it – is it smooth or rough? Is the bark on the trunk the same as on the branches? Make a print of the bark on the trunk and a print of the bark on a branch, if possible (hold a sheet of paper tightly to the trunk/branch and use a soft pencil, coloured pencil or crayon to rub the paper – a picture of the bark will appear). Compare the two prints. Are they the same? Write down your observations and give explanations.

•	 Fruits and seeds – Find, draw and photograph them. Name the fruit.

•	 Interesting facts

•	 What is the tree used for? (importance)

5. Observing changes

a) AUTUMN

•	 The leaves. From spring, when leaf buds open and trees come into leaf, up to autumn, there are constant changes in leaves. Collect leaves in October and November. Put the collected leaves

between sheets of paper and weigh them. By pressing them, you will get a collection of autumn leaves. Leaves contain a lot of water, so your paper sheets will become wet. Wet leaves can go mouldy and change colour. Therefore, change paper sheets every second day. When the leaves

are completely dry, glue them onto empty paper sheets. Your collection should have a number

of leaves (pick a leaf once a week and dry it). Add the date when the leaf was picked. What do 86

you see? How do the colours change? Why does the leaf colour change? What does brown col-

our mean? Make a leaf print (see the instructions at the bark). There should be two prints – of both sides of the leaf. What do you see? Why? Scratch the leaf with your nail. Does it have a smell? Is the leaf hairy? Pay attention to leaf shedding. When did the leaves begin to fall? When did the majority of the leaves fall? Find out the reason for the falling of the leaves and for the tree shedding its leaves before winter.

•	 Plants on the tree - look carefully at the tree’s bark. Do you see any small plants: mosses, li-chens? Draw and name them. How much of the bark do they cover (a little, quite some, a lot,

most of it)? At what height of the trunk do they grow?

•	 Animals on the tree. Do you see any birds, insects or other small animals on the tree? What colour are they? Where can you see them: in hollows, in the bark’s cracks, on the surface of the bark? Draw and name them. Do you see any other evidence of animals, such as nests, holes,

bites, etc.?





APPENDIX 2

Drawings scanned and saved in the Mahara learning environment

ECNIEC

L SAR

ATU N

ples of good practice: 8

xamE

The leaf’s print above and the bark’s print below

87





APPENDIX 3

The tree ID from the student’s Mahara environment

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

88



APPENDIX 4

Photos of students’ work in nature



ECNIEC

L SAR

ATU N

ples of good practice: 8

xamE

89

9 FOLK DANCES:

Creating a new folk dance choreography

Magda Dobršek, Primary school Dobje

Subject

Folk dances (optional subject)

Learning Design Title CREATING A NEW FOLK DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY

Year group

Grade 7 and 8 (average age: 12–13 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

One cycle (six 45-minute lessons: two in the computer room, others

in the classroom; work at home)

ples of good practice

Students:

xamE

ž

develop creativity by making their own folk dance choreography,

Goals

ž

develop capability of cooperation and help,

ž

develop the skill of planning and evaluating their work,

ž

learn how to upload the video on YouTube; learn how to set the privacy

when uploading the video.

Students learn about characteristics of different folk dances in Slovenia and

create a new choreography. Meanwhile they also learn how to dance (Točak,

Kovtre šivat’, Marko skače, Lepa Anka kolo vodi). They set their goals and write

down their learning plans (‘ My learning’ tab in Mahara). Students share their

planned strategies (share the ‘view’) for achieving the goals with the school

friends from their group.

They can work in pairs or in groups when adding new parts of their own

Concise description

choreography to the basic dance steps. They are supposed to follow the basic

of the content

concept of folk dances, while using elements of their creativity.

After practising their dances and when they are satisfied with their work, they

make a video. The video is shown to the whole group. If necessary, they make

changes or practise more.

91

The video is students’ artefact and they embed the link to Mahara. Students

use the forum for discussion.

At the end they reflect on their work by answering teacher’s questions.

Keywords

folk dance choreography, creativity, video

Methodology

work in pairs, group work, individual wok

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking, creating, evaluating, communicating

ž

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

ICT tools used

ž

CD player

ž

video camera

ž

You tube

Students:

ž

look for ideas for creating a dance choreography,

ž

fill out ‘ My learning’ tab: goals, prior knowledge, strategies,

ž

create and share views in Mahara,

ž

create choreographies in pairs or in groups,

Students’ activities

ž

practise dancing,

ž

dance and record a video with a video camera,

t

ž

upload the video on You tube,

den

ž

put the link of the video in ‘ My learning’ tab,

tu

ž

discuss their choreographies,

ž

answer teacher’s questions and write a critical reflection.

Other

ortfolio of a S

Website

eP

92

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Materials

during activities

‘My learning’

A tab in the on-line

E-portfolio (Mahara)

Slovenian

an AfL tab in Mahara,

where students plan

their own learning:

Setting goals

Student’s

lesson plan

Prior knowledge

Appendix 1

Slovenian

Strategies

SEC

Evidence

N

Students’ artefacts

A

Self-evaluation

D

LK

FO

Video

Students’

http://youtu.be/

choreographies

EO0OJVgQvQ8

Slovenian

Students exchange

Forum

comments and give

Appendix 2

Slovenian

constructive feedback.

https://drive.google.

Students present their

com/folderview?id=

Video

own choreographies at 0BxmbwGMw-QqIcHR

Slovenian

ples of good practice: 9

a school event.

4dFVmTktHREk

xam

&usp=sharing

E

Slovenian folk music

Implementation

for dancing and

photos/videos

CD and You tube preview of different

Slovenian

folk dances.

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

93

Description

Students were motivated; all of them were active and creative. Choreographies

What went well

were corrected over and over again by them. Most of them took the work

in ‘ My learning’ tab very seriously and I was really satisfied with the results

and evidence of their work.

What did not go well We were pressed for time, while working in Mahara, because of one single lesson available per week.

Lessons learnt

Using the ‘ My learning’ tab helped students to plan their learning better; their

inner motivation for work was higher and I got good quality products from them.



APPENDIX 1

Example of a student’s learning plan

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

94



APPENDIX 2

Example of students’ comment exchange on forum

SECNA D

LK

FO

ples of good practice: 9

xamE

95

10 ETHICS AND HISTORY:

Development of the voting rights

from the American revolution

to the present days

Sonja Bregar Mazzini and Tatjana Kreč, Primary School Miško Kranjec, Ljubljana

Subject

Ethics and History

DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOTING RIGHTS FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Learning

TO THE PRESENT DAYS

Design Title

ETHICS: Lowering the vote right to age 16?

HISTORY: Social image of the USA and revolutionary France in the 16th century

ples of good practice

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13 years)

xamE

Language

Slovenian

ETHICS: 90 minutes (two lessons) in the Computer lab and work at home (forum,

Duration

self-evaluation in ‘ My Learning’ Tab)

HISTORY: 90 minutes (two lessons in Computer lab)

ETHICS:

Content Goals:

Students:

ž

learn about political rights – the right to vote and the right to run for election,

ž

learn about the possibilities of lowering the vote age to 16.

Procedure Goals:

Goals

Working with sources, students:

97

ž

search the key information and important details, facts and proofs in the sources,

ž

form their own answers, conclusions, explanation,

ž

prepare and justify their personal opinion,

ž

interprete their views from different aspects (perspectives).

Relation Goals:

Students get prepared to contribute at the elections and learn to act as responsible

citizens.

HISTORY:

Content goals:

Students:

ž	explain the characteristics of the social and political image of the USA,

ž	justify the influence of foundation of the USA on the old European order,

ž	define social and political consequences of the French Revolution,

ž	list the major changes brought by the Revolution into people’s everyday lives.

Procedure Goals:

Working with sources students:

Goals

ž	collect information from various historical sources,

ž	form conclusions, explanations and opinions and define them,

ž	compare the content of historical sources with that of today's democratic society.

t

Relation Goals:

den

Students:

tu

ž

use multiperspective historical sources to develop critical thinking,

ž

form their own independent conclusions, opinions and standpoints/viewpoints.

Common Cross Curriculum Goal:

Students research the development of the right to vote through history.

ortfolio of a SeP

ETHICS:

The main goal of the learning unit is to inform students about the initiative to lower

the voting right age in the Republic of Slovenia from 18 to 16, which is already

implemented in some of the EU countries. Different sources on worksheets introduce

various viewpoints (multiperspective) to students to compare arguments for and

against lowering the voting right age to 16 as presented in the given sources. Students

rank the arguments from the most to the least convincing one and justify their list.

They conclude the activity by forming their own opinion of the issue in the Mahara

forum. They have to support their opinion using arguments from the sources that

best support their point of view.

They use the electronic worksheet and file it into ePortfolio in Mahara. They fill

‘ My learning’ tab: Vote right at 16 and the Worksheet into ‘ Teacher’s view’, which is used as evidence of their activity in addition to their Mahara forum cooperation.

Concise

HISTORY:

description

As part of the initial motivation students record their thoughts about the importance

of the content of the Statue of Liberty for the USA into Mahara tool. They explain the meaning of the 1789 French Revolution motto.

They write down about what they already know about democracy and human

98

and citizen rights which refer to democracy of Slovenia in ‘ My learning’ tab.

Working with sources, students learn about the content of the USA Declaration

of Independence from 1776, Declaration of the human and citizen rights from 1789

and Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.

They compare the content of the documents and determine which rights are

mentioned. They learn about similarities and differences.

Using visual and written sources students explain who and why had no rights in

the 18th century. The content of the Declaration on women from 1791 defines the

women rights of that time.

To enrich their knowledge of cross-curricular lessons students are to explore the

history of the development of the voting rights and fundamental documents with

written vote and other human rights throughout history and during their ethics

lessons they explore the situation today.

working with sources, formative assessment (focusing on four aspects of working with

Keywords

sources – comparison, reasoning, exploring multiple perspectives , evaluation), digital

literacy, social and citizenship competences

Methodology

individual work

21st century

working with sources skills, digital literacy, social and citizenship competences,

skill(s)

mother tongue communication, learning to learn

ICT tools used Mahara

YR

TO

ETHICS:

IS

Students:

HD

ž	fill out ‘ My learning’ rubrics (goals, previous knowledge, strategies, evidence),

N A

ž	work with sources (worksheet):

S

- collect information from different historical sources,

IC

- make conclusions, explanations and opinions and justify them,

TH E

ž	compare historical sources' contents with contemporary democracy,

0

ž	actively participate in Mahara forum,

ž	write down their reflection on the work they have done into ‘ My learning’,

ž	create »the view« in Mahara and share it with the subject teacher (upload the view

with ‘ My Learning’ and a completed worksheet).



HISTORY:

Students:

ples of good practice: 1

Students’

ž	fill in ‘ My Learning’ tab that refers to the content goals of the learning design

activities

in the ePortfolio (they list the known information about democracy and human

xam

and citizen rights),

E

ž	work with sources (they get to know the content of the three acts about human

and citizen rights; compare the content and write down their opinions

and arguments),

ž	prepare their opinions and relevant arguments in a written form,

ž	write a reflection,

ž	do all the work in Mahara (they create their own document with the activities

defined in the worksheet in the ePortfolio),

ž	create »the view« in Mahara and share it with the teacher (all the mandatory

activities).

99

Cross curricular ETHICS and HISTORY activity:

Students write a History essay in which they think about limiting the right to vote

to wealthy men and about universal voting rights ‒ what human rights and equality

before the law meant in the past and what they mean today. Students are free to use

all the resources they have studied in Ethics and History.

Other

Website

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design



Description Type

File name / URL

Language

Materials

Work instructions,

Mahara link – students

during activities

Worksheet, links with

activities for ETHICS

Mahara forum

https://listovnik.sio.

si/group/delo-z-viri-

8-b-2014-15/dke-1-krog

Mahara

activities

Work instructions,

Mahara link – students

Slovenian

worksheet

activities for HISTORY

https://listovnik.sio.

t

si/group/delo-z-viri-

den

8-b-2014-15/zgodovina-

tu

2-krog

An AfL tab in Mahara,

where students plan their

own learning (teacher can

ortfolio of a S

comment on it) with the help

eP

of the following questions:

Setting the goals

What is my goal?

What do I want to achieve?

‘ My

Prior knowledge

learning’

What do I already know?

ETHICS: Appendix 1a

tab

What can I already do?

HISTORY: Appendix 1b

Slovenian

Strategies

How can I achieve my goal?

Evidence

How will I prove that I have

achieved the goal?

Self-evaluation

How successful have I been?

Have I reached my goal?

Students’

Checklist

ETHICS: Appendix 2a

100

artefacts

(Formative assessment)

HISTORY: Appendix 2b

Slovenian

ETHICS:

A student’s lesson plan:

Evidence 1

an AfL tab in Mahara, where

ETHICS: Appendix 1a

students plan their own

HISTORY: Appendix 1b

Slovenian

learning

ETHICS:

Worksheet

ETHICS: Appendix 3a

Slovenian

Evidence 2

HISTORY: Appendix 3b

ETHICS:

Joining the forum

ETHICS: Appendix 4

Slovenian

Evidence 3

HISTORY:/

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt



Description

ETHICS:

Students:

ž

working with ICT was motivating,

ž

took care of the quality of the written form (in mother tongue too) both

in ‘ My Learning’ and in worksheet completion;

What went well

ž

found working in Mahara dynamic and versatile.

HISTORY:

Students:

ž	working with Mahara tools went smoothly,

YR

ž	had no problems withworksheet completion,

TO

ž	think that the planned two lessons were appropriate.

IS HDN

ETHICS:

A

Students:

SIC

ž

still too often just copied the information from the source and did not

TH

summarise it using their own words,

E0

ž

did not not fully understand the source information they read,

ž

needed assistance at working with Mahara – technical aspect (processing »the

What did not go well

view«, ‘ My learning’ tab, saving worksheet into ePortfolio document map).

HISTORY:

Students needed:

ž	additional information to set goals,

ž	additional explanation of unknown words while reading written historical

documents,

ples of good practice: 1

ž	to pay attention to grammatically correct writing.

xamE

ETHICS:

Teacher: My worksheet was overloaded with sources and activities.

Lessons learnt

HISTORY:

Teacher: Lesson planning needs to be simplified.

101



APPENDIX 1a

ETHICS: »My Learning« – Student lessons’ plan



t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

102



APPENDIX 1b

HISTORY: »My Learning« – Student lessons’ plan

YR

TOIS HDN ASIC

TH E0

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

103





APPENDIX 2a

ETHICS: Checklist (Formative assessment)

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

APPENDIX 2b

ETHICS: Checklist (Formative assessment)

104



APPENDIX 3a

ETHICS: Example of a completed worksheet

YR

TOIS HDN ASIC

TH E0

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

105



APPENDIX 3b

HISTORY: Example of a completed worksheet

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

106



APPENDIX 4

ETHICS: Example of a student’s opinion from Mahara – Forum



YR

TOIS HDN ASIC

TH E0

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

107

11 PHYSICS:

The pressure in solids

Valentina Mlakar, Primary school Sava Kladnika, Sevnica

Subject

Physics

Learning Design Title

THE PRESSURE IN SOLIDS

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

Three lessons (135 minutes)

Students

ž

gain knowledge about pressure (understand the concept of pressure,

learn how to calculate pressure – using the correct formula),

ples of good practice

Goals

ž

increase active participation and involvement during lessons,

ž

activate cross-curricular skills’ integration,

xam

ž

E

establish learning methods that bring sustainable knowledge,

ž

develop effective learning strategies,

ž

reinforce their reading comprehension skills.

Open-ended assignments are given to students in order to encourage

them to further reflect on the lessons learned and to help them develop

interdisciplinary connections and reasoning.

Furthermore, in order to increase their involvement and overall

participation, each task is solved individually. While reporting on their

findings and results, a tabular form is created by the teacher for each

student. This table allows students to reflect on their findings and broaden

their critical thinking capabilities. For instance, a simple experiment

involving a screw placed between two fingers has proved to increase critical

thinking of each individual student. Namely, each student must perform

the experiment on his/her own and comment on the outcome by using

Concise description

his/her own experience and knowledge.

of the content

Each student also has to plan his/her own learning strategies by using web

109

application named Mahara and the ‘ My learning’ tab. Such a strategy not

only further increases effectiveness of learning, but it also encourages

students to take the responsibility for their own learning.

When students are to study new themes on their own (e.g. self-directed

learning) they are given appropriate supplementary materials in electronic

form. Such learning material is accompanied with extensive explanation,

images and figures and examples of answer sheets. The learning material

also contains several topic-related questions. This allows students

to better understand, conceptualise and visualise the topic discussed

and encourages them to read the material carefully.

In order to make the newly-acquired knowledge more lasting and to discuss

and use it with greater ease, students are also encouraged to draw mind

maps. The mind maps, as drawn by students, are also used while solving

problems specified on learning sheets. They are given out and completed

during classes. Such an approach has proved to have a positive impact on

both content understanding and sustainability of knowledge. The completed

learning sheets are corrected by the teacher. This in turn gives students direct

feedback on the quality of the acquired knowledge.

Motivation for learning and close reading with reasoning (e.g. active reading)

is greatly increased by optional assignments, which students completed as

survey questionnaires and delivered as Google documents (e.g. Google Docs).

t

The text-based assignments are done in e-Portfolio (si. E-listovnik). Although

Concise description

students work in smaller groups, each of them must complete the assignment

den

of the content

on his/her own. Iindividual groups are differentiated according to the

tu

complexity of the given assignments. While solving these assignments,

tailored to students’ abilities, students develop and expand their critical

thinking skills. Additionally, the assignments are designed

to induce interdisciplinary connections of their background knowledge.

Each assignment is reviewed and corrected and appropriate feedback

ortfolio of a S

is given to each individual.

eP

The acquired knowledge must then be used when performing, observing and

experimenting. Namely, in the given experiment the students must determine

the pressure under a cylindrical container. Therefore, in order to be able to

use the formula for calculating the pressure, students must first decide on

how to determine the area of the bottom of the container (e.g. area of the

circle).

Keywords

interdisciplinary connections, feedback, active learning

Methodology

individual work, group work and work in pairs

ž

critical thinking, in particular self-reflection,

ž

skills and strategies to enable students to use the program Mahara

and similar software,

21st century skill(s)

ž

cooperation, communication and teamwork,

ž

responsibility to obtain their own knowledge and to learn about active

methods, which help students to gain more sustainable knowledge

more efficiently

110

ICT tools used

Mahara – ‘ My learning’ tab, forum, views

Students:

ž	activate their prior knowledge and their abilities of interdisciplinary

integration while solving an open type assignment (e. g. an assignment

which contained an image of the rectangular block and data about the

mass and the edges of the block, stimulated the students not only to

consider what can be calculated using the given data, but also to check

or calculate the newly emerging considerations),

ž	design and carry out a simple experiment by using a screw. They are

supposed to clarify the observed phenomena and provide convincing

explanations through which they are further familiarized with the concept

of pressure,

ž	plan and design their own learning in Mahara software (‘ My learning’).

They fill out the forms of the phases named ‘ Prerequisites’ (Predznanje)

S

and ‘ Setting goals’ (Postavljanje ciljev). As an assisting tool, they are free

IC

to use the materials/sources, text and images, prepared in the ePortfolio,

YSH

ž	read the prepared material on the subject of pressure,

P1

Students’ activities

ž	solve problems (test/task sheets) in order to reinforce the knowledge

about pressure:

- conversion between units for measuring pressure,

- calculating the pressure,

- understanding the pressure,

- while solving the given problems, students are allowed to use mind maps

and the materials prepared in ePortfolio,

ž	review how an individual student understands the newly-learned

knowledge about pressure; using multiple-choice assignments prepared

by Google Docs technology,

ples of good practice: 1

ž	enhance and consolidate knowledge and interdisciplinary integration by

xam

doing ePortfolio text assignments. The assignments are differentiated

E

among several groups of students and tailored to their abilities (each group

consists of students with similar level knowledge of physics),

ž	have to determine the pressure under the cylindrical container during the

experimental work,

ž	complete a report about their learning and activities in Mahara: learning

strategies, self-evaluation and evidence.

Other

Website

111

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Explanation of pressure – material

https://listovnik.

for self-directed learning –

Web link

sio.si/group/fizika- Slovenian electronic slides in PowerPoint

to Mahara

8-d-sile-os-sevnica/

gradivo-o-tlaku

Prepared by

Multiple choice assignments

using Google

http://url.sio.si/

for reviewing the individual’s

Docs technology emX

Slovenian

knowledge about pressure

– Web link

t

to Mahara

dentu

Group assignments – assignments

https://listovnik.

are solved by groups of students

Word document sio.si/group/fizika-

in order to gain feedback (easier

– Web link

8-d-sile-os-sevnica/ Slovenian assignments)

to Mahara

kvader

Group assignments – assignments

https://listovnik.

ortfolio of a S

Word document

eP

are solved by groups of students

sio.si/group/fizika-

in order to gain feedback

– Web link

8-d-sile-os-sevnica/ Slovenian (intermediate assignments)

to Mahara

kvadra

Group assignments – assignments

https://listovnik.

are solved by groups of students

Word document sio.si/group/fizika-

in order to gain feedback

– Web link

Slovenian

to Mahara

8-d-sile-os-sevnica/

Materials

(advanced assignments)

valja

during

A product of a student – open-

Scan

activities

type assignment solved on a task

of a student’s

Appendix 1

Slovenian

sheet

product

Mind map drawn by a student

Scan

– a part of results generated by

of a student’s

students during self-directed

product.

Appendix 1

Slovenian

learning about pressure

Assignments solved by students

for the consolidation of knowledge Scan

about pressure

of a student’s

112

Assignments are solved after

product

Appendix 1

Slovenian

the material on pressure has been

processed

Students plan and design their

Scan of a

own learning by using ‘ My

student’s

Appendix 2

Slovenian

learning’ tab in Mahara software

product

(Mahara record)

Survey, multiple-choice assign-

Survey scan

ments – Google Docs technology.

taken from

Slovenian

The surveys are answered via web- Mahara

Appendix 3

link in Mahara software

software



Summary of the completed

Results scanned Appendix 4

surveys

from Google

Slovenian

Docs

Example of a group assignment:

Scan of

Appendix 5

Pressure under cylinders

the given

Slovenian

assignment

Scan of a

Solution of the assignment

feedback

Appendix 6

as solved by students – their

as provided

Slovenian

feedback

by Mahara

software

Example of a group assignment:

Scan of

Pressure under a block (easier

interface

Apendix 7

Slovenian

SIC

assignment)

in Mahara

YSH

Example of a group assignment:

Scan of

Appendix 8

P1

Pressure under a blocks

the given

Slovenian

assignment

Solution of the assignment

Scan

as solved by students – their

of interface

Appendix 9

feedback and, feedback given to

in Mahara

Slovenian

students by the teacher

ples of good practice: 1

Imple-

Experimental work executed in the

xamE

mentation

classroom – measuring pressure

Photos

photos/

under the cylindrical container

of students

videos

113

Reflection on the results and on the lessons learnt

Description

Open-ended type of assignments were well received. I was quite surprised at their

enthusiasm and committment.

The tabular picture, generated on basis of students’ reports, enabled students to have

freedom of judgment about the accuracy of their own claims and results. At the same

time students saw how far their knowledge already reaches, which further increased their

motivation.

Due to the open type assignments students filled out the ‘ My learning’ tab (in Mahara), especially the part on background knowledge, with greater ease. While reading the

t

materials and self-monitored mind map studying, they had to draw and were encouraged

den

to repeatedly return to the material and read through it more carefully. Furthermore,

tu

since they were allowed to use the mind maps during solving numerical problems, the

given assignments were completed quite successfully. Students completed the open type

What

assignments with enthusiasm. When they asked me about the correct answer, I directed

went well

them to read the question carefully and use the mind map, rather than giving them more

concrete or direct answers. In this way I tried to familiarise them with the concept of

ortfolio of a S

independent, self-monitored learning and its implications in practice.

eP

Students also solved assignments in groups for the first time. All members of each group

were solving given problems at the same time and were also able to observe progress

and ideas of each individual in the group. This certainly increased motivation as well

as productivity of each individual member. Besides, the approach allowed them to

communicate and exchange ideas freely, ‘’all in one’’.

To sum up, formative assessment and interdisciplinary cooperation definitely increase

active involvement of students in the classroom work, as well as students' motivation

and responsibility to learn. By using ICT, I found different effective ways of connecting the content across disciplines and formatively monitoring work and progress of each individual

student.

While doing text assignments in groups the students expressed a concern regarding the

indication of the potencies, especially units (e. g. square meters). Namely, in Mahara

software students cannot indicate potencies, nor does a tab for equations (e. g. Word

equations) exist. As a result the equations and the problem solving process were written

down into notebooks, and only the final results were posted into Mahara. The downside

of such technique is also reflected in the review process. Namely while reviewing student’s

work teacher cannot indicate where (at which equation) in the problem solving process the

114

student made a mistake.

What did

not go well Furthermore, in order to implement the described teaching process, each lesson has to be well prepared in advance, which requires a lot of pre-prepared material. However,

the lesson itself brings satisfaction to both the students and the teachers and allows for

teachers to provide each individual student with detailed and structured feedback on the

quality of his/her learned knowledge.

The major problem, however, still lies mostly in the eyes and minds of the students.

Namely, most of the students who knew what had to be improved or what had to be

studied in more detail, were still not prepared to perform the extra effort in order to

implement the strategies suggested by/in the feedback.





The review of multiple choice assignments, solved in Google Docs is a time consuming

effort. The results have to be analysed immediately and the incorrect answers clarified.

The summaries of the completed survey (multiple choice assignments), must be prepared,

analysed and further discussed with students.

Lessons

It seems that teachers should also pay more attention while communicating the feedback

learnt

to students and also observe how students react to the given feedback.

Most of the students are already quite skillful with the Mahara software. Since solving

assignments via the software increases their motivation and due to the fact that results are

reviewed and corrected in Mahara with a certain degree of ease, some of the homework is

already given out to the students electronically via Mahara software.

SICYS

APPENDIX 1

H P1

Examples of students’ products

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

Picture 1: Open-type assignment solved on a task sheet.

115

Picture 2: Mind map drawn by a student – a part of results generated by students during self-directed learning about pressure.



t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

116

Picture 3: Assignments solved by students for the consolidation of knowledge about pressure.



APPENDIX 2

Example of a student’s learning plan

SICYSH P1

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

117



APPENDIX 3

Example of a survey in Google Docs technology

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

118





APPENDIX 4

Example of results scanned from Google Docs

SICYSH P1

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

APPENDIX 5

Example of a group assignment: Preasure under cylinders

119



APPENDIX 6

Example of feedback as provided by Mahara software

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

120



APPENDIX 7

Example of a group assignment: Preasure under a block

SICYSH P1

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

121



APPENDIX 8

Example of feedback as provided by Mahara software

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

122



APPENDIX 9

Example of feedback as provided by Mahara software

SICYSH P1

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

123

12 GEOGRAPHY, ENGLISH:

Apartheid

Katja Knific and Maruša Bogataj, OŠ Predoslje, Kranj

Subjects

Geography, English

Learning Design Title APARTHEID

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13–14 years )

Languages

Slovenian & English

One cycle (about six lessons: one 45-minute lesson in the computer room, other

Duration

lessons are home study – reading about the topic, writing about it, expressing

arguments – every student should have enough time for searching the topic

information)

ples of good practice

Students:

ž

find new information about a given topic and everything connected with it,

xam

ž

find an appropriate photo,

E

ž

think about the reasons for racism,

Goals

ž

consider the reasons for and consequences of racial segregation,

ž

develop the skill of planning and evaluating their work,

ž

share their thinking with their critical friends in Mahara,

ž

improve their own critical thinking skills and autoregulative behaviour,

ž

integrate content and learning (CLIL).

The main aim of the learning cycle for the students is to do a research about the

topic, get more information about it, get to know Nelson Mandela, make their

own opinion about him and the situation in South Africa in Slovenian and in

English. At the same time students plan and evaluate their work.

First of all, students are informed about the topic for their work and are given

short instructions. They need to fill out the ‘ My learning’ tab in Mahara, refresh

their pre-knowledge, set their own goals and learning plans. They fiil in the

‘ My learning’ tab for both subjects, Geography and Slovenian.

Then their homework starts. They watch a short video. The link for it was

provided by the Geography teacher. They try to find different information about

125

Concise description

apartheid and Nelson Mandela. They design a short presentation about it, which

of the content

includes their own thinking and arguments for their statements. They also add

an appropriate photo. Then they share the presentation with their critical friends

and discuss the topic in Mahara. They share their work and discussion with

the teacher as well.

Now, when they better understand the topic and they have some more

information about apartheid and Nelson Mandela, it is time to make a step

forward. There is another title to think about. This time in English. Students think

and write about Black is beautiful. They express their thoughts, opinions, make

arguments for their statements. Again they share their work in Mahara with

their critical friends and their teacher.

At the end they evaluate their work by filling out ‘M y learning’ tabs in Mahara.

Keywords

apartheid, Nelson Mandela, Black is beautiful

Methodology

work in groups, in pairs and individually

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, critical thinking, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)

ž

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your electronic portfolio

ICT tools used

ž

Google – the internet search for information

Students’ activities

Students:

ž

fill out the ‘ My learning’ tab in Mahara (they plan and monitor their work),

ž

watch a video, taken in the streets of Johannesburg,

t

ž

find and choose a photo, which represents the sentence Black is beautiful,

ž

write about apartheid, Nelson Mandela and his influence using their mother

den

tongue,

tu

ž

discuss the subject with their critical friends,

ž

think about the sentence Black is beautiful again, trying to find different

arguments for their statements and write a short presentation of their

thinking/views in English.

ortfolio of a S

Other

eP

Website

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Teachers’ guidance, Instructions for

introduction and

Geography and

instruction for

English work

Appendix 1 and 2

Slovenian

English

‘ My learning’

in the school e-class

An AfL tab

in Mahara, where

students plan their

Appendix 3 and 4

Slovenian

Materials during

own learning made

activities

for Geography

At the beginning

http://www.

youtube.com/watc

126

of their work

Instructions

students watch

in School e-class

h?v=UjjxadhhV5sv=

a short video.

UjjxadhhV5sv=Ujjxa

dhhV5s

Students choose

Students’ chosen

Appendix 5 and 6

appropriate photos. photos

Students write

about Apartheid

Students’ artefacts

and about their

Student’s page

reactions to the

in Mahara

Appendix 7 and 8

Mother

tongue

sentence Black

is beautiful.

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

Most students did not have any difficilties finding the information, using

What went well

the Internet, and they did not have difficulties using Mahara either. They

enjoyed watching the video, searching for appropriate photos and sharing

their thoughts and ideas.

Students needed a lot of encouragement and a lot of help at filling out their

learning plans – they are still not used to taking control of their own learning.

What did not go well It was a real challenge for everyone to express their arguments.

H

Students found it really difficult to discuss about the topic in English. Some

LIS

of them did it in Slovenian.

GN

Y, E

We should use English outside the classroom (English lessons) more often,

HP

so that students have an opportunity to use their knowledge and become

AR

more self-confident in speaking and expressing their thoughts in a foreign

G

Lessons learnt

language.

EO G

They should have more opportunities to create their learning goals and plans

2

and to express their thoughts/views and ideas.

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

127

APPENDIX 1

Instructions for Geography

1. Oglej si video, ki je bil posnet na ulici Johannesburga.

2. V e-listovnik pod razdelkom Vsebina_Dnevnik naredi nov vnos Geografija Apartheid.

a) Izberi in vnesi fotografijo z naslovom »Črna je lepa«.

b) Zapiši svoje razmišljanje o apartheidu in o vlogi, ki jo je pri tem imel

Nelson Mandela. Svoje razmišljanje strni v vsaj desetih povedih.

c) Svojemu kritičnemu prijatelju pošlji vprašanje na to temo. Njegov odgovor nato

vključi v svoje besedilo.

t

den

3. Svoj zapis o apartheidu deli z učiteljico.

tu



ortfolio of a SeP

APPENDIX 2

Instructions for English

V E-listovniku ponovno odpri novo stran v razdelku Dnevnik. Poimenuj jo Black is beautiful.

In kaj te čaka tokrat?

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL

What do you think about this sentence? Do you agree or maybe disagree? Why?

Do you think there are different meanings of the sentence possible? Can you explain?

Write at least 10 sentences, thinking about the title Black is beautiful. Don't forget to include arguments for your statements.

Kaj meniš o zgornji povedi? Se z njo strinjaš ali mogoče ne? Zakaj?

Misliš, da se v njej lahko skrivajo različni pomeni? Lahko to razložiš?

Napiši vsaj 10 povedi o zgornjem naslovu »Black is beautiful«. Ne pozabi vključiti argumentov za svoje trditve.

128

Napisanega ne pozabi shraniti.

Shranjeno besedilo deli s kritičnim prijateljem ter učiteljcami.

In seveda, komentar prijatelju naj bo vzpodbuden. Povej, kaj ti je pri njegovem zapisu všeč

in kaj ne. Svoj komentar argumentiraj.



APPENDIX 3

Example of student’s “My learning” rubrics for Geography

H

LISGN

Y, EHPARG

EO G2

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

129



APPENDIX 4

Example of student’s “My learning” rubrics for English

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

130





APPENDIX 6

Example of a student’s presentation for Geography

(Apartheid) in Mahara

H

LISGN

Y, EHPARG

EO G2

APPENDIX 7

ples of good practice: 1

xam

Example of student’s presentation for English

E

(Black is beautiful) in Mahara

131

13 GEOGRAPHY:

Problems of the modern world

Marjetka Čas, Primary school Gustava Šiliha Laporje

Subject

Geography

Learning Design Title PROBLEMS OF THE MODERN WORLD

Year group

Grade 8 (average age: 13–14 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

Three lessons

Students:

ž

familiarise themselves with the current problems of the modern world,

ž

analyse case studies,

ples of good practice

ž

identify the causes and consequences of these problems,

xam

ž

evaluate meaningful solutions to problems,

E

Goals

ž

develop the ability to plan, assess and evaluate their own progress, document

their own progress,

ž

develop critical thinking, in particular self-reflection,

ž

develop skills of cooperation and communication (cooperative learning, live

communication, communication with ICT).

By discussing the theme Problems of the Modern World we want to sensitise

students for the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of current problems

of the modern world, with an emphasis on their finding solutions for them.

By using ePortfolio students develop their ability to plan, monitor and evaluate

their own progress. Their skills are built on basis of reading a selected range

of books and electronic resources, which they use to extract relevant data and

write them in the PowerPoint presentation using keywords. Students make their

learning plans – they create a set of learning objectives and plan appropriate

strategies for achieving those objectives.

They express their understanding of the topic by creating a PowerPoint

Concise description

presentation and with persuasive oral performance in the classroom.

133

of the content

To make the knowledge more sustainable, students form cooperative groups

to carry out cross-examination questions about the theme at various levels

of taxonomy.

Formative assessment plays a special role, as we observe students' knowledge;

students plan, monitor, evaluate and documente their own progress with their

own personal learning goals. They express motivation for learning within the

online learning environment Mahara that becomes also as a kind of a new social

network thorugh which students make »friends«. The role of ePortfolio is most

distinctive in developing skills of distance cooperation and communication

in terms of quality feedback among students themselves as well as between

students and teachers. The knowledge acquired in this way of work is certainly

longer lasting. Students develop important key competences of lifelong learning.

Keywords

feedback, peer assessment, active learning, interdisciplinary linking

Methodology

Individual work, group work and work in pairs

Cooperation, communication and teamwork

Students develop skills of cooperation and communication in terms of feedback,

critical friendship, which are developed through collaborative learning.

Responsibility to obtain their own knowledge and to learn about active

methods which help students to gain more sustainable knowledge more

efficiently

Students:

t

ž

are aware of their own knowledge in relation to the problems of the modern

den

world on basis of the current problems in Africa,

tu

ž

formulate a learning objective set in the explanatory personal form,

21st century skill(s)

ž

seek strategies for their own learning,

ž

plan their strategies for achieving the objectives,

ž

work through experience and design expertise,

ž

gather evidence of their own learning and knowledge.

ortfolio of a SeP

Critical thinking and, in particular, self-reflection

Students:

ž

develop metacognitive skills,

ž

make self-reflection of the whole learning process.

Skills and techniques to enable students to use Mahara and similar software

Students develop skills of critical thinking with self-analysis, reflect on the entire

process, plan improvements … according to the ePortfolio code.

ICT tools used

Mahara – (tabs My learning, Forums, Views)

Part 1: Students plan the process of learning

Plan and design learning in Mahara software (‘ My learning’ tab). Students fill

out the forms of the phases named ‘Prerequisites’ and ‘Setting goals’. As an

assisting tool, students may also use the materials, texts and images, prepared

in ePortfolio.

a) Students activate their prior knowledge about the theme Problems of the

modern world by brainstorming and extracting the most critical problems.

134

They choose a topic problem that will be investigated.

b) Students plan their personal goals. From the set of targets to choose from,

Students’ activities

they select the most important ones for them and record the information

in the ePortfolio.

c) Students plan strategies to achieve goals while considering the activities

that will lead them towards achieving the set goals. The strategies get

recorded in the ePortfolios. They compare their strategies with their

classmates’ objectives and provide peer-feedback.

d) Students co-create the criteria on basis of which the product will

be evaluated.

Part 2: Learning process

a) Pupils make meaningful statements from various books and online

resources and create a PowerPoint presentation. Pupils write down

keywords or phrases. In the introduction, the students write down goals

and purpose, define the research question or the hypothesis; in the core

they analyse the problem (causes, consequences, solutions); in conclusion

they sum up the findings and support or reject the hypothesis. At the end

they add a reference list of the resources. Participation is included in the

peer evaluation criteria. Students deliver their PowerPoint presentations.

They get feedback from classmates.

Students’ activities

b) After the presentation students answer classmates’ and teacher’s questions.

Part 3: Evaluation

Y

a) The ePortfolio recorded evidence of their learning.

HPA

b) The teacher moderates discussion about the PowerPoint presentations

RG

in a “round table”, asks questions, and together with pupils evaluates

EO

the presentation against the criteria. Pupils provide peer feedback.

G3

c) Students write the final self-reflections on the lessons learned while

addressing the problems of the modern world tracked and recorded

in the ePortfolio. Students complete a report on their learning in Mahara:

learning strategies, self-evaluation and learning evidence.

Other

Website

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL

Language

Criteria rubrics

Document

Appendix 1

for the preparation

Slovenian

of presentations

135

Students share the views Web link

https://listovnik.sio.si/

Materials

that enable them

to Mahara

during

to express feedback

activities

on the evidence for each Scan of interface

Appendix 2

Slovenian

other.

in Mahara

List of the problems

Word document – Appendix 3

of the modern world,

link to Mahara

Slovenian

that students

investigated



Final presentations

Scan of a product Appendix 4

Slovenian

of learners – evidence

of a student –

PowerPoint

Evidence

Evidence for

in Mahara

discussion: Problem

of the disap-pearrance

of islands in Oceania

Final presentations

Scan of a product Appendix 4

of learners - evidence

of a student – PPT

Evidence

Evidence for

t

in Mahara

discussion: Problem

of weather changes

dentu

in Central America

Final presentations

Scan of a product Appendix 4

of learners - evidence

of a student – PPT

Students’

ortfolio of a S

artefacts

Evidence

Evidence for

eP

in Mahara

discussion: Problem

Maori and their culture

Evidence of completion

Scan of interface

Appendix 5

of the assignment - given in Mahara

feedback (teacher)

and peer feedback

Students plan and design Scan of a product Appendix 6

their own learning

of a student

by using ‘ My learning’

(Mahara record).

tab in Mahara software.

Evidence of completion

Scan of interface

Appendix 7

of the assignment –

in Mahara

given feedback (teacher)

Feedback od evidence:

and peer feedback

Sexually Transmitted

Diseases in Africa

136

Video of students http://url.sio.si/

about work with

predstavitveni_video

ePortfolio

Photos

of students

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

Cooperative learning in pairs or groups in which students were actively

involved and responsibly took on their roles, developing the art of cooperation

and communication (live and on-line communication) worked out most

successfully. To a large extent students’ literacy skills were enhanced as

they used various reading and learning strategies, such as searching for key

information from different sources. Students developed critical thinking skills

through self-analysis. They reflected on the whole learning process

and planned improvements according to the ePortfolio code.

What went well

Integration of formative assessment to address the problems in the field of

YH

geography is a very effective approach, as it allows greater active involvement

PA

of students in all stages of education. It increases students' motivation and

RG

their responsibility for their own learning and achievements. Cooperation

EO

with peers, peer learning and feedback information has proved to be most

G

encouraging. By using ePortfolio learners can explore a particular problem

3

of their own choice and plan their working strategies. As a teacher, I can

monitor progress of each student. Such approach can be transferred to other

topics and subject areas, e.g. history, because it is efficient and up-to date.

The initial obstacles: mainly poor knowledge on how Mahara works and

my weakness in giving quality and in-depth feedback. Later the quality of

feedback was improved, because we used the ‘Sandwich approach’ and

ples of good practice: 1

related the feedback to the learning objectives.

xam

We did not achieve all the desired goals. Nevertheless, it isn’t the goal, it’s

E

What did not go well the path itself, which is the most important.

One of the possible disadvantages of formative assessment is monitoring

students without their feeling »involved« in the process itself. I myself always

try as much as possible to involve students as well. The disadvantages

of working with ePortfolio compared with its benefits are negligible. They are

mainly of technical nature, such as lack of adequate ICT equipment, and even

that is gradually improving.

The most important achievement of this lesson is the development of

137

students’ (self-) evaluation skills in terms of (self-)regulation, ie. planning

(designing their own learning objectives), choosing the strategies to achieve

the objectives, choosing the activities, monitoring and evaluating their own

progress, because in this way they proved that they can take responsibility

for their own learning.

Lessons learnt

The students showed great knowledge, which they discussed with confidence

and in a variety of formats.

Students became efficient in working with ePortfolio in Mahara. All

subsequent lessons were increasingly more effective, time-saving, and

technical problems were fewer and fewer. Students became »Mahara tutors«

to one another, as well as to younger lower grade students.





APPENDIX 1

Criteria rubrics for the preparation of presentations

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

APPENDIX 2

Example of students’ feedback on the evidence to each other

138





APPENDIX 3

List of the problems of the modern world investigated by students

YHPARG

EO G3

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

139



APPENDIX 4

Examples of students’ final presentations

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

140



APPENDIX 5

Evidence of completion of the assignment – teacher and peer feedback

YHPARG

EO G3

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

141



APPENDIX 6

Example of a student’s learning plan

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

142



APPENDIX 7

Evidence of completion of the assignment – teacher and peer feedback

YHPARG

EO G3

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

143

14 MATHEMATICS:

Using Math/finding Math

in everyday life

Mojca Novoselec, High School for Cosmetics, Pharmacy and Health, Ljubljana

Subject

Mathematics

Learning Design Title USING MATH / FINDING MATH IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Year group

High school, Grade 3 (average age: 17–18 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

October – December 2014

Students:

ples of good practice

ž

connect the learning goals with facts outside the class,

xam

ž

see the usefulness and importance of math,

E

Goals

ž

observe their math progress by saving their evidence of learning in Mahara,

ž

communicate in the Mahara learning environment,

ž

learn to use new learning environment.

Students find and describe the facts learned at school in everyday life. They

Concise description

prepare different presentations (PowerPoint, Prezi etc.). They create their

of the content

own math problems and reflect on what is important and what not. Then they

prepare for the final exams (theory).

Keywords

Mahara, geometric shapes

Methodology

individual work or in pairs

Mahara is used at school during regular hours.

21st century skill(s)

creativity, communication

ICT tools used

computers, smart phones, digital cameras

145

1. After discussing plain geometrical shapes (for almost two months) and

their caracteristics, we look for basic geometrical objects on the web

(www.e-um.si). I invite students to take their smart phones and go around the school building. I give them 15 minutes to find and take a photo of

some shapes they can find.

Absent students can take photos on their way home at some other

opportunity.

2. We make an account in Mahara and create ‘Matavantura’: I ask them to

write down some words about their life and goals to introduce themselves.

Students’ activities

They make a diary note.

3. We open ‘ My learning’: Geometric shapes and together we fill in the gaps (because they think they do not have any knowledge so far). Referring to

students’ previous knowledge increases their motivation (Appendix 1, 2

t

and 3).

den

4. Students create their profiles and set their photos in Mahara.

tu

5. Together we set their photos from activity 1 to Mahara (Appendix 4).

6. Everyday work and learning in class (books, notebooks).

7. Students make a conclusion in ‘ My learning’ tab and reflect on their test

grades.

ortfolio of a SeP

Other

In January the work in Mahara will be connected to the topic entrepreneurship.

Work in Math will continue on the field of functions.

Website

Mahara

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name/URL

Language

Instructions

Slovenian

Materials during

Books,

activities

Web page e-um.si

www.e-um.si

146

Wire models

Photos

Students’ artefacts

Word document

Slovenian

My learning in Mahara

Implementation

photos/videos

Digital photos

Slovenian



Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

What went well

Taking photos, arranging Mahara, connecting with student’s career

interests.

What did not go well

Too much Math theory. They are not coping well with Math and

therefore it is hard for them to connect theory and practice.

Mahara should stay fun, it’s not to be overused; can be used

as a supplement.

S

Lessons learnt

My learning is useful as it shows at the beginning that students have

some prior knowledge from primary school, and then at the end they can

ATICM

look back and see what was done. Students’s reflection on their results

E

is very precious.

ATH M4

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

147



APPENDIX 1

Some words about me in ‘My learning’ – Geometrical shapes

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

148



APPENDIX 2

Some words about me in ‘My learning’ – Geometrical shapes

S

ATICME

ATH M4

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

149



APPENDIX 3

Example of a student’s learning plan – Geometrical shapes

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

150





APPENDIX 4

Examples of photos of geometrical shapes taken by students

S

ATICME

ATH M4

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

Geometrical shapes at school



151

Geometrical shapes at home

15 HISTORY:

Traces of Roman influence

on the Slovenian territory

Mitja Turk, High School Grm, Novo mesto

Subject

History

Learning Design Title TRACES OF ROMAN INFLUENCE ON THE SLOVENIAN TERRITORY

Year group

Grammar School, Grade 1 (average age: 15 years)

Language

Slovenian

Duration

45-minute lesson in the computer room + 45-minute lesson in the regular

ples of good practice

classroom

xamE

Students:

ž

use a variety of historical sources to describe some of the Roman cultural

monuments on the territory of today's Slovenia,

Goals

ž

determine the appropriate time and space the selected historical monuments

belong to,

ž

develop skills of collecting, selecting and critically assessing the value and

usefulness of images available on the World Wide Web.

The purpose of the lesson is to learn about the Roman cultural heritage

on the territory of today's Slovenia. Students get a worksheet with eight cultural

monuments (via e-mail) that are inadequately described (just the name

of the discovery, a photograph or a description of the findings). Students

complete the worksheet by using the Internet where they find the appropriate

Concise description

sources and the missing information. They must consider the credibility

of the content

of the images from various online sources, cite the sources correctly

and describe the monument. Students fill out an AfL tab during the lesson.

After they complete their worksheets, they load them into Mahara. They

send their worksheets to the teacher who prints them out by the next lesson.

153

Students work in pairs and talk about what they have learnt during the lesson.

Keywords

using sources, using the Internet

Methodology

individual work

21st century skill(s)

ICT skills, digital literacy, critical thinking

ICT tools used

Mahara – a fully featured web application to build your ePortfolio

Students:

ž

fill out ‘ My learning’ tab,

ž

fill out the worksheet:

- insert appropriate illustrations or photos,

- cite sources properly,

- describe historical monuments,

- indicate the sites,

Students’ activities

- indicate the time of occurrence/date of origin,

- describe the characteristics of the findings,

- recognise the importance of Roman finds as an integral part of the cultural

heritage of Slovenia,

ž

check the worksheets during the lesson,

ž

sum up the learning results and process through interaction,

t

ž

reflect upon their achievements – they complete at least one the following

den

sentences: The hardest part was ...; Now, when I have filled out the worksheet,

tu

I understand ...; I was surprised ...; I enjoyed the process, because ...

Other

ortfolio of a S

Website

eP

154

Accompanying materials/resources for the learning design

Description

Type

File name / URL Language

‘My learning’

A tab in the on-line

tab

ePortfolio (Mahara)

Slovenian

An AfL tab in Mahara,

where students plan their

own learning (teacher

can comment on it) with

the help of the following

questions:

Y

Setting the goals

R

What is my goal?

TOIS

What do I want

H

to achieve?

5

Prior knowledge

What do I already know?

Slovenian

Materials

What can I already do?

during activities

Strategies

How can I achieve

my goal?

Evidence

ples of good practice: 1

How will I prove that

xam

I have achieved the goal?

E

Self-evaluation

How successful

have I been?

Have I reached my goal?

Empty worksheet

Appendix 2

Slovenian

Success criteria

for the worksheet

Appendix 3

Slovenian

evaluation

A student’s

An AfL tab in Mahara,

155

learning plan

where students plan

Appendix 1

Slovenian

Students’

their own learning

artefacts

Student’s worksheets

Evidence

filled with required

Slovenian

information

Implementation

photos/videos

Teacher’s reflection on the results and the lessons learnt

Description

Students:

ž	 were very excited to work with the selected resources (and computers),

What went well

ž	 gained basic knowledge about how to search for historical sources

on the internet,

ž	 felt responsible for the quality of the materials and their knowledge,

ž	 were motivated for this kind of work (though not very highly motivated).

Students:

t

ž	 needed a lot of help and suggestions when creating their learning plans,

den

ž	 were mostly satisfied with the brief descriptions and findings in an AfL tab

tu

in Mahara, where they planned their own learning,

What did not go well ž	 were reluctant to fill in the formative assessment sheet,

ž	 had difficulties in using the Mahara application – e.g. they were unable

to upload attachments.

ortfolio of a S

Teacher also faced various technical problems using the Mahara application.

eP

Teacher should:

ž	 encourage interaction among students,

ž	 encourage students to use the success criteria in order to improve

Lessons learnt

their worksheets,

ž	 provide timely feedback on what the students did well and what could

have been done better,

ž	 encourage further progress of students’ ICT skills.

156



APPENDIX 1

Example of a student’s learning plan

YR

TOIS H5

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

157



APPENDIX 2

Empty worksheet

t

dentu

ortfolio of a SeP

158



APPENDIX 3

Success criteria for the worksheet evaluation

YR

TOIS H5

ples of good practice: 1

xamE

159

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the people and the institutions that have made the

EUfolio project and this publication possible.

First of all, our appreciation is due to the European Commission for approv-

ing and funding the EUfolio project within the Lifelong Learning programme.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr Borut Čampelj from

the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, who supported our project

and looked after our dissemination activities. We wish to express our sin-

cere appreciation to Mr Mitja Čepič Vogrinčič from the Education Research

Institute, who evaluated our activities and contributed precious feedback to

our National Education Institute team.

The project work would not have been possible without the teachers of the

partner schools and the immense amount of energy and creative ideas they

invested in the project implementation. We owe special thanks to the cooper-

ating schools and the National Education Institute team of experts: Simona

Cajhen, Gorazd Sotošek, Stanka Preskar, Leonida Novak, Igor Lipovšek,

Saša Kregar, Vilma Brodnik, Sašo Stanojev, Tanja Rupnik Vec, Vera Bevc,

Mojca Suban, Suzana Ramšak, and Amela Sambolič Beganovič, who sup-

ported the teachers in their creative processes, giving them constructive

161

feedback and sharing reflections to advance their learning and professional

development.

And last but not least, our appreciation is due to colleagues Radovan Kranjc

and Sašo Stanojev, who supported us in our ICT skills and solved uncounta-

ble technical dilemmas; Alma Ahmetovič and Kristina Kham, who most care-

fully attended to our project organisation and finances; Alenka Štrukelj and

Vineta Eržen, who contributed invaluable comments and insights throughout

the creation of this book.





Document Outline


1 Introduction 1.1 EUfolio project

1.2 Slovenian pilot project

1.3 Developmental ePortfolio

1.4 Initial teacher training, 		further trainings and support 		for ePortfolio implementation 		in Slovenian pilot schools





2 Project evaluation 2.1 Aims of the evaluation 		and the methodology used

2.2 Results of the evaluation

2.3 Conclusion





3 Literature 1	ENGLISH: Communicative approach to teaching reading

2	ENGLISH: Writing a book review

3	SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE, GEOGRAPHY, ETHICS, PHYSICS: Traveling to Australia

4	CHEMISTRY: Hardness and soft water

5	CAREER GUIDANCE: Use of “My learning” in career guidance

6	SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE: Making a telephone conversation

7	ENGLISH: My portfolio

8	NATURAL SCIENCE: The tree in three seasons

9	FOLK DANCES: Creating a new folk dance choreography

10	ETHICS AND HISTORY: Development of the voting rights from the American revolution to the present days

11 PHYSICS: The pressure in solids

12	GEOGRAPHY, ENGLISH: Apartheid

13	GEOGRAPHY: Problems of the modern world

14	MATHEMATICS: Using Math/finding Math in everyday life

15 HISTORY: Traces of Roman influence on the Slovenian territory