Goal Setting and Reflection with Digital Portfolios

I promised to write this post back in December. It’s late for a good reason; I’ve been working on a BIG PROJECT - this year the TAB Inc. Board is offering scholarships to the TAB Institute! If you want to learn more, find it at the bottom of this post.

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Goal Setting and Reflection with Digital Portfolios

I use digital portfolios with students in my self-directed class, Studio, in two main ways:

• As a record of daily work

• As a place to reflect and set goals

What I ask students to write about on their portfolios changes based on where we are in the class. The three stages of the class, which are designed to scaffold artistic decision-making, are explained below.

My expectations for digital portfolios include posting about what students created for “Learn” and “Formal Project” in stage 1 of the class. Then I ask for a post every two weeks during the stage 2 “Studio Work” portion of the class, which includes daily photos of work and reflection from questions students choose from a list I created (see below). During the “Final Project” stage I give students a break from daily documentation and only ask for an artist statement and photos posted at the end. We use Google Sites to make portfolios.

Digital portfolios are worth 20% of the class grade. Why? I want the majority of the grade to be based on the process of art-making.

The video below is a tour of one student’s digital portfolio. As you look at the art and writing it’s helpful to know that they are an excellent writer who enjoys posting and that English is not their first language. They are also hearing impaired, which is very relevant to understanding the final project.

Thank you for reading and watching! Questions? Ideas for other posts? Let me know in the comments.

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Now, on to TAB Institute scholarships!

The TAB Institute (linked), which I co-direct, is a week-long, immersive, intensive look at TAB pedagogy and practice. Participants learn from incredible TAB teachers in the classroom and get to experience the magic of the amazing studio classroom we set up by creating work as artists. This is the gold standard of TAB professional development, but it’s expensive and not everyone can afford to attend. I’ve been working with TAB, Inc., to offer help and this year they are generously offering four scholarships: two to regional leaders - teachers who lead in their communities or have a plan to, and two more for pre-service art education students.

If you are interested in these scholarships, please read more information and apply here (linked).