I have already opined about how I would do these differently next semester, so I will spare you any more rambling on that topic. What I want to share (with her permission) is one of the best examples that I saw in reviewing all 80+ of these over my Christmas break. You can check out her ePortfolio by clicking here. (You can view the requirements here. There's a lot I would change about these--mainly that there's too much stuff. I am going to simplify these for 2nd semester.)
While it's not perfect, this student's ePortfolio is impressive. Here's what impressed me the most--the fact that she not only displayed evidence from activities we did during the course of the semester, but she created new evidence in the form of mindmaps, Voicethreads, and Glogs. She really focused on making connections, showing me she understood, using the knowledge in different ways. And she is a freshman in high school. A freshman.
She really succeeded in showing me that she knew it, owned it, and could use it. When I see her, I'm going to give her a high-five for showing level 5. It was one of the best Christmas presents I received.
This is what ePortfolios are all about. It's what makes them powerful. Some of my students did not get to bask in the glow of that power, thinking that the purpose of this was for them to repeat back answers to objectives to me (or to blow it off completely, since it wasn't a multiple-choice test they were forced to take during class). I can't blame them; that's what they're programmed to do when school has not been relevant to them in any fashion since they started schooling.
But that's why I gave gobs of narrative feedback on everyone's portfolio, so students can spend the first three days back from break doing the fixing and rearranging and adding and creating for their portfolios that they should have done. I want them to see that this is relevant to them; indeed, these portfolios are all about them. I'm not going to let them blow it off or try to get by with level 1, 2 or 3 work. It's important to me, but it's more important to help them see what true learning is, and when they have actually, truly, and unequivocally learned something--that the knowledge is theirs.
For more information on ePortfolios, you can check out the links below.