Digication Blog

Michael Skeldon, a teacher and Academic Dean at the art-focused Beacon Charter School, created a portfolio to lead seniors through their Capstone project. This project is a required element in the State of Rhode Island's Performance-Based Graduation Requirements.

For the project, students create an autobiographical film. They use Digication to post each component of the process, from journal entries exploring potential ideas through several revisions of the screenplay. In addition, students must comment on other students' work at each step of the process. Upon completion of their projects, students must present their films to a panel of judges consisting of artists and other stakeholders from the community as well as faculty and staff from Beacon. The Capstone process culminates in a public film festival at the historic Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, RI.

Mike's portfolio has detailed information for students, such as the Capstone schedule, syllabus, links to each student's portfolio as well as resources that assist with various phases of the project.

Students create an academic portfolio in the ninth grade and update it throughout their studies at Beacon. In addition, students are working on their own portfolios which include some of their Capstone project process as well as other information about their experience at Beacon Charter.

Links:
Mr. Skeldon's Capstone Course 2007-2008
Beacon Charter School e-Portfolio Directory

Amhrán agus Damhsa ar an Sean-Nós
Catherine Crowe, who teaches at George Brown College, hosts this portfolio, created by Briain O hAirt, which covers the Sean-Nós style of Irish singing as well as the annual Sean-Nós event. Numerous images and videos make it visually appealing as well as informative. It's very comprehensive, with reviews, links to resources, photo galleries and more. Those of you looking to highlight your events or create informative portfolios should look here for inspiration.

We feature our favorite e-Portfolios on the Digication home page and also on our pages of recommended teacher and student e-Portfolios. If you have one you're proud of, send us a link through the contact page!

To counteract falling test scores and high dropout rates, Hope High School was reorganized into three smaller learning communities in 2002. Several teachers from the arts-based Hope Arts have Digication portfolios, including English and Writing Development teacher Megan Thoma, who set up her e-Portfolio "as a tool for the students in my classes, their parents, and anyone interested in the work being done at Hope". She says:

"I like how easy it is to update. When I mentioned that I posted homework every day on my site, my students teased me and suggested I spent hours online. Little do they know, it takes me thirty seconds before I head out the door to go home."

Links:
Megan's e-Portfolio
Hope Arts e-Portfolio

We are always impressed by the wealth of good work in our directories, and we wanted to give our visitors an easier way to find e-Portfolios that might interest them. Now, school directories can be browsed by category. Schools with admin accounts can easily create categories, such as academic departments, to which portfolios in their directory can be added.

Otis College of Art and Design is already using categories to showcase their productive and abundant community. Check out the Otis directory and click the "By Category" tab to check it out. Otis decided to categorize portfolios under academic departments as well as by the role of their owners (student, staff, faculty or alumni).

Here are some great new e-Portfolios we wanted to share with you. We feature our favorite e-Portfolios on the Digication home page and also on our pages of recommended teacher and student e-Portfolios. If you have one you're proud of, send us a link through the contact page!

Curvin McCabe Visual Arts: 6th Grade Flat Pack Toy Design
Brian Hutcheson, recent alumni of Rhode Island School of Design's Art + Design Education Department, created this portfolio to highlight a fantastic Flat Pack Toy lesson. It's filled with incredible student work and resources for teachers in any discipline to create Flat Pack Toys with their students. The Flat Pack Toy template as well the student creations can be downloaded as pdfs so you can create your own!


Pickerington High School Central Art Department
Pickerington High School
This e-Portfolio helps art students at Pickerington High choose their art classes by offering an interactive syllabus for each class, complete with work samples and detailed descriptions of each lesson. Students can also be inspired by senior portfolios and find out about the school's Art Club.

Artists Abroad
Smithfield High School
Three art teachers take students on an exciting 20-day trip abroad to France, Italy and Greece. Their e-Portfolio includes a detailed schedule, information about the places they're visiting, daily photos, and more.

Bell High Literary Arts Magazine
Bell High School
An art and a writing class at Bell High joined forces to create this multi-media literary magazine. It does a great job highlighting the talents of both classes, including videos, poems, photo collages visualizing poetry, and more.