More Ideas for ePortfolios & WordPress

I am constantly looking for new ways to have students embrace and take ownership for their learning through their use of ePortfolios.  Call it a fetish, or a passion, but I can't stop thinking about it.  So over the past few weeks, I have attempted to created the following things that may make the integration of ePortfolios a little more seamless in our school environment at AES.

Here are two examples of how it could look:

1. a two column version in WordPress theme Twenty Eleven
2. a three column version in the WordPress theme Raindrops 

These are some of the goals I have in mind . . .

Goal #1: I would like for my students to begin to maintain their blog from grades 5-12.  In order to do this, they will need space and organization for each year they are in school.  They can create this by creating a parent page for each year they are in school: Year 6, Year 7 and so on and so forth.  In addition, it is vital for students to begin to distinguish the difference between their online social presence (ie. Facebook) and their online academic presence (ie. ePortfolio).  Students can create subpages for each subject area during their academic year.  These subpages can be used as places of reflection where students can reflect on their learning each quarter or semester of an academic year.

Goal #2: The ePortfolio becomes the student's portal for everything school related.  I am working on having our MS students create links from their blogs back to the main inks at the school such as the school home page, our email server, the library, our online grading portal, and other relevant sites related to the given curriculum.  In addition, students can create generic links to the main subject areas they study each year (ie. math, science, Spanish, etc) and create a direct link to their teacher's blogs each year.  In turn, their blog/ePortfolio becomes their main portal to the school.  One stop shopping works for everyone.  The school can then direct parents directly to their student's blog as their portal to things happening at school.  This also allows parents to see what their child is presenting of themselves to the outside world.  An extra set of eyes on a student's online presence is always welcome.

Goal #3: Students can begin to link their Google Calendars and the Google Calendars of their teachers to their blog/ePortfolio to serve as their online agenda.  

Goal #4: Students can begin to link to something like Shelfari or GoodReads to showcase their independent reading outside of class. Again, this provides students an additional opportunity to begin to showcase their academic profile instead of their social profile online.

How are you using blogs/ePortfolios to enhance student learning at your school?  I am all ears and somehow, I constantly find the time to learn as much as I can about this passion.