Wednesday, February 11th, 2009...4:51 am
Slumdog millionaire e-portfolio theory
Have you watched the movie Slumdog millionaire? Those who have, may have drawn the same parallels as I have. Those who haven’t watched the movie, can read this blog and then go watch it. Before you ask… no, I don’t have shares in the movie!
For those who haven’t seen the movie, Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
Authorities challenged Jamal because they didn’t believe that a ’slumdog’ could possibly have any knowledge, especially since he had no formal learning in a school. It highlighted, to me, the fact that learning can be done in many ways… even on the streets! Life experience can be undervalued. Where can we record this valuable information and reflect on it as a learning process?
Experiential learning is the process of making making meaning from direct experience. For the adult learner especially, experience becomes a “living textbook” to which they can refer.
At the heart of all learning is the way we process our experiences, especially our critical reflections on our experiences.
What has this got to do with eportfolios?
Do you have lots of life experience and reflections, which aren’t recorded anywhere, and/or your formal learning experiences are in a cardboard box under your bed? This is where an eportfolio, could be valuable to you and to your students.
Last weekend I attended an eporfolio symposium in Brisbane. We looked at many types of both sophisticated and simplistic e-portfolios and observed that philosophically, they all serve the same purpose. Some of the options available are much more ‘polished’ (which is always a winner with me!), but basically it is all about the portfolio owner having ownership of their learning and control over their own eportfolio. What goes on it and who sees it is totally up to them. Keeping record of skills and experiences is a valuable tool for employment options and for accessing formal learning.
Here is a guide for eportfolio owners:
Here is one persons view on using a blog for an e-portfolio: Pros and cons of using blogs for an eportfolio
Did you see the parallels with Slumdog Millionaire?
Any comments? Feel free to express them or to subscribe to my blog.
3 Comments
February 18th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Hi Jenny Ive been thinking alot on how fab blogs are as e portfolios. Today what H.G.Tuttle says is no longer true.
There are so many tools that can document your tracks as you
digest, report, share, comment, blog, syndicate, mix, video, podcast your learning/network.
I’ve been thinking on a post about this very idea as to the most effective feedback eportfolio loop. So that the documentation is the conversation. Efficient for time and simultaneously allows for the unexpected free roaming connections that conversations across platforms/networks fosters. So not too prescriptive but a guide.
Ive only just signed in for the challenge,been fiddling around with blog but this looks more directed learning!
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February 18th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
@ruthhoward,
Thanks for your interesting comments. I have not gone into detail about eportfolios but wanted to put the ‘thought to paper’. Good luck with your research and with the blog challenge. I have just completed it and found it very useful.
Cheers
Jenny
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February 19th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Yes ,thanks Jen,there are so many connections to make. It’s easy for me to miss huge seas of information- finding how it fits together and how to re purpose it for learning.
I find I’ve gotto keep swimming on the surface of this digi sea until just by force of practice a new wave of understanding flows…
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