Tools for eportfolio: the search continues

 Before the intro to educational technology class I had never contemplated all the things I do as part of a eportfolio. I would usually just consider them stepping stones and things I do. But now that I'm teaching and learning about educational technology I had to reflect and remember all the things that I did when I was younger. They serve a purpose now because I can compile all of them and be able to show the skills I have acquired along the way. Therefore I'm going to list some of the relevant things that I've done and which will be included in my eportfolio. Now, some of them are now extinct but as a tribute I will include them here. For the love of memory! 💔

Growing up at the quick transitional stages of the dial-up era of the 52kb p/s when the songs took days to download and chances are you might have gotten a virus on your computer, a nice little trojan, there was also the need for us to communicate.  Myspace came storming along with Hi5 and other pre Facebook platforms for social interaction.  During the Myspace craze I learned to do some basic HTML code because I wanted to display my page as cool as possible, delivering a music playlist. But that didn't stop there. I had to make it visually appealing and therefore began using photoshop 7.0 (yes, that old) and creating vectors with my pictures. I was that cool. That was it, nothing more. Thank you Tom for the memories. 

What can I include in my eportfolio from the myspace experience? I have again come back to relearning html and expanding with other computer languages which allow me to display a more intimate and personal page.  Don't worry we will not be displaying the glitter infested pictures on my eportfolio. 

I bet by now you already got some flashback memories brewing.

Another hobby that I had was broadcasting my own radio show. In the times when copyright infringement was not such an issue we had WINAMP! (

What would whip the llama’s a**?

With this free software you were able to play any type of music file. Amazing I know! You didn't have to download any more of those stinking CODECS. The other cool thing that you could do with it was broadcast using your bandwidth and at that time I had just acquired DSL and was able to share my cool radio station. 

 

The reason I'm including all of these relics of the internet is because I never know when they would've come handy. The skills learned along the way have now materialized again when I saw how eportfolio were created and the purpose they served.  I have always been short with words but when I was on my "radio show" I had to put many things together to come up with at least 1 hour of random stuff for a show.  We had a shout cast inside the winamp and that allowed me to do that.  

Now if I want to add a feature to my eportfolio displaying those skills to serve my purpose I would create a podcast using podbean. PODBEAN (podcast creator page)  which is free and very easy to use. 

Adding this tool to my eportfolio and or any podcast page could help me display that I'm aware of what are podcast how they are created and their potential.  As a teacher it's a great tool to help students speak and be able to edit their comments, rehearse and record a well elaborate "show" or just expressing themselves with full thoughts. 

The more I think about the things I do now for my kids and to be able to teach them in a very well elaborate manner online and in the classroom, leads me to believe that I grew up in a very well immersed media world.  Displaying the skills that you have about a program is also very helpful especially when that software can be a tool to do your work more efficiently. Since adobe photoshop is a for pay software I have taken my time and learned how to edit visuals on an open source software. GIMP is an open source software very familiar with adobe photoshop as a matter of fact some shortcuts used are also the same. Now in order to display that you are able to create and use it as a tool for your benefit and the efficiency of your job I have looked at this other tool, but before here is a picture of how gimp looks if you are interested in a free photo editing tool. 

To record your screen and voice I use OBS which is another open source software that can do that.  This software allows you to record and also if you are able to link it to your youtube page you can livestream.  The software affordance is very practical and useful. All the tools can be displayed on the screen or if you want under the menu tabs. 

These are a few of the tools I constantly use as a teacher for me and my students.  But I'm never tired of trying something else. Displaying your skills on a eportfolio and how agile you are at using the tools you say you know can be a powerful getting hired tool.  As an employer it will give them the scope they need and the skills there are looking for even before meeting you.  

What we went over was just a brief explanation of where my technology understanding comes from and where it is going.  The skills acquired as the years went by and how I'm using them to my benefit at my current teaching job.  The best part is passing down those skills and letting kids know that in a tech world there are ways we can make the problem of money or not be able to afford the latest software not a problem.  Teaching them about open source gives me the hope that it will continue to be that way for years to come and that innovation does not come from a money owned company but from the creativity and need to be freed from any constraints of those types.