Efolio

I signed up for an e-folio page. Which is a website hosted by the state of MN for students and others to use as an online professional portfolio. It is targeted at students so they can have an online portfolio of what they do in their 12 years in school.

Mine is a very basic start up page.
http://www.debrasnell.efoliomn2.com/index.asp

I can see a lot of great uses for this. In fact I think that our career center shows this to students.
This seems like a really great tool for showcasing skills. I know an ELL teacher who wants to have her students do their resumes online and this would be a great site for her. I also know some home schooled students that I think could use this.

It is a nice service and I would definitely recommend it.

Ning and ipods

Ning was recommended as a good site to try for online group communications.  I joined a web 2.0 group on Ning and read a little.  Quite a few of the postings were travel adds.  The site looked pretty easy to use though.  It made me wonder if we could use the district's wiki pages to create the same thing.  If we could then we wouldn't have to worry so much about hackers getting on and seeing what our students were saying or doing.  I think I will check into that.

On a slightly different note.  We were given a set of ipod touches to use at our school.  I have been carrying one around for a few weeks.  Wow has it changed the way I work.  I carry it with me everywhere.  I can set alarms to remind me that I need to check the computer lab "now" or be in the library in ten minutes.  It carries my calendar, my e-mail, my to do list, and of course a few games.  I downloaded an app the other day that will allow me to record and track my spending.  (Hmmm.....that might be depressing)  

The reason I write this is that our school has had a policy of "no electronic devices".  As smart phones and other devices become available, I think we as educators might want to start thinking of these things as our friends.  They could be a way to help our students get organized in a way they have never been before.  (Of course we will need to do a little training on responsile use.)  When the time comes to turn in the ipod, I will have to go buy one. (Of course now that I have the spending tracking app, I can save up for it.)