At Jacobsskolan in Hässleholm, Sweden, teachers are starting to implement digital portfolios for students in the Vehicle and Transport program. The portfolios will be introduced in Year 1 Swedish and English courses to create work across subjects. The goal is for the digital portfolio to serve as a living document that students update throughout their education until graduating with a vocational degree. The process involves determining portfolio content with input from teachers, companies, and students; introducing the concept and having students create initial portfolio pieces in their first year; ongoing work in subsequent years to update and add to the portfolio; and having a completed portfolio to use when applying for jobs after graduation.
1. Working with digital portfolios
JACOBSSKOLAN, HÄSSLEHOLM
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
2. Vehicle and
Transport Program
-How we work across subjects and
create a living portfolio.
At Jacobsskolan in Hässleholm, during the autumn semester
of 2019, we have chosen to start working with digital
portfolios on the Vehicle and Transport program in the
Erasmus + project What makes a good digital portfolio?
We have chosen to start in year 1 of the courses Swedish and
English in collaboration with the teachers of the vehicle and
transport program. In both Swedish and English, the purpose
of the subjects are to produce various types of texts and
adapt their language to the correct context.
For this reason, we see the digital portfolio as an opportunity
to create work across subjects as well as to color the
vocational education in the upper secondary school courses.
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
3. Vehicle and
Transport Program
-How we work across subjects and
create a living portfolio.
Since the students start working in year 1, our aim at
Jacobsskolan is that that the digital portfolio should serve as
a living document until the students take their degree.
Students learn Swedish and English and get knowledge of
what the portfolio can contain of and how it should be
adapted linguistically in order to be as useful as possible
when the student is applying for a job.
In order for this to suit all students, whether they are
studying for university preparatory courses or not, the
vocational teachers can then continue working with the
digital portfolios and make sure that they are updated.
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
5. Step 1: Determine content
It is important that vocational teachers, upper secondary school teachers, companies and
students agree on what a digital portfolio should contain.
At Jacobsskolan we have decided it should contain:
- Personal letter
- Resume (previous work experience, internship, other qualifications, language skills)
- Pictures or movies
-Short presentation of the student´s diploma project (preferably in the form of a video)
-References from previous internship and work
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
6. Step 2: Introduce
As the students read Swedish and English during the same year, there are good opportunities for
collaboration between the courses.
We introduce the step with an introduction of what a digital portfolio is and how it can be useful
as well as an introduction of what a personal letter and resume is.
After that, the students can write a personal letter and resume, in both Swedish and English, to
a fingered job advertisement. Further on the students will take three pictures and insert in their
resume. This is to open up the possibility for students to think about image and film in the job
application.
Students then save their work in their Google Drive and the idea is that the documents could be
something the students can update and ad new experiences to.
How everything should be collected and presented is still to ask. (Google sites or Powerpoint
presentation?).
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
7. Step 2: Introduce (examples for the students)
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
8. Steg 2: Introducera (våra exempel till eleverna)
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
9. Step 3: On going work
When the students then continue their schooling in grade 2 and grade 3, the idea is that they
will continuously update their digital portfolio. Partly by updating already existing material
(personal letter and resume) and partly by creating new material (pictures, film, diploma
project, certificates, diploma, etc.).
In this way, they always have an updated digital portfolio with the student's overall knowledge.
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565
10. Step 4: A vocational degree
When the students then leave Jacobsskolan and take their vocational degree, the student has a
digital portfolio that summarizes the student's knowledge during the three school years. It can
be at use when the student is applying for a job.
ERASMUS+ 2019-1-SE01-KA202-060565