Vi Harrington's reflections on her digital portfolio; changes and thoughts about the challenges of technology for an older teacher.

1. Digital Portfolio Reflection
Vi Harrington
CUR 545
Dr. Pat Kelly
August 28, 2017

2. Week 1 - 21st Century Teaching and Learning
• 21st Century Technology Self Assessment
• Reflection: I am not a “tech” person by
any means and finding the courage to
develop these technology skills was
difficult.
• One of the main goals of this course was
to be able to integrate technology into
the curriculum. It is difficult when
teachers themselves have not mastered
these skills.
• It does give me a baseline of where to
start and I feel more determined to learn
as much as I can to help my students who
have even less access to technology than
me.
• Mission Statement
• Reflection: This assignment was made
clear by my own personal lack in this field
of technology. I am a physical education
teacher by training with almost no
training in technology.
• My main concern is to learn as much as I
can to help my students, while being
open to learn from them and other
teachers as quickly as possible without
losing hope over being overwhelmed with
the technology. It can be scary.

3. Week 1 - 21st Century Teaching and Learning
• Technology Standards
• Reflection: This assignment
allowed me the opportunity to
compare the ISTE standards to
American Samoa College and
Career Readiness Standards.
• I chose to use the Pikto Chart
software and found it extremely
difficult to create an
infographic. Although I ask my
students to make collages – in
American Samoa we still use
magazines and glue on
posterboard. Making an
• Word Cloud
• Reflection: Before this class I had
never heard of a Word Cloud. It is a
very cool concept, but once again,
very new to me.
• I used Wordle, but it didn’t appear
correctly in the link from the Digital
Portfolio (which was the 2nd part of
the assignment).
• I will try to work more with these
new tools: Wordle was easy to use – I
was just unfamiliar with the
software.

4. Week 2 - Diverse Classroom Learners and
Technology
• Annotated Bibliography
Reflection: Our team used a
Word document which was a
relief for me because it is what I
am comfortable with. It was a
good break from the challenging
first week and the team really
came together to make the
annotated bibliography an easier
project than last week.
• Later April loaded the data onto a
site called lino.com
• Media Application Scenarios
• Reflection: This was my first
experience using Animoto. It was
fairly simple but the limited
features of graphics was
frustrating. Already I’m not a
“tech” teacher, but I did - do my
best and saw that once a person
tries a new app or presentation tool
– it’s not so bad after all.
• I may ask my students to try the
Animoto and allow them to help me
feel more comfortable with my own
weaknesses in technology.
Students are not usually “afraid” of
technology like some adults.

5. Week 3 - Lunch and Learn
• Lunch and Learn
Reflection: This was my favorite of all the assignments. PowToon is so
much fun! It is a presentation tool like PowerPoint but it has a movie
feature that makes it look like I’m a “techy”!
• The site allows you to record your voice and add animation, text and
cool transitions into the presentation. However, my recording studio was
not ideal (on my patio at home). The voice recording was the hardest
because I am not used to hearing my own voice – I felt like I was
listening to someone else.
• Beside the audio challenges - I could see how many teachers like me
NEED to try more technology to get comfortable with it so we can help
our students use this nice software.
• I will definitely assign PowToon for my students.

6. Week 4 - Emerging Trends in Integrating
Technology
• Emerging Trends in Technology
• Reflection: My hardest week in
the course; I tried to get the
tabs in order from week one to
six! Then, I posted my work
from a PowerPoint to One Drive
and the link wouldn’t play the
audio in the digital portfolio. I
wasn’t aware of the problem
until I was docked half the
points - (a week later) for not
having it ready which just
reinforced my fears of
technology.
• Research Based Resources
• Reflection: The group
assignment was completed and
the link was easily added to my
digital portfolio.
• Teaching me that collaboration
can really help those of us who
struggle with technology. April
& Gail were such a support
throughout this class.

7. Week 5 - Legal and Ethical Issues
• Digital Divide Editorial
• Reflection: This was a writing
assignment that helped me look at
the plagiarism issues in our school.
We all know what we should do,
but we often turn the other way.
• Being an honest teacher would
mean that I should call out some of
the teachers & administrators that
should be setting a better example
to our students.
• I simply posted the entire essay on
the digital portfolio.
• Legal and Ethical Resources
• Reflection: This was a simple
assignment that had students find
sites that talked about copyright
laws and plagiarism, student
honesty policies.
• This assignment was good for
research practice. It helped me to
see how a search engines are so
helpful. Finding the right search
will give better results and I use
this method a lot with my students.

8. Week 6 - Best Practices and Trends for
Technology Integration
• Best Practices and Trends for
Technology Integration
• Reflection: This assignment was
difficult because of the cost of the
PowToon premium package. I used
the free version but it limited me to
only 5 minutes but the project should
be at least 7 – 10 minutes. The
software is easier to use now that I
have used it three times. I will
definitely have my students try it
(after I work with it more and perfect
my own digital portfolio).
• Textbook Proposal
• Reflection: I recommended the
Social Media, Social Life; How
Teenagers View their Digital Lives to
the principal to use it as a bridge for
parents. In our community many
parents are not as tech
knowledgeable as students. This
often makes parents feel afraid of
technology. I want to help parents
with that because I share that fear.
This class has helped me to face my
fears and learn so I can help my
students and their parents more.

9. Professional Development
• Week 1 - 21st Century Teaching and Learning - The technology self-assessment
was good for me to see where I am. Many of the older staff members would
benefit if we used this tool at our next PD.
• Week 2 - Diverse Classroom Learners and Technology - The Media Application
Scenarios was helpful to me and could help to start a conversation with our
school to create a Professional Learning Community (PLC).
• Week 3 - Lunch and Learn – The idea is very useful, but rescheduling times to
meet after school would be a challenge because of the staggered lunch schedule
at our school. Maybe a BYOD (bring your own device) could be more effective
for our school. Kahoot! Would go over very well with a majority of our younger
staff.

10. Professional Development
• Week 4 - Emerging Trends in Integrating Technology – I could actually
use this presentation at a PD. Sharing some of the technology that I have
used this summer would help other teachers like me to try new
technology.
• Week 5 - Legal and Ethical Issues – The issue of PLAGIARISM is so
prevalent in our school It would make a great PD, plus it is so important
that students learn the law & how to use citations.
• Week 6 - Best Practices and Trends for Technology Integration – My
Digital Portfolio may not be much now, but it could be conversation
starter for the staff to build our technology skills to better serve our
students with the limited resources that we have at TES.