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I started to create my ePortfolio on this wix website during EDLD 5305 when I had no clue what it included nor why.  Knowing why you do something is always more important than just doing the action.  There is purpose behind the portfolio now.  I assumed it was just an easy way to collect all of my data. Once there is ownership in your work with a dedicated goal in mind, the portfolio becomes an extension of who you are.  While I will have to heavily edit what I started, I am fine with the idea because it will give me an opportunity to show true ownership.  I look forward to growing in this process throughout the duration of the class. (edit) Well, looking back at what an ePortfolio is, I understand now what it takes to make a decent one.  The definition on Dr. Harapnuik's post called Minimalist Definition of an Eportfolio states that an ePortfolio is simply "a learners digital evidence of meaningful connections."  I've noticed that I've struggled knowing what meaningful was until I finished making sense of the purpose of the Eportfolio.  Documenting this journey is a process that should be done on a consistent basis in order to have honest output.  There are days when there is frustration.  There are days when there is pride in my successes.  I've found that I tend to only want to write about the later.  If I am documenting meaningful connections, I need to do a better job of documenting my struggles also.  They tend to stick with me much longer, unfortunately being a little bit more meaningful. Source Harapnuik, D. (2015, August 4). Minimalist definition of an eportfolio. It’s About Learning. http://www.harapnuik.org/?p=5934

Ownership is tricky. What do we really own? Do I own my car or my house if I still have payments remaining. If someone can tell me what to do with the things that I think I own or even lawfully take them away, do I really own them? I've been learning about ePortfolios and what constitutes ownership. Ownership of an ePortfolio is not really about money or payments, it is about the control over what goes into it, how it is assessed and why. Teachers would have students create these electronic portfolios and then tell them exactly what to put inside of it. Not only that, there also would be strict guidelines on how it should look and how it would be graded. This isn't ownership, it is copying the teacher's model while adding a little bit of individuality. That definitely isn't true ownership and it definitely isn't true learning. Gardener Campbell, a Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning, stated that "students must be effective architects, narrators, curators, and inhabitants of their own digital lives". He stated that "students with this digital fluency will be well-prepared for creative and responsible leadership". (Campbell, 2009). Students need to be in control of their learning in order to create meaningful, worthwhile connections. Obtaining ownership of an ePortfolio also means letting students have flexibility in how they are assessed. If a teacher gives a rubric to a student that details exactly how a project or assignment is supposed to look, does that student really have any intellectual freedom? Probably not. There are times when a student can feel that their ideas have to fit inside of a small box due to a rubric because it tells them exactly what to think. In a 2015 post by Andrew Rikard it was stated that “We don’t really own our ideas if our ideas are controlled by a grading entity.” (Rikard, 2015). Students must be guided in the right direction, but not completely controlled. We have learned that the COVA model (choice, ownership, voice, and authentic assignments) and CSLE (creating significant learning environments) can give us control over the design of entire learning environments." (Harapnuik et al., 2018, pp. 43). In Dr. Harapnuik's article "It's About the Learning: Who Owns the Eportfolio", it was stated that we should "effectively model what we expect our students to do with their ePortfolio by showing them ours, then the feedback we can provide to our students will be much more valuable and more openly received." (Harapnuik, 2019). It is okay to guide them by letting them see examples of prior students work as well as the teacher's work. This idea will still lead to authentic student output because they have recognized the direction in which they should be headed. This is ownership. When students feel the freedom to express themselves in the capacity in which they feel comfortable, then they will be moving towards ownership. It is the teacher's job to give them the opportunity to have intellectual freedom in their education. Sources Campbell, W. G. (2009, September 4). A personal cyberinfrastructure. Educause. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure Harapnuik, D. (2019, May). Who owns the ePortfolio. Harapnuik. http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6050 Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux, T., & Cummings, C. (2018). COVA (0.9 ed.) [E-book]. http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=7291 Rikard, A. (2015, August 10). Do i own my domain if you grade it? EdSurge. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it

Learning isn't fun. Learning is painful. Well, it is painful when a person isn't engaged or they aren't excited about what they are learning. I would be willing to assume that the majority of our learning takes places in the first 18 years of our lives. As babies we have to learn through experience. In the school system we are beaten down with facts, stats, and stories that we are forced to memorize for a test that will prove you are good at rote memorization. Students endure this process all the way through high school up to the point where they are done with school (You ever hear of senioritis). Finally, the counselor tells the seniors, "Congratulations! You are ready to graduate!". Maybe this is why high school seniors are so happy, why they cry when they graduate from high school. Maybe they feel like they survived the school system. What if I told you that acquiring an education didn't have to be an arduous task that made students hate school? What if I told you that students would no longer forget what they learned as soon as the quiz or test was over and they could retain the information they recently absorbed? What if I told you that schools could become a place where students wanted to go to enjoy learning just as much as they enjoy the social aspect of it? Well, its possible. For all of the people that enjoy the movie "The Matrix", I'm pretty sure you have picked up on the quote that is falsely associated with Morpheus's (Laurence Fishburne) speech to Neo (Keanu Reeves) involving the blue pill and the red pill. (https://screenrant.com/matrix-meme-what-told-you-not-in-movie/) The blue pill gives Neo the option to forget the truth of the matter and go back to his regular ordinary life. The Red pill will let Neo break free from the matrix and live with the true state of existence forever. Learning doesn't have to be painful. Learning in school can be fun and challenging at the same time. Learning can be rigorous and engaging while students retain the information longer than a few days after the test. It begins with the elements that make up an ePortfolio. Dr. Dwayne Harapnuik defined an ePortfolio as "A learner's digital evidence of meaningful connections." Students have a collection of their projects and assignments that they have gathered over the years. What stood out to me after reading his post was the words evidence and meaningful. I always thought that when I could provide any type of evidence of my accomplishments, they were similar to trophies. We put trophies on a mantle or in a case and leave them there for people to admire. This is our pride in our accomplishments. Being meaningful means something is worthwhile. Ideally, learning should be worthwhile. If I am working for 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for something that isn't necessarily meaningful, I have to ask the question of "Why?". Why would I waste this time? Is there a better, more efficient way to go through the process? Yes, there is. An ePortfolio. When researching why an ePortfolio was necessary, I found that students tend to gain real understanding that lasts compared to a superficial short term memory. Dr. Harapnuik's article stated that there were three main ideas that demonstrated why using an ePortfolio was necessary. Students potentially had active and deeper learning. ePortfolios had an opportunity to present the COVA concept. (Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authenticity in assignments) 21st Century assessments were now available. My interpretation, or summation was that when students are actively engaged in learning, they begin to search for and want to know the answer to "why"? They aren't just simply doing worksheets and packets in a classroom. The University of Minnesota's center for educational innovation stated that active learning is "when students are commonly engaged in small or large activities centered around writing, talking, problem solving or reflecting." Learning about COVA was very interesting. To me it was about taking the shell of the educational system out and throwing out all the things you didn't like and then adding the better pieces to get the best results. It was almost like taking a regular old car and getting rid of the engine, transmission, alternator and brakes, and then updating it with 2022 parts and functions. It will look good and potentially run much better. Even if you can't drive very well, the car can do most of it for you. The car now can start on its own, pretty much drive on its own, and even park if you need it to do so. When students have the option to have Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic lessons, they feel they are in control. We, as teachers, just have to make sure they are still headed in the right direction every now and then. "The ePortfolio is also an example of collaborative technology tool that fades into the background as the learners use it to share their voice and collaborate and communicate with their peers in and out of their classrooms."(Harapnuik et al., 2018, pp. 87). Using an ePortfolio is very important because rarely in life will an adult face a do or die situation when all the work they have done comes down to one test or one grade. Let's be honest. It happens, but not as often as we think. If this is the case, why do we base our students success off of one test. If a student's SAT score isn't as sufficient as a University would like, they could lose any scholarship opportunity they had as well as potentially not being admitted to the school. An ePortfolio could document all of the trophies, or more specifically, all of the accomplishments that a student has created over a four year period. I would much rather judge a student over a four year period, a full body of work, compared to one test. That student could have test anxiety, lack of sleep, sickness that day or anything else that could result to a poor test score. An ePortfolio is a more accurate representation of how a student will perform once on campus. If a student understands why an ePortfolio is beneficial they will usually be more motivated to fill it with their achievements and put it on the "eMantle" for everyone to see. The students will be more likely to start and finish their projects. If the students know why they are doing what we are asking them to do, we have to focus a lot less on discipline and a lot more on guiding their learning. Now, when high school seniors graduate from high school their tears won't be those tears screaming that we've endured the stats and facts that we will never use. Those tears will be tears of joy because they have tangible proof that they have collected enough information that validates them for their next step in life, whatever that step may be. Now we all have options. I'm not endorsing doing drugs by any means so I will stress that I am metaphorically holding a blue pill and a red pill. The blue pill says that you can forget that this blog post ever existed and you can never hear about ePortfolios again. The red pill gives you the option to push for a change in education, a change in the students' lives, and a change in our future, by simply asking to implement ePortfolios in school. In Morepheus's words "Remember, all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more." (The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. DVD.).

If you were to ask me what I imagined my 17th year in education would look like, I can guarantee you I would not have expected this. We finished our last "regular" school day on a Thursday in March, right before Spring Break. We never expected Covid-19 to devastate our world the way it has. Call me crazy, but for the all of us in the education world, it was the *gift wrapped inside of the curse. My innovation proposal (click on the link) for our school scripts how to take advantage of the opportunity that Covid-19 has given us by using the technology we were given in order to implement the blended model format. The teachers can lead best by giving the students the platform to take control of their education and eventually fall in love with being a life-long learner. The education of today's youth is a process that is an instructor-lead, arduous task that we love to do. The planning, the decorating, the late nights, the grading, the early morning coffee, the amazing lessons, the detailed rubrics, and perfect lecture, and the minimal response from students. WHOA! We think "They should LOVE this topic! I've dedicated so many hours to making it great!" 😒 Not so much. The work ethic from the teachers is not wrong. The process should be a little bit, well, a lot less stressful. We need to put the learning in the students' hands. We need to have the students become more engaged and gain the passion to be life-long learners. We can do this by simply implementing the Blended Learning model. Blended learning is a model that implements online learning as well as in class instruction. There are multiple formats that can be implemented so it gives the educators the opportunity to be as flexible as they choose. The students will be more engaged because they will have more choice in their learning path. Whether they are using the Rotation models, the Flex, A La Carte, or Virtual Enriched platforms, students understand that they have more freedom and less stress in their education. The purpose is not designed to take away jobs from teachers. That is not an option. These learning models enhance the need of teachers. Teachers can actually help the students with their more specific needs. I'm sure that there are many questions that a person could have. I've created a literature review that documents other programs worldwide that use blended learning so a skeptic can gain insight on success rates for students and school districts. The information listed is designed to present factual information that will inform anyone that is unaware of how the program functions. Rome was not built overnight. My implementation outline will explain the time frame expected for the program to be in full swing. I plan on implementing this model by building virtual classes online and then piloting them during the school year. The students will be engaged at a higher rate because they will be in control of their time of study, pace, place, and path they choose to learn. When they have questions on ideas or topics, they can always reach out to me for assistance. The students will quickly realize that their stress level for these classes will be significantly decreased. In the initial stages of implementation, there will be a lot of questions and answers. There will be many days where I will work on making the pilot classes perfect, but I will probably fail in some capacity. That is okay. I will receive the feedback from the students and staff, fix the inaccuracies, and then deliver a stronger product. This process will repeat until the school year of 2021 is ready to begin. We will build more classes in various subjects that will benefit the students in their next step in life, whatever that may be. Learning should not feel like punishment. It should be progressive, engaging, and student driven. The technology we have received has made it possible for all of our students to reach heights that have never been reached before. So instead of being angry that we are learning how to incorporate technology into our lessons, be optimistic. Let's take advantage of this amazing opportunity and begin preparing our students for the future that is already here. The time is now. **Disclaimer- I am completely sympathetic to all the people who have suffered during these tumultuous times. I have family and friends who have been infected with Covid-19. By no means does this post mean to minimize or belittle anyone's struggles with this disease whether past, present or future. Please, be safe.