The relevance of clear guidance on autonomous work.
To what extent the digital portfolio implementation has impacted the completion of daily tasks autonomously, during remote learning for second grade students?
General topic of interest
How much can tools help student with autonomy? Which tools work best for students? - This is an area of interest because it can help during classes online or in campus. If we can reflect upon the tools that students are most comfortable using to learn, it can improve their engagement and facilitate teaching and learning.
Participants
The focus group of our research is going to be 2nd grade A students from Escola Concept Ribeirão Preto.
Data collecting approach
We used surveys from students and parents, analyzing how the Digital Portfolio impacted the completion of tasks in comparrison with Google classroom, the previous tool used in online learning. We compared students perceptions on the types of instruction provided through the Digital Portfolio (texts, audio, video, images, etc) and how they helped students to complete their daily tasks autonomously.
Data collecting example
Our research team employed a family and teacher survey (Google Forms) as well as an interview with grade 2 students (Nearpod).
Emerging results
According to data both students and parents see the digital portfolio as a big improvement in the way activities were presented to children online. It was an unanimous vote for families and only one child indicated google classroom as an easier tool to find his daily tasks. When interviewing children they talked about how they also liked the tool nearpod, as it was fun to use and offered games. One student reckoned that it was still possible to use nearpod inside the diary, as we did before. Students pointed out that diaries became too big at the end of projects but even with many pages they could find information easily. Another feature brought by students was the possibility to "talk" to the teacher inside the diary. From teacher's perspective there was an increase of participation, even the students that didn't finish the tasks daily started working on their late tasks instead of just moving on to the next page as they could see that there were pages unfinshed and wanted to complete it.
Reflections
Digital portfolio was a great support for students, who could perform the activities more autonomously. It is a great tool for teachers, who need to keep students activities organised online. We can analyse the data quickly, see students achievements in digital fluency and at the same time don't lose the opportunity to see students growth in writing tasks. Teachers could assist student with writing on spot, making corrections and suggestions. It is also a visible source of information for parents, who can follow in more detail the child's process of learning. It helped us a lot during the period of online learning and after coming back to school. Google Classroom would be a good way of organising the information, but for Middle school, when they can find the information independently. Another important aspect revealed by the research was how important the design of the diary was for students. They engaged with the possibility of adding pictures, videos, links and emojis. It connects with their answers on how nearpod was a good resource for them, as it is a fun tool.
Next steps
We will use all information gathered to keep improving their digital portfolios as they can be a powerful resource online or in school. It documents learning, shows progression and helps students make their thoughts visible throughout the projects. All suggestions made from parents and students will help us curate the information shared. After this process we could see how the portfolio connects to the understanding map and we can intentionally use this in favor of learning.
