Developing my ePortfolio has definitely been a process of trial and error as well as triumph and frustration. Not completely certain what platform I should use, I went with Wix because I'm not highly technically inclined and I read many reviews saying it was user friendly. For the most part, it was easy to set up and youtube videos abound on how to do most everything you want to do. For the frustrating times, I'm so glad I already had the growth mindset class behind me. I knew that if I kept at it, I would eventually get it. Even if something wasn't exactly the way I wanted it, I realized there's no such thing as perfection and I could always come back and change it later as my skills improved.
For me, the hardest part are the blog posts. I think it's the vulnerability of putting yourself "out there" for the everyone to see. I appreciate how valuable reflection is to one's learning, I'm just accustomed to doing it in the privacy of my own head. So, I try to remind myself each time that this is a work in progress and I'm only sharing what I'm learning, which makes it a little bit easier to write. I will say that writing your thoughts out in an open forum forces you to really think about what you're thinking about.
One of the best way for students to learn is to learn from their peers. This concept is especially true in the development of my ePortfolio. There are so many tools and options available to create an ePortfolio that I would have been frozen with indecision if I didn't have others to look at as guides. Seeing the countless ways that everyone used to create their ePortfolio helped me realize that there is not a single right way for it to be done. This helped ease the anxiety of "doing it wrong." Looking at other ePortfolios also helped drive home the concepts of choice, voice, and authenticity in learning. Each ePortfolio displayed the owner's reflections on their learning, the ideas that were important to them, and the aesthetics they choose to communicate those ideas.
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