Lesson 3: Blog as e-Portfolio

ID: 121566

Name: Tanaka Keita

Before you began this course, how would you show others (and yourself) evidence of what you know and what you can do?

Written version of essays and resumes were the most used evidences of what we do and what we can. I wrote some resume for the selection of scholarships last week and it took several hours to complete. In addition, we use certifications for English skills, such as TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS as other way to show the evidences for our skills.


Explore

1. Do you need an e-portfolio? Please watch this presentation (24/31). In your own words, briefly explain what you understand an e-portfolio is.

We should spent enough time to make our own e-portfolio, because e-portfolio has several functions that help us. The functions will be explained as the video is comprehended.
First, the original word "portfolio" means collection of work you have done and what you learned and it is used when people apply for colleges and jobs. Portfolio is one of the tool to connect us to others who might leads to our next career plans. Also portfolio enables us to remember what we have done in the past and helps us to make next decisions.
Second, having an e-portfolio is much useful than only having an written version of one, because it less likely to be lost and is much easier to edit for different readers. In addition, e-portfolio is better in the sense of accessibility because people can access to e-portfolio from anywhere, anytime if they are online.

2. What content may you want to add to your e-portfolio? Think about content that will tell important things about what you know and what you can do, that you would like others to learn about you. Please make a list of your ideas.

Following the P.E.A.K.S methods in the video, I will add these following information at first

1. Personal Characteristics

• Good listener.
• Sensible and clear determination

↑I will ask someone around me to write recommendation letters or videos.

2. Experience

• 1year as a class[2~20 per a class] instructor[English, Japanese, Social Sciences and Mathematics] for elementary~high school student at "Syugaku- zemina-ru", a cram school in Yokohama.
• a half year as an editor for the free paper "kyaria-Baito[Career-part time jobs]"
• 1year member of "寮運営協議委員会[Dorm steering Comittie]" at International Christian University

↑I will put up links to our blog of the paper and upload PDF version of my article.
3. Accomplishment

• Awarded as "most diligent instructor" 2006 summer classes at the cram school
• Awarded 3rd place[Kyaria-Baito] at 2008 3rd All Japan Student Free paper competition

↑I will put up a link to the competition blog

4. Knowledge

• Well versed in modern Japanese literature[Yamamoto fumio, Okuda Hideo]

5. Skills

• Attending French and Arabic class

• Book review in papers and mail magazines

↑I will upload some of my works of book reviewing and introduce myself in French and Arabic.
Above all, so far.

3. What do you see as some of the main advantages or disadvantages in having an e-portfolio in addition to (or in place of) a traditional resume? To inform your answer, please compare and contrast the resumes below to some of the e-portfolios.

Comparing #2 resume[Athletics trainer] and #5 e-portfolio[University Student], One of the biggest differences is the amount of information. Resume contains only outstanding and specific experience and award. It is concise and accurate, but we are not sure what kind of characteristics he have and what he did in each accomplishment. In contrast, in e-portfolio, the way of writings and the taste of the word in the sentence of writer are easily recognized and we get more interested in her/his own personality. However, this e-portfolio is a little bit wordy and difficult to find where is important.


Explain

1. What are the main skills needed to use your e-Portfolio?

The most important skills needed to use an e-portfolio is the diligence and creativity.
Although most people might say that the most important is the knowledge in computing and web things,I learned in the Do part of this lesson that these knowledge can be learned a little by little if people keep on trying.
Also, there should be a plan first and the procedure is the second thing. We have to investigate what the viewer want and what we want to show. After that is confirmed, we decide what kind of web technology we use for the e-portfolio.

2. What are the affordances of your e-Portfolio (what does it make possible, what does it impede)?

Now, My e-portfolio is connected to "Google document" in some parts.
Some of the Essays and reports I wrote in the last two semester are uploaded to my Google document folder [which is online] and I put addresses for each document.Visitors can see my works by clicking the addresses.

Also, I put links to my "Facebook" page and my free paper team blog in order to show visitors what kind of projects I am working on and what kind of person I am.

However, there are some problem,

1. Google document do not accept docx. files;
I use Windows Vista now, so I change word version of files into PDF files and am uploading online. It takes time a little bit.

2. I cannot find the way to upload my works on Information technology class;
I made some web pages[easy ones] during last semester for the computing class , but I do not know how to upload that. I tried w3 server, but it is only for ICU student, so it is not appropriate for the e-portfolio server. Anyway, I am working on this now.

3. How can your e-Portfolio be used to network professionally and connect you (& other students) to learning resources?

As a thinkable option, we can put our e-portfolio addresses on signature section of our e-mail system such as Yamata, hotmail and gmail. That procedure enables the mail receivers to check senders[us] identifications easily and hopefully reduces our time to introduce ourselves when we send e-mails to people for the first time.
There is another way to use our e-portfolio in order to connect ourselves to leaning resources. In my case, my e-portfolio is connected to Google document and there will be uploaded my essays, report and other works. That means I can easily read them again for the future studies without searching for them in the computer and other stocks as USBmemories. If I find nice searching engine or brilliant document that can be used in the future, I just have to put links to my e-portfolio.

4. What skills and understandings have you learned from creating your e-Portfolio that may promote your development as an effective learner in the digital age?

There are a lot of skills I learned in this lesson, and the most biggest skill is the literacy in English used in the computing world. Before I took this course, only I knew "drag" and "paste" .
However, now that I start building up my own e-portfolio with FF which has got many function accompanied with English version of "Add-ons", I came to understand what the instruction says.
In addition, I came to understand that there is always a way to accomplish a thing in the digital world. Even if you find it difficult to upload your works in the docx. format, you can change that into PDF and even if you do not own server, you can have "free" file space such as Google document. It is great that if you keep on searching on the Internet, there always someone to help. Of course, paying attention to the fast evolution of digital world is necessary because nothing stays as it is now and anything disabled become something abled.

Lesson 2: The Browser as Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

ID: 121566

Name: Keita Tanaka


Think
The USB Flash memory is one of the easiest answer to this question.
By bringing the word and power point versions of works that one have edited last time, one can start next editing anywhere at any computers one could find.

Also, Google document might be a future answer to this question. We can upload all document in any format such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF online and group members(I use this function with my fellow members of free paper club) can edit those document from any computers if they have right account for that group. The histories of editing are recorded and members can check all of version from first draft to final edited version.

Explore

1.Speed Dial
With Speed Dial, we can check the our most used sites easily.
Only by clicking right buttun and choosing "Add to Speed Dial", you can see that sites when you open FF as images. There is vacancy for maybe 9 site on one page.


2.Image Zoom
Image Zoom enables us to see small letters in the pictures which are showed on FF. With right click and scroll wheel, we can change the size of pictures easily.


Explain

1. Skills in English is necessary because Most of Adds-on for FF is not translated into Japanese and "How to" parts are written in English. Skills to categorize what Add-ons you are searching for is also needed in order to find new add-ons which fit you easily.

2.With "Speed Dial", You are now able to check most used 9 sites on one page as images. You can scroll down to bottom part that images in the each window and one click on the each images take you to the real sites each. "Firegestures" reduces our window spaces for buttons like Forward and Back because we can do almost every basic action with the movenment of mouse and clicking it. "abcTajpu" is an add-on for multi-language learners. It enables us to type other language alphabets than English such as French accents, Russian Alphabets, and even Arabic letters in easier way than change the computer settings. Actually, I am now lerrning French and Arabic in the same time, so this add-on really helps me a lot.

3. We can check the definitions of the words we do not know when we find them on the sources for the essays. Also, Pronunciation can be checked in order to practice for presentation in English. Moreover, "Google notebook" will let us take notes on the same window, which we use internet for researching and we can share that notes online in the format of google document with your group presentation members.

4. There are further more so called "Add-on" for FF than we can imagine and each of them has their special and powerfull functions. I've learned that these programming worlds are built in the language of English and we can not make the most of those add-ons without the skills in English because these instructions for the add-ons are written in English and options and all words on the buttons are also English words. In addition, we clearly should know what functions each add-ons have and what add-ons we have installed because sometimes our windows for FF are filled with the buttons we are not sure of how to use it. Also, that kind of understandings help us when we try to find some other add-ons on the internet site as "Mozzila" .

Lesson 1: Introduction to Social Networks

Lesson 1: Introduction to Social Networks

ID:121566

Name: Keita Tanaka

Think

I have an account for Facebook and some of my friends use Flicker and Brogger. In my opinion, a social software is a tool that allows us to show our lives to other people who are far from us, whom we can hardly be in touch in the real world. Blog would be one of the social software. Social software is social because people use it expecting others to see his or her blog or some other page he or her made.

Social Networks are the communication through the Social softwares. It is not one-way movement of information but it is both ways of communication through social softwares.
People leave comments and they can find what others are thinking and doing through that network. In addition people can bring some information they have gotten at the social networks to the real world and real man-to-man communication.

Explore
Video 2: The keywords are "connection" and "visible". In the real world,
connections between people is hidden and it is not easy to track that
connections to the end (I mean the "purpose") but in the Social network world the connections are visible and open to everyone so people can extend their connection wider than real world.

Do
Never had I thought deeply about these social softwares and networks, although I have used some of them for a long time.
However, through the first week of this class, I have started to think that these skills on the social software are very useful not only for learning but also for other occasions such as internships and circle activities.