Mine! Mine! Wait, That One's Mine Too!

When I first thought about who owns an ePortfolio, my mind went to the Safe School trainings that teachers complete at the beginning of the year for their district. Specifically, the one about the district owning any material I create during work hours or with work equipment. It has always been unsettling that an organization wants to claim my work, my thoughts, my ideas. Then I began thinking about the impact an ePortfolio has towards this claim. An ePortfolio gives the creator their ownership back. It recognizes the creator’s thoughts and knowledge. It gives us the ability to share our knowledge the way we want and to the extent we want. In a way, it doesn’t matter who owns the domain, as long as the knowledge with it is credited to the person who thought it. 

This is powerful. 

CHOICE: I have control over how I present my information. I can write a blog, record a video, insert an audio, and use what language I want. I can select mediums that I want. I can change the delivery how I see fit. I am not confined into a box. My work is public, not hidden in a filing cabinet or stuck in my head. I choose to push myself, to grow.

OWNERSHIP: I love that we are guided but not restricted to a copy-paste answer. I started off so sure of myself and these courses. However, each week I am restarting and re-applying new learning and concepts. I am excited to explore my ideas; as rough as they may be. 

VOICE: Much like our discussions and blogs, I own my thoughts. I crafted them from listening to you guys, from reading, watching videos, and my personal experience. I am going through the process of learning. What I grasp is on me. I get to share my crazy ideas and hope someone can take it further than I can. 

AUTHENTIC: I can’t wait to give form to my ideas to move from planning into actions. An ePortfolio helps me bridge my thoughts to actions. Actions that are not limited to my classroom. At the end of the day, the ePortfolio will give fruit to my thoughts. It doesn’t matter who owns my site, because it is all me in the end. 

In the end, own your ideas: give them life. Share so our society can become better prepared to help those around us.

Sincerely,

Coralis Mollitor

P.S: All I could think about was this song, while writing this post.

This Is Me from The Greatest Showman

Resources:

Harapnuik, D. (2024, August 20). Who Owns the ePortfolio. It’s About Learning https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6050

Watters, Audrey. (2015, July 15). The Web We Need to Give Students. Medium. https://brightthemag.com/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713