E-Portfolios & Data: Who Does It Belong To?

What I have come to conclude is that students have to take ownership of their learning in order to construct meaning from it, If we give our students an assignment to do and they complete it without truly taking ownership over what they did it will essentially be meaningless. Ownership comes from the reflections on student's own ideas, thoughts, and beliefs, not by looking at other's data. In order for students to be able to make these meaningful connections that lead to learning, they need to have ownership over their learning. We can provide this to students through the use of personal domains. Allowing learners to have their own little corner on the internet where they can reflect and make connections between life and what they are learning is the best way for students to take ownership over their learning.

Now, clearly, our students won't just know how to do this and some may even be against it because it isn't a comfortable situation to be in. Being put in a situation where you have to think for yourself and form your own opinions can be difficult for those who have been given information throughout their whole education. Because of this, Educators need to be able to walk the walk and model the behavior and allow students to determine some if not all of what and how they are learning material. As Andrew Rikard stated, "giving a student ownership over data means nothing if it doesn't allow them to determine the data", if we don't allow students to take full ownership of their learning then we are just adding another assignment to the list the only difference is that it's digital.

In my opinion, the best way we can support our students and give them ownership over their learning is by letting them determine how they learn and how they show mastery of the material. We need to take a step back and point them in the direction of learning, provide them an environment where they are encouraged to discover through authentic learning experiences, and a place where they can share their own thoughts, projects, and ideas in a way that promotes authentic ownership of their own data.

References:

Rikard, A. (n.d.). Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? (EdSurge News). Retrieved September 8, 2015, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it