Software Selection and Comparison Information
By Helen Barrett
One
of the key criteria for software selection should be its
capability
to allow teachers and students to create hypertext links
between
goals, outcomes, and various student artifacts (products
and projects)
that are displayed in multimedia format and that
demonstrate student
achievement. Another criteria for software selection is
Web accessibility.
Here is a summary of the options I will discuss in more
detail here.
- Relational
databases
- Hypermedia
“card” files
- Multimedia
authoring software
- World
Wide Web pages
- Adobe
Acrobat
- Multimedia
Slideshows
- Video
(both digital and analog)
Relational
Databases
In
recent years, new database management tools have become
available
that allow teachers to easily create whole class records
of student
achievement. A relational database is actually a series of
interlinked
structured data files linked together by common fields.
One data
file could include the students names, addresses, and
various individual
elements; another data file could include a list of the
standards
that each student should be achieving; still another data
file could
include portfolio artifacts that demonstrate each
students’
achievement of those standards. The purpose of using a
relational
database is to link together the students with their
individual
portfolio artifacts, and the standards these artifacts
should clearly
demonstrate achieving. Still another database could
present exemplars
or model demonstrations of the achievement of a particular
standard
for comparison purposes.
Advantages
Flexible
reporting—teachers can create a variety of reports
either on
an individual basis for a single student, or on a
composite basis
for a whole class, to track overall student achievement.
Network
friendly and Web accessible—The most popular programs
available
today are FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access. Both of
these programs
can be made accessible over network as well as through a
World Wide
Web browser.
Cross-platform
capable—FileMaker Pro comes in both Macintosh and
Windows versions
and files are interchangeable between both platforms.
Tracking
and reporting achievement of standards—a relational
database
is most effective in being able to keep track of the
relationship
between student artifacts produced for the portfolio and
the standards
they demonstrate achievement of.
Multimedia
capabilities—the current versions of these programs
allow fields
that will store multimedia objects such as sound and
graphic files,
and links to QuickTime movies.
Security—these
databases have password access, which allows student
assessment
information to be kept confidential.
Disadvantages
Size—Relational
database files can become quite large.
Player—The
software may not be readily available and a player would
be required
to view the files.
Development
skill—designing an effective relational database
requires a
higher level of skill. School districts that choose this
route may
wish to create a template for teachers to use in the
classroom.
Most Appropriate Use and Audience
Relational
databases are really a teacher-centered approach to
electronic portfolios.
They provide a powerful tool for keeping track of student
achievement
at every age level. For example, here at the University of
Alaska
Anchorage, we use FileMaker Pro in our school
administration certification
program to keep track of the candidates achievement of the
program
requirements. The program seems to be less appropriate for
students
to maintain their own portfolios. One strategy could be to
print
appropriate pages from the database to Adobe Acrobat PDF
format
(see below) to include in the students’ own
Acrobat-based portfolio.
Ease of Use
On a scale of one to five, where one is the easiest to
use and five is the most difficult and requires the most skill (see Table
1), I rate the use of a predesigned database at level two, and the actual
development of a relational database at level four or five. Teachers could start
out with the AppleWorks database, which is similar in operation to FileMaker
Pro, to set up data files to experiment with the process; however AppleWorks
database is not relational.
Technology Required
On a scale of one to five, where one is the lowest level
of technology available in schools today and five is the highest, (see Table
2) I rate the technology needed for relational database use in the classroom
in the middle, at level three.
Cost
Educational
discounts are available for FileMaker Pro, and Microsoft
Access
is included in the Windows version of Microsoft Office
Professional.
Player Available
FileMaker
Inc. has made a player available on its Web site for
FileMaker Pro.
This makes this application playable on computers that do
not have
the full program.
Hypermedia
“Card” Files
A
hypermedia program allows the integration of various media
types
in a single file, with construction tools for graphics,
sound and
movies. The very first hypermedia program was HyperCard,
and today
we have HyperStudio, Digital Chisel, Toolbook, and
SuperLink. The
basic structure of a hypermedia file is described as
electronic
cards that are really individual screens that can be
linked together
by buttons created by the user. This type of program is
widely available
in classrooms and is one of the most popular tools used to
create
electronic portfolios today. In fact, the first electronic
portfolio
program, Grady Profile, is still HyperCard based for the
Macintosh,
although they are working on a cross-platform version.
Advantages
Widely
accessible classroom tool—many classrooms use
hypermedia software
for student construction of multimedia presentations.
All
inclusive—Construction and presentation tools are
included
in the program, including graphics, sound, and in some
cases, video
production tool.
Cross-platform—HyperStudio
and Digital Chisel versions are available for both
Macintosh and
Windows platforms.
Multimedia—these
programs were created with multimedia in mind. Students
can create
files that include graphics, text, sound, navigation
buttons, animation,
video, all of which are elements of a good multimedia
development
program.
Security—these
files can be password protected, which allows student
assessment
information to be kept confidential.
Disadvantages
Web
accessibility—most of these programs are not directly
Web accessible;
HyperStudio requires a free plug-in that must be added to
your Web
browser. Digital Chisel, which is Java-based, creates
files that
can be converted to Web pages.
Size
and resolution—The view is limited to the size of the
screen,
and usually at a resolution that is limited to the screen
size—that
is, 72 dpi and 640x480 pixels—whereas student work is
usually
created in much higher resolution on standard paper size,
8.5" x
11".
Link
to standards—Great effort is required to individually
link
the portfolio artifacts with the standards that they
demonstrate.
Most Appropriate Use and Audience
Hypermedia
programs are very appropriate for electronic portfolios in
the elementary
and middle school years. A variety of templates are
available for
purchase, that provide a model for developing portfolios.
One popular
strategy, explained in wonderful detail in Forest
Technology’s
Portfolio Development Toolkit (created at Peakview
Elementary School
in Colorado) is to output these screens to videotape. A
videotape-based
portfolio is most easily shared with parents who might not
have
home computers or the appropriate software.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, I rate hypermedia in the middle,
at level
three. Students and teachers need minimal multimedia
development
skill, and the ability to design in a multimedia
environment.
Technology Required
On
a scale of one to five, I rate hypermedia in the middle,
also at
level three.
Cost
There
are educational discounts available to purchase all of
these programs,
and with site licenses, the cost can be less than $40 per
computer.
Player Available
Most
of these programs have a free player that can be included
with files
for users who want to view them but do not have the full
software
on their computers.
Multimedia
Authoring Software
In
recent years, multimedia authoring software has emerged
from companies
like Macromedia and mTropolis. Two programs in popular use
today
are Director and Authorware. Authorware is an icon-based
authoring
environment, where a user builds a flow chart to create a
presentation.
Director is a time-based authoring environment, where the
user creates
a movie type presentation with a cast and various
multimedia elements.
Both programs allow the user to create stand-alone
applications
that can run in a cross-platform environment if the files
are properly
formatted.
Advantages
CD-ROM—these
programs offered the most flexibility in developing for
CD-ROM publishing.
Many CD-ROMs that are commercially developed use these
programs.
Multimedia
tool—these programs were also created with multimedia
in mind.
Students can create files that include graphics, text,
sound, video,
and especially animation.
Player
included—these programs allow students to create
stand-alone,
self-contained files.
Disadvantages
Learning
curve—the learning time required to master these
authoring
environments is beyond the reasonable expectations for the
average
classroom teacher.
Links
to standards—As with hypermedia programs, great
effort is required
to link portfolio artifacts with the standards they
demonstrate
achieving.
Security—these
programs may not have the password security needed to
protect access
to student assessment information.
Most Appropriate Use and Audience
Multimedia
authoring programs are most appropriate for certain high
school
environments and for adults in college and for some
professional
portfolios where it is important to demonstrate multimedia
development
skills. The audience for this type of portfolio is most
likely potential
employers who are looking for these kinds of skills.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, these programs are the highest
(level five)
end of the spectrum, requiring great efforts to learn,
although
most recent versions are much easier to use.
Technology Required
On
a scale of one to five, these programs require the most
sophisticated
computers available in classrooms, level five.
Cost
Even
with educational discounts, the cost per computer can
exceed $150
to $800, depending on the version.
Player Available
The
software creates self-contained files that do not require
a special
player.
World
Wide Web Pages
An
emerging trend in the development of electronic portfolios
is publishing
them in HTML format. With wide accessibility to the World
Wide Web,
many schools are encouraging students to publish their
portfolios
in this format. Students create Web pages, usually using
some type
of Web page editor, like Adobe PageMill, Claris Home Page,
Microsoft
Front Page, Netscape Composer, or many of the Web page
editors that
have emerged over the past few years. Students convert
word processing
documents into Web pages with tools built into those
programs, and
create hypertext links between goals and the artifacts
that demonstrate
achievement.
Advantages
Web
accessible—obviously, this format is the most
accessible on
the World Wide Web.
Cross-platform—by
its very nature the World Wide Web is accessible from both
Macintosh
and Windows platforms with the appropriate browser
software.
Multimedia—students
can easily integrate text and graphics in the Web pages,
and in
some cases sound and video, although with some difficulty
on some
servers.
Disadvantages
Learning
curve—to effectively create Web pages requires a
level of skill
that requires more time then the average teacher can
afford.
Complex
structure—Web pages are comprised of separate text
and image
files, which requires much more file management skills.
Multimedia,
especially video, is also not well integrated.
Security—student
assessment information, and especially student pictures,
should
not be publicly available on the World Wide Web; in some
states
it is against the law. Most Web-based portfolios should be
posted
on an Intranet, accessible only within the school district
environment.
Most Appropriate Use and Audience
World
Wide Web pages can be created by students in the upper
grades of
elementary school and later. This format is especially
appropriate
for students who want to demonstrate their capabilities
for potential
employers, such as student teachers, substitute teachers,
and for
other employers who are looking for Web development
skills. Parents
who have access to Web browsers may also be an audience
for these
portfolios, assuming the school is publishing these files
beyond
the school’s Intranet.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, if students use a Web editor, I
rate the
Ease of Use at level three; without a Web editor, I rate
the Ease
of Use at level four or five.
Technology Required
On
a scale of one to five, access to the World Wide Web
requires more
sophisticated technology at level four.
Cost
Students
can create Web pages with free editors available, but a
good Web
editor costs from $50 to $99.
Player Available
Web
browsers, such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet
Explorer, are
free.
Adobe
Acrobat
easy
to learn, but a new type of software. Acrobat is a
presentation
program, not a development program. Documents are created
by other
programs (such as word processors, slideshows, etc.) and
then “printed”
to PDF format. Allows a lot of flexibility for combining
information
from a lot of different programs. This is the closest to a
“notebook-based”
portfolio format. Also allows easy integration of sound
and video.
PDF files are Web-accessible if you use the Acrobat Reader
plug-in.
One
of the more interesting development environments for
electronic
portfolios is Adobe Acrobat’s Portable Document
Format (PDF).
Adobe Acrobat PDF files are based on the PostScript page
layout
language originally developed for printing to a laser
printer. PDF
files are created using the tools provided by Adobe,
either the
PDF Writer or Acrobat distiller program. Adobe Acrobat
files are
called Portable Document Format because the same file can
be read
by a variety of computer platforms, not only Macintosh or
Windows,
requiring only the free Acrobat Reader software. The
process of
creating an Acrobat file can be as easy as printing to a
printer;
in fact, the PDF Writer is a printer driver that is
selected when
the user wants to convert a document from any application
into a
PDF file. Once a PDF file is created, the user can
navigate sequentially
(page by page) or using bookmarks they create, or with
hypertext
links or buttons they can create with the Acrobat Exchange
program.
(A personal note: my electronic teaching portfolio is
published
on a CD-ROM with Adobe Acrobat.)
Advantages
Web
accessible—these files can be read with the free
Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which can be downloaded from the Internet, and
through a
Web browser if the Acrobat plug-in is installed.
Cross-platform—PDF
files, once created, can be read by the Adobe Acrobat
Reader that
is available for most common computer platforms.
Multiple
applications—PDF files can be created from any
application
that prints to a printer. This allows portfolios to
include excerpts
from many different applications in a single document.
Multimedia—with
the Adobe Acrobat Exchange program, users can integrate
sound and
video files with ease.
CD-ROM—Adobe
Acrobat is an ideal format for CD-ROM publishing. Students
can include
the free Adobe Acrobat reader application for multiple
platforms
on their CD-based portfolios.
Size
and resolution—PDF files can be created in any size,
but most
frequently in standard paper formats at 8.5" x11".
Graphics and
text retained high-resolution, even when magnified up to
800%.
Security—these
files can be password protected, which allows student
assessment
information to be kept confidential.
Disadvantages
Size
of files—although Adobe Acrobat files are usually
smaller than
the originating word processing documents, there still
much larger
than HTML files.
Separate
creation software—Adobe Acrobat files are actually
created
by other applications. There are limited built-in editing
tools
for changing the contents of the files (such as correcting
spelling
errors).
Linking
to standards—students must still create hypertext
links between
portfolio artifacts and the standards they demonstrate.
Most Appropriate Use
Adobe
Acrobat files can be created at any age level, but seem
most appropriate
at the high school and college level and especially for
professional
portfolios. The very structure of the software allows the
user to
save working files into PDF format on a regular basis, and
at a
later time, organize them into a presentation portfolio.
This is
the ideal program to use for creating CD-ROM based
portfolios.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, Adobe Acrobat Exchange is
relatively easy
to learn, creating PDF files with PDF Writer at level two,
and editing
them with Acrobat Exchange at level three. Once the
students and
teachers learn the concept of how the program works and
the PostScript-based
page structure, the process is relatively easy to manage.
Technology Required
On
a scale of one to five, Adobe Acrobat Exchange requires a
relatively
sophisticated computer system at level four with
additional memory
required for editing the files.
Cost
Adobe
offers educational discounts for Acrobat Exchange and the
PDF Writer.
Adobe Educational License Program fees as low as $42 per
computer
are available in educational software catalogs.
Educational cost
for shrinkwrap package with CD-ROM is under $90.
Player Available
The
Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free for download
off the
Internet and comes installed on most computers.
Multimedia
Slideshows
Many
of the Office Suites include slideshow software such as
Microsoft
PowerPoint, and ClarisWorks slideshow, as well as the Gold
Disk’s
Astound software. These programs allow the user to create
electronic
slideshows most often shown in a linear sequence. Most of
these
tools allow the integration of sound and video and
PowerPoint has
limited capability of creating buttons and links. Other
software
within the Office Suite can also be used to create
electronic portfolio
documents, including Word and Excel.
Advantages
Commonly
available—this software is commonly available since
it is included
in most of the Office Suites.
Multimedia—these
tools allow integration of graphics, sound, video.
Disadvantages
Links
with standards—this software offers students limited
capability
to create hypertext links between standards and portfolio
artifacts.
Size
of files—these files, especially PowerPoint, can be
very large.
Web
accessibility—to publish these files on the Internet
requires
a conversion to HTML. The latest versions of Word, Excel,
and PowerPoint
have the capability to convert the document into HTML
format with
relative ease.
Security—these
programs may not have the password security needed to
protect access
to student assessment information.
Most Appropriate Use
Because
of the widespread availability of this software, students
from Middle
School and higher can easily create presentations that
demonstrate
their achievement. Perhaps, once the slideshows are
created, they
can be converted into either PDF or HTML formats, which
allows easier
creation of hypertext links with standards.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, I find the skill needed to create
slideshows
at level three.
Technology required
On
a scale of one to five, Microsoft PowerPoint requires a
relatively
higher level of technology, level four, whereas versions
of ClarisWorks
are available for technology at level two.
Cost
Microsoft
PowerPoint is included with the latest versions of
Microsoft Office,
and the educational discounts vary for this software,
based on site
licenses and quantities purchased. ClarisWorks (now
AppleWorks)
is available at educational discounts as low as $29 in
quantity.
Player Available
PowerPoint
has a free player that can be included with the files for
playback
on computers that do not contain the full software
package. There
is no such player available for ClarisWorks.
Digital
Video
Digital
video can be a powerful addition to many of the strategies
noted
above; non-linear digital video editing could be used to
organize
videotaped portfolio artifacts.
Structure
digitized
video, usually in QuickTime or AVI format. Common software
(in addition
to those mentioned below): Movie Player Pro (for editing),
Apple
Video Player (for digitizing), iMovie
Advantages
Web
access, high interactivity, random access, editing
Disadvantages
file
size, storage, quality, bandwidth requirements, hardware
requirements
to digitize video
Most Appropriate Use
In
the application of portfolios, often used to include
performances
in and out of the classroom within other digital portfolio
construction
tools. Also, digital video editing (i.e., Avid Cinema,
Adobe Premiere,
iMovie) can be used to prepare the artifacts for
presentation in
analog video.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, I find skill needed to create
digital video
at level five, although with tools like Avid Cinema and
iMovie,
the learning curve is reduced.
Technology Required
On
a scale of one to five, digital video requires more
powerful computers,
at level five, including a video digitizing board. Digital
video
cameras streamline the process, especially with the latest
computers,
which have FireWire (IEEE 1394) connections to the DV
camera.
Cost
Video
editing software can be purchased for as low as $29
(MoviePlayer
Pro), or as high as $500+. The cost of digital video
cameras has
fallen below $1,000 in the last year.
Player Available
Player
software is included for free with most operating systems.
Analog
Video
Analog
video can be used to gather evidence of student learning
in a low-cost
storage medium, and videotape is a popular final
publishing medium
for sharing student presentation portfolios with family
and friends.
Structure
analog
video on a variety of formats (i.e., VHS, 8mm).
Advantages
ubiquitous
access, cheap storage media, acceptable quality,
relatively low-cost
hardware, requirements
Disadvantages
linear
access, low interactivity, no Web access, storage, editing
Most Appropriate Use
In
the application of portfolios, often used to capture
performances
in the classroom or to gather data outside the classroom.
Also a
universal format for final presentation portfolio;
sometimes the
computer is used to organize and present the formal
portfolio.
Ease of Use
On
a scale of one to five, I find skill needed to record
analog video
at level two, although editing analog videotape is more
complicated.
Technology Required
Analog
video can be recorded with low-end equipment. An 8mm video
camera
can be purchased for as low as $300.
Cost
Other
than the cost of a camera or VCR, the only additional cost
is the
cost of a videotape. Analog video editing system cost can
range
from $250 and up.
Player Available
Requires a VCR.
NOTE: The process and requirements for recording computer
screen to analog video is covered in a PDF file information booklet entitled,
“Using the VCR as a Printer for HyperStudio Projects” located online
at ftp://www.hyperstudio.com/resource/library/VCRPrint.pdf. Includes
wiring diagram, definition of terms, and hardware requirements.
Back
to “Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio”
top
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Helen Barrett (afhcb@uaa.alaska.edu) has been involved in educational technology and staff development
in Alaska for the past 17 years. She currently coordinates educational
technology for the School of Education and advises the New Media Center
at the University of Alaska Anchorage. You can contact her at 907.786.4423
or visit the internationally known Electronic Portfolio Web site (http://transition.alaska.edu/www/portfolios.html).
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Copyright © 2000, ISTE (International
Society for Technology in Education).
All rights reserved.
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