After perusing through fellow classmates, former graduate students from Lamar, and other ePortfolios from principals, professors, and education gurus, I have come to two conclusions. Firstly, I need to step up my game! The breadth of these websites is beyond what I have envisioned as the definition of an ePortfolio. I found myself going down rabbit holes while visiting each website, clicking, clicking, reading, clicking, until I forgot what I was supposed to be doing for my assignment. I do understand that I am a beginner and that my ePortfolio, much like me, is a work in progress that requires maintenance, modifications, and continued improvements in order to stay relevant and productive. Secondly, I realize that I must start contributing to society more often! I discovered people with titles such as "Digital Learning Specialist", "Technology Integration and Innovation Specialist", "Chief Information Officer", and "Technology Transformation Project Manager" just to name a few. Individuals such as Jason Kern and Rebecca Recco have publications in magazines, while Wesley Fryer is an author of many books. Some have developed apps for a passionate cause, some are Google Innovators, and others are paid consultants that are keynote speakers! I felt intimidated and unproductive after wandering through many of these ePortfolios.
I did notice that many of the ePortfolios use WordPress, with which I am unfamiliar. I did hear some conversations about using this platform, but I chose to stick with Wix. All of the layouts within each website were crisp, with clean lines and no busy backgrounds to create a distraction. I do like how many people are embedding their social media sites such as a Twitter feed. I also find myself drawn toward websites that are customized such as recco.tech and mhumphries.org. Personalized touches, such as the customized favicon on websites, make my heart happy because I know these people invested in their ePortfolio. Yes, I even looked up "that little icon thingy on a tab when you see a website" to discover the actual name "favicon". On Wix, if customized favicons are preferred, an upgrade and payment must be made. I am not sure if I am ready for that commitment...yet (see what I did there?). BUT, I did take the plunge and purchase a domain forwarding system which lets me choose my own website domain (classycargal.com) and forward it to my generic Wix website URL. See? Look at my Growth Mindset forging a path into new and unexplored territory! I am determined to grow my outreach, striving for perfection, but I will always be...
I am confident that I have contributed in many ways, but not to the scale on which I should be. I have never considered myself a "consumer of materials", but I definitely need to think bigger in the near future. In order to be a catalyst for change, I must increase my reach. In order to increase my reach, I must seek out opportunities and showcase my thoughts and work to a public, worldwide audience. The best approach to reach that goal is to continue my "work in progress" as a human being and within my ePortfolio. I also need to snag a title with the words "integration", "specialist", or "innovator". Any offers?