Students Led Conferences and Digital Portfolios

What are student led conferences? The basic concept: students lead the conferences about their academic progress. They take ownership of their learning experience, sitting at the table with parents and teachers. Older students generally share their body of work through portfolios and work samples. I would love to incorporate student led conferences into my classroom one day! I think student led conferences will allow students to take pride in their work and work harder in the long run. They will want to present good material when they talk about what they have been working on in class and show their parents their portfolios. More and more schools are hoping on the student led conference wagon.
How do they work? “Though the format may vary, these conferences differ from traditional conferences in that they place students at the helm of teacher-supported discussions with parents about student progress and learning. SLCs also often present opportunities for students to prepare, reflect on, and discuss evidence of their learning and growth by way of student portfolios. Schools that implement student-led conferences report that they:

• Encourage students to take responsibility and ownership for their learning by involving them in the goal-setting and assessment process.

• Engage families in richer, more transparent conversations about student progress." (edutopia)

Here is a short video on a student led conference:·       “Proper preparation is essential for successful student-led conferences. I prepare students by guiding them through a reflection of their work before the conferences. Through this reflection, students identify their strengths, determine areas for growth, and set actionable goals. The students also select examples of their work from portfolios to use as evidence during the conference while they discuss their identified strengths and areas for growth. Preparing work samples to use during the conference is so important because it grounds the meeting in evidence and it provides all participants, especially the students, with a tangible and accurate representation of academic progress. “ (Scholastic)

What are digital portfolios? An electronic portfolio (also known as an eportfolio, e-portfolio, digital portfolio, or online portfolio) is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include input text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. Digital portfolios are great for using during student led conferences. They key to using digital portfolios in strident led conferences is to have meaningful work in the portfolio that reflects student understanding like Creative Educator states, "When used as a student assessment tool, digital portfolios should demonstrate that “the student is involved in meaningful performance tasks; there are clear standards and criteria for excellence; there is an emphasis on metacognition and self-evaluation; the student produces quality products and performances; there is a positive interaction between assessor and assessee.” (Burke, 1999) The performances students include in their portfolios should be related to the curriculum and evidence their engagement in meaningful learning." (Creative Educator)

Here's how to create a digital portfolio using Google Drive: