What Does True “Ownership” Reflect
I found it fascinating reading about The Domain of One’s Own initiative at University of Mary Washington (UMW). I love the concept of the students’ work existing outside the walled garden of a learning management system. It gives students’ an authentic audience for their work and a place to build their own voice and develop a positive digital footprint that will serve as their resume going forward in their career. I find one of the toughest things to help students understand is the importance of truly “owning” their experiences online. I think UMW hits on the crux of the issue when it says “that it is important to have one’s own space in order to develop one’s ideas and one’s craft. It’s important that learners have control over their work — their content and their data” (Watters 2015).
I think the real question is not simply who own’s the ePortfolio but how do we make ownership active instead of passive. How do we add the Choice, Voice and Authentic Experiences into our learning environments so that Ownership truly becomes active. As Watters points out “To own one’s domain gives students an understanding of how Web technologies work. It puts them in a much better position to control their work, their data, their identity online” (Watters 2015). I hope to continue to explore how build these learning environments this year.
Watters, A. (2015). The Web We Need to Give Students. Retrieved July 31, 2016, from https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713#.vq40u4yoy
