LE5_LiveBinders

Now that I am sure creating a digital portfolio is something I want to tackle with my students, I must dedicate some time to choosing the right platform to complete this task.  I would love to use LiveBinders as the tool for this.  So, I set out to create a binder and determine whether this is going to be the tool my students and I use.

The first step in getting a binder ready for use is to have students set up a user account.  This can be done very easily.  Students simply need to get on the LiveBinders site and complete the sign-up information.

Once students have completed sign up they can begin creating binders and adding information to the binders.  I like the fact that users can create more than one binder to organize lots of different material.  Within each binder, students can create tabs with sub-tabs to further organize their binders.

I have created two binders that I will be populating while working through the EMDT program.  One for  collecting and organizing my CBR information, and one as a resource for my English I students.

Within in the binder for my English I classes, I set up tabs to organize documents my students can refer to on a regular basis.  

The tabs I chose to set up for my students are based on the genres of literature that we study.  I also included a welcome tab where I will place the course syllabus, and a picture of me in my classroom.  The rest of the tabs will be home to short stories we are reading, poems, The New York Times Daily, a glossary to literary terms, and any other documents or URLs I think might be useful.

As I explored LiveBinders and tried to do different things I realized that basic functions were easy to do, and were pretty self explanatory; however, there are some other functions that need a little more explanation.  I was able to explore LiveBinders further by clicking on the  help button.  

One of the problems I found with LiveBinders is that students will ned to have access to Flickr in order to customize their binders. Our district has blocked access to flickr. This is a minor issue, but it is something that will need to be worked out when we begin to populate binders.

Initially I was thinking I would have students use this tool as a place to create their digital portfolio, but I will need to do a little more research to determine how to get full use a LiveBinder.  I will also have to work to create a good system for managing how students are working with their LiveBinders.  This will be my first real experience with digital portfolios, so it will take a little time for me to work out the details.  As I am preparing to do my project I will continue to research LiveBinders and find the best way to use this awesome tool while completing my CBR project.