Innovation in Language Learning

This presentation aims to showcase the many benefits of incorporating visually enhanced, digital portfolios with voice over technology into an English language learner (ELL) composition course curriculum. Working with Weebly as their digital platform, students can present a diverse body of work that represents their progress as ELL writers. Digital portfolios empower the students to develop their own story of how and what they have learned. Reflections on writing allow students to become both scholar and critic, thus giving them agency. The process of presenting their portfolio gives way to inquiry-the process by which students and instructors share feedback. Most importantly, working with digital portfolios allows students to demonstrate their ‘non-academic’ skills, promoting multi-modal literacy, and having the effect of boosting their self-esteem in an academic environment.  Camtasia voice-over software provides students with the opportunity to create an online document of their digital presentation. ELLs take pride in the challenge of rehearsing their speech and working with the voice-editing features to produce the clearest version of their online digital portfolio. 

Keywords: Digital portfolio, presentation of student writing;