At times, I did feel like a lone soul on the island of learning throughout this course.  That being said, this was an excellent opportunity to do some self-reflection, about how I operate individually as well as collaboratively.  One of the biggest challenges that I faced throughout this course, was getting accustomed to an online format. The fact that no one could hear me, see me, or work with me face to face gave me a sense that there was some anonymity involved in an online class.  As I worked through the course however, I started to feel connected to people...our lively discussion boards as well as collaborative projects allowed me to learn about my peers.  This was one of the most powerful pieces of the course for me...the transformation from feeling like one to feeling like a piece of the whole.

The artifacts that I chose to include in my portfolio were pieces of the course that I enjoyed the most and felt like I grew the most from.  Each one added to my experience in a unique way, which made the process as well as final product very meaningful. 

The first artifact that I chose to include in the portfolio was the Blogging and Podcasting Wiki.  This was a daunting project for me at first, because I was working with people that I did not "know" for one, and I felt a huge responsibility not to let them down.  As the groundwork had been laid before I even started, I did panic at first, thinking that my contributions would not be beneficial, and wondering if I could pull my wait.  As we started to dialogue about the format, ideas for links, suggestions for additional suggestions, I was completely sucked into this wind tunnel of synergy.  I found the topic of Blogging and Podcasting to be extremely interesting, and being able to research these two tools made the Wiki that more fun to work on.  Student and teacher examples of both are plentiful on the web, so there were dozens of sophisticated websites and examples to sift through.  The people that I worked with on this Wiki also made it an extremely pleasant experience.  My partners displayed timely communication as well as plenty of elbow grease, making the collaborative aspect of creating a Wiki very enjoyable.

The Webquest that I created was the second artifact that I included in my portfolio.  My reasons for including the Webquest are much different than why I chose to include the Wiki.  For me, the Webquest challenged me to question why I did not do simple things like this as a teacher.  What an easy way to review subject matter with students, or to have them do to launch a research paper.  As I look back, I wonder why I did not utilize the Internet to do these types of simple, yet powerful activities.  Not only is the process engaging for students, but along the way, they are learning about identifying good sources, sifting through information, and creating focused searches.  I think this would be a slam dunk for almost any age group, elementary through postsecondary level. 

Finally, I chose to include my Blog as an artifact.  When I first started to use my Blog to communicate with customers, I really was posting the types of things that I would send in an email message: general updates, program enhancements, monthly specials etc.  I really did not use it as a forum to reflect or dig into any particular subject.  As we started to blog for this class, I came upon example after example of how people are using blogs in education.  I was so impressed!  PTOs, principals, teachers and students are some of the edubloggers making a splash on the web.  Not only are people in education using blogs to post general updates and informaion, but the focus of the posts are so diverse, it is becoming very easy to find wonderful examples of student discussion on the Internet.  I was able to visualze how blogging can take a traditional or classic journal entry and give it a whole new life.  The essence of authentic assessment really lies in tools like the blog, in my opinion.  The fact that blogs can be independent or collaborative in nature, along with the web-based format makes blogging extremely flexible for use to support instruction.  Beyond that, the process that naturally evolves with a blog can't be overlooked. 

All in all, I feel like all three of these artifacts truly represent authentic assessment for me.  Using technology to support authentic assessment seemed like two separate ideas for me.  Now, as I look at the artifacts that I have included in my portfolio, I see how technology not only supports authentic assessment, but in some cases, leads to authentic assessmnt, just by the natural tendencies of how technology works.  The ability to collaborate as well as participate in learning in real-time, not only from Monday through Friday 8:00am to 3:30pm, lends itself to the focus on process and self-reflection involved in authentic assessment.