I believe that all portfolios need to
include three forms of
reflection, focusing on the past, present, and future. These questions
are:
So, here are my future goals. This
portfolio comes at a time when I am
winding up my PT3 grant, and getting ready to retire from the
University of Alaska Anchorage. I am using this portfolio to help me
reflect on my strengths and how that will contribute to my future
professional direction.
After I retire, my husband and I want to begin providing training to
"baby boomers" and senior citizens on using digital storytelling to
preserve their memories and life stories for future generations; our
mission statement: "using today's technology to tell yesterday's
stories to tomorrow's generations." The current popularity of
scrapbooking and genealogy all indicate that there is an interest to
preserve these memories. But those who study genealogy know that we can
find the dates and facts about a life, but stories that are not
preserved are lost forever. Everyone has a story to tell. Digital
storytelling is one way to preserve and share our family legacies.
Perhaps we can also work into the process a "retirement transition"
focus, using digital family stories as a way of finding a new purpose
in retirement after a very busy working life. Learning to share digital
stories could become a powerful transition activity. And in the
process, new retirees could learn technology skills that they might
have missed in their professional careers.
Here is an opportunity for schools, as well, to bring this digital
storytelling process to their communities, to match young people who
have the technology skills with older people who have the stories to be
preserved. Then, we can truly become a community of lifelong learners
who share our knowledge and wisdom with each other.
Updated 10/5/04
My Future Goals
and Personal Mission