The concept of ownership is so much deeper than what I originally imagined. I had originally thought, "I did the work, I own it" and to some degree that is the case. But looking and reading more into it the ownership comes more when the student has more choice and ability to take the work with them wherever they go.
When students are able to have ownership over their ePortfolios (or work in general) they are more invested and willing to keep it up. In general people are more dedicated to tasks when it is "theirs" and not something that they "have" to do, but rather choose to do. If we keep this knowledge at the forefront, we will keep in mind that our students should be "subjects of their learning, not the objects of education technology software" as is stated in the Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? blog post.
From what I am reading and seeing, I see this The Domain of One’s Own initiative at University of Mary Washington (UMW) as something that is only realistic at the college level and maybe high schools. My husband is a high school computer science teacher and I shared The Web We Need to Give Students blog post with him because I think it is something that he could possibly utilize in his classroom. My thoughts then lead me to how can I make this more of a reality in a lower elementary classroom? How much choice and ownership can a five year old have? This is definitely something worth pondering as I want to offer my students, young as they may be, the opportunity to have a space to develop their ideas and take ownership of their learning.
References:
Harapnuik, D. (2021, August). Who Owns the ePortfolio [web log]. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6050.
Rikard, A. (2015, August 10). Do I Own My Domain If You Grade It? [web log]. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-08-10-do-i-own-my-domain-if-you-grade-it.
Waters, A. (2015, July 15). The Web Need to Give Students [web log]. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://brightthemag.com/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713.
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