ITAP Electronic Portfolios: Information for Students

Ø  What is an e-portfolio?

  • An e-portfolio is a digital collection of information and artifacts which represent your skills and abilities. It is similar to other, more common types of portfolios, such as those used by artists to showcase their work. You decide what to include and how it will be organized. The only difference between an e-portfolio and more traditional portfolios is that the medium which is used to convey the information is digital.

Ø  Why should I create one?

  • As of fall 2003, all first-year ITAP students are required to create an e-portfolio.
  • Aside from this, though, you should put some time and effort into the e-portfolio because it will serve you in many ways. Your e-portfolio will be useful as:
    • Job seeking tool: It is something tangible that you can show to a potential employer to prove what you are capable of.
    • Evaluative tool: It will help you, as well as your supervisors, to see what you have been doing as a part of ITAP. This evidence of your accomplishments may be useful during your semester and end-of-year reviews.
    • Reflective tool: The process of creating an e-portfolio will enable you to more clearly define and understand your strengths and weakness and what you have learned through your experiences in school and ITAP.

Ø  What should I put in my e-portfolio?

  • Because the portfolio functions as a tool for exhibiting your skills, an e-portfolio can be thought of as an extended résumé. This should help shape your decisions about what to include or exclude. If the information conveyed by the content you are including would not be appropriate information to convey on a résumé or in an interview, it should not be included in the e-portfolio.
  • Some items to consider including:
    • Career goals and objectives*
    • PDF and HTML versions of your résumé*
    • Contact information*
    • Artifacts which showcase your skills*
    • Reflective descriptions of the artifacts you have included; consider: how the artifact represents your skills, what your contributions were to the final product,
      how it was used, etc…*
    • Personal photograph
    • Information about awards and honors received
    • Descriptions of professional presentations given
    • Research in which you have participated
    • References and recommendation letters
    • Letters of recognition
    • Organizations and activities in which you participate

    *these items are required in ITAP e-portfolios

Ø  I know what I want to include, but how do I put it all together?

  • The most important thing to remember when putting your portfolio materials together is that the portfolio must be well organized. Viewers should be able to easily navigate through your portfolio and understand the connections between the things you have included. Consider organizing on paper (storyboarding) before beginning work on the electronic version
  • Carefully consider what type of media will be best for each item you want to include (images, video, audio, Flash, text, etc…). Never use a particular technology without a specific purpose. The simpler, the better. 
  • e-Portfolios may take many forms, but web-based is best because this allows the portfolio to be more accessible. Your e-portfolio should, however, be self contained so that it may be burned to a CD and given to people who are unable to access it online

Ø  ePortfolio Timeline – Spring 2008

February 26 or 28

ePortfolio Workshop

March
3 – 21:

START Open Lab Sessions*

February 29 – March 13

Consultations with ePortfolio mentors
 (2 consultations minimum)

March 14

ePortfolios due to mentors

March 15 - 19

Assessments of ePortfolios by mentors

March 19 - 21

Revisions made based on mentor feedback

March 21

ePortfolios Completed
  (Turned in to Angie Smock by 5pm on CDROM)

*START Open Lab Sessions

  • Mondays      1:00pm - 5:00pm   Tom or Sean
  • Wednesdays  7:00pm - 9:00pm   Sean (except March 19)
  • Thursdays    2:30pm - 4:30pm  Tom
  • Fridays       1:00pm - 5:00pm  Tom or Sean

Ø  RESOURCES