Electronic Portfolio, Scrapbook, Resume





The updating of his document is a work In Progress.

Introduction
It is becoming common for grade school students to begin to develop portfolios of their schoolwork and other activities. The process includes selecting representative samples of one’s work and writing a critical analysis of the work. This is an important aspect of learning to self-assess and learning to take responsibility for one’s education.

Quoting from the Wikipedia:


 * An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web (also called Webfolio). Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. Some e-portfolio applications permit varying degrees of audience access, so the same portfolio might be used for multiple purposes.

Increasingly, college students are being encouraged or required to develop a portfolio of their academic work. In certain areas of study, this is a “must.” An artist, architect, designer, or musician needs to have a means of showing his or her accomplishments and levels of expertise. Nowadays, this is often done as an electronic portfolio—an e-portfolio or efolio. An efolio can contain videos showing a teacher teaching, a musician performing, a dancer dancing, and so on.

Development of a good quality efolio is a significant task. In higher education institutions requiring such work, the task is often a three-credit course that includes significant instruction in both design and production.

Yancey, Kathleen; Cambridge, Barbara; and Cambridge, Darren (1/7/2009). Making Common Cause: Electronic Portfolios, Learning, and the Power of Community. Academic Commons. Retrieved 3/19/09: http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/making-common-cause-electronic-portfolios.

Quoting from the article:


 * In 2003 the National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research (NCEPR) was formed, its purpose focused on a single large question: what difference(s) might electronic portfolios actually be making in higher education--for instance, in student learning generally, in student learning in specific disciplines, and/or as reflected in specific measures like student retention? In forming this coalition, we thus intended to assist institutions engaging students, faculty, and staff in eportfolio projects with research that would catch up with their practices. Moreover, we expected the need for such research to grow. We anticipated that as the power of electronic portfolios became more and more apparent, practitioners would want to go to scale, a move that would require agreements both about learning outcomes supported through portfolios and about infusion of resources justified by evidence. We also understood that although many faculty members were asking excellent questions about their practices, there were few designed inquiries into those practices. The coalition, first nationally based and now internationally based, was thus established to bring together practitioners ready to ask insightful questions about their practices and ready to apply findings to improve their practices and those of others.


 * At this point in time, some five years later, and as we reflect upon the research documented by participants in the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research, a sampling of which we report here, we see three transitions central to the future of eportfolio practice:


 * moving research from a national focus to an international articulation;
 * transforming accountability driven by testing into richer conversations around inquiry into learning; and
 * opening a detached, hierarchical academy to engagement across the multiple knowledge spaces of the digital world.

A Personal Professional Example
The iae-pedia.org Wiki is sort of a personal portfolio.

The general idea of a promotion and tenure case file is a sort of portfolio.

A photo album is a sort of a portfolio. It is representative of some of your personal activities and a historical collection. Brief annotations and/or a longer written or oral dialogue accompanying individual pictures and small groups of pictures can help to create a photo collection that you will be proud to share with others. The same type of comments hold for videos.

A personal scrapbook is a sort of portfolio.

A resume or vita is a sort of portfolio. They can constitute part of a personal collection or portfolio that you may want to make use of for personal [purposes in the future.

Notes and homework from a class are a sort of portfolio.

In the above sorts of examples, think of the intended audience and the time frame. One saves, organizes, and annotates material for various purposes and audiences. One of the audiences may be potential employers. Another might be people who are making a decision about your admission into a program of study or a school.

Another may be your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on.

Resume or Vita
From the time that you begin to do volunteer work and/or work for pay, you should keep relatively detailed documentation of what you have done. Similarly, as you proceed through your formal schooling, workshops, and other learning activities, keep documentation of what, how long, and when.

A resume used in a job application is usually quite limited in length. This will give you a large collection of information that can be used to create a variety of resumes to fit a range of possible jobs you want to apply for. You can build a general purpose resume and then modify and enhance it to fit the particular situation you are applying for.

Many people find it desirable to create a cumulative resume or vita that covers all of their major accomplishments. You can find any examples of this for university faculty members.

Here is a very rough rule of thumb. Suppose you have a job in which a resume or vita is needed to show your accomplishments, to get promotion and tenure, and so on. Then try to play your professional career work so that you have the basis for adding about three or more entries per year. These should be based on activities that are considered noteworthy in the businesses, industries, or institutions that are comparable or "better" than where you work.

Related Resources
Journaling.

Total Talent Portfolio. A discussion of a student (especially, a student in a Talented and Gifted program) developing a portfolio of his or her talents and interests.


 * Moursund, David (2006). Computers in education for talented and gifted students: A book for elementary and middle school teachers. Eugene, OR: Information Age Education. Access at http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/13-computers-in-education-for-talented-and-gifted-students.html.

Project-Based Learning. A project developed as a project-based learning activity may well be suitable for inclusion in one's portfolio. See Good PBL Lesson Plans.

Dr. Helen Barrett's Website: http://electronicportfolios.org/. She has long been a world leader in promoting use of electronic portfolios in education. Quoting from her Website:


 * What do I put into an electronic portfolio?
 * The contents of the portfolio are directly related to the purpose and audience for the portfolio. As an individual, ask yourself, "What are you trying to show?" "What story are you trying to tell with your portfolio?"


 * Educational institutions may also determine the contents of individual portfolios used for accountability purposes. The real question to ask is, "Who owns the portfolio?" I believe that the owner should determine the contents of a portfolio. These become major philosophical and policy decisions that need to be considered, as discussed in more depth in some of the articles above.


 * Barton & Collins (1997) have identified four types of evidence that can be placed in an educational portfolio:


 * – Artifacts: documents produced during normal academic work


 * – Reproductions: documents of student work outside the classroom


 * – Attestations: documentation generated about student’s academic progress


 * – Productions: documents prepared just for the portfolios. These productions include:


 * – Goal Statements: Student’s personal interpretations of each specific purpose for the portfolios


 * – Reflective Statements: Students write as they review and organize the evidence in their portfolios


 * – Captions: Statement attached to each piece of portfolio evidence, articulating what it is, why it is evidence, and of what it is evidence.

Author or Authors
This initial version of this document was developed by David Moursund.