You say: I’m working on the tiny document but huge time sink that is called a resume, crafting cover letters, writing a rhetorical analysis in the form of a cover memo…and now you’re telling me that I have to think about an online portfolio, too!? Are you kidding me?!
It’s not a joke. I wouldn’t kid about something this useful…or fun to create.
Markel talks about preparing a portfolio in the chapter on job-application materials. He calls it a “collection of your best work” used to “showcase your skills” (p. 392). He talks about both hard-copy portfolios and digital ones, and offers us this useful list of items typically presented in an electronic portfolio:
- resume
- letters of recommendation
- transcripts and professional certifications
- reports, papers, websites, slides of oral presentations, and other kinds of documents the applicant has written or created as a student or an employee.
Markel points out that you can include all kinds of media in an online portfolio, and it has the added advantage of being easy to update regularly. Finally, it demonstrates that you know how to create a website.
Markel’s not the only one talking about or advocating an online portfolio. check out the links below, and then write a blog entry ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE’S BLOG, responding to the following sorts of questions (or posing questions of your own).
- Have you created an online portfolio before? Is it still active? Can you link to it and/or describe what it contains?
- Your online portfolio for this class will contain not only your blog entries and formal assignments (Rhetorical Analysis is first), but also components of your resume and other material you might choose to include. Brainstorm the sorts of things you might consider including.
- What questions and observations do these online articles and example portfolios raise for you?
- Can you envision how you might organize your online portfolio? what sorts of categories might you use to guide readers?
- What kinds of photos or other graphics could you imagine using?
- What other sites on the web might you link to from your own to show something about your work and/or interests?
Articles About Online Portfolios
Samples
- Student Sample 1 (202C online portfolio and resume from Fall 09)
- Student Sample 2 (202C online portfolio and resume from Spring 10)
- Student Sample 3 (202C online portfolio and resume from Spring 10)
- Instructor Sample 1 (my online portfolio)
- Instructor Sample 2 (a fellow Tech Writing Instructor’s portfolio)