Stefani, Mason, and Pegler define the e-portfolio and explore its role in one’s educational and eventual professional development. Although the book’s primary audience is those in academia looking to establish the use of e-portfolios in an institute of higher education, everyone who engages in personal development and practices reflective learning will benefit from reading it.

Stefani and her coauthors feel that “E-portfolios may well be the tipping point that e-learning really needs to be a fully functioning approach to learning without the ‘e’!” (16) Supporting their claim with examples from successful programs from all over the world, the book describes how to use e-portfolios as a tool across the curriculum rather than a project of any particular course. Their goal is to help you be a part of creating a system-wide approach by which students take control of their own learning through system-wide portfolios.

The authors describe the particulars of integrating e-portfolios into the curriculum and ensuring technological support. Their chapters guide you through each step of the process:

• Getting started with e-portfolios
• Course design using e-portfolios
• E-portfolios and assessment of student learning
• The e-portfolio as a tool for professional development
• E-portfolios and inclusive learning
• Software solutions for a complex concept
• Relating other new technologies to the e-portfolio
• E-portfolio futures

As a small business owner, occasional college instructor, and lifelong learner, I was concerned that this book would be too specialized for me to apply much of it to my business or personal development. The authors quickly allayed that fear. I discovered methods to adapt my eportfolio to make it more than just a showcase of my work and skills. I learned how to use an e-portfolio as a tool rather than an outcome in both my students’ development in the classroom and my personal development in my workplace.

The book’s content, organization, and accessibility make it a must-read for any instructor, manager, or individual interested in using e-portfolios as a tool for personal development and reflective learning.

For Amazon Kindle owners, this book is available for immediate download.

The Educational Potential of e-Portfolios: Supporting Personal Development and Reflective Learning (Connecting With E-Learning). Lorraine Stefani, Robin Mason, and Chris Pegler. 2007. Abingdon, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. [ISBN 978-0-415-41214-8. 186 pages, including index. $35.98 USD (softcover).]

This book review first appeared in TechnicalCOMMUNICATION, Volume 55, Number 3, August 2008, p. 295. TechnicalCOMMUNICATION is the journal of the Society for Technical Communication.

On April 6, 2006, Problogger, Darren Rowse, is kicking off his free program 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. This is a great opportunity to flesh out your own answers to the top questions marketers ask about social media I discussed over at the STC Marketing Communications Blog.

If you’re just getting started in blogging or are hoping to fine-tune an established blog, I’m sure you’ll get some value out of this free training. I’ve been following Problogger for a while, and have found both the website and Darren’s book to be a wonderful resource as I’ve ventured into the blogosphere.

I’m excited to be a part of the challenge. Worst case scenario, I unsubscribe after a couple of days with a start. Here are a few details from the instructor:

1. It is free and kicks off on 6 April.
2. Each day over the challenge period (31 Days) you’ll receive an email notifying you of a new post that contains teaching and practical tasks to help you improve your blog.
3. Tasks will be small enough to do in 10-15 minutes
4. You may unsubscribe at any point if the challenge doesn’t fit with your needs or situation.

New to blogging? Come on in, the water’s fine. And stay tuned to see what hppens with this blog in the next 31 days.

• what skills you have
• if your experience complements the skills already present in my business
• if you’re starting out in your career, it tells me how much mentoring I’ll be doing
• your potential
• if you’re able to follow instructions
• how I can expect you to  treat my projects if you become a part of our team.

If you don’t want to come to work for me (or for anyone else), here are five sure-fire ways to blow it.

1. Your portfolio is the box you pulled out of the attic

I definitely want to see things you’ve done. I don’t want to have to help you carry a box of “stuff” up the stairs. I don’t want your portfolio’s cart to roll over my foot as we make our way to the interview room. Nor do I want sneeze over the billowing dust when you start digging things out.

Your portfolio is a representation, not an encyclopedia. Pull out the best pieces that show what you can do. If you have a manual, pull 4-6 representative pages out that will tell me how you handle different formatting issues, writing/editing, and that could possibly be a talking point about how you play well with others. If you can’t manage to carry your samples in the crook of your arm in a tasteful binder (that you can manage effortlessly and still shake my hand), you’re bringing too much!

2. Your portfolio is a bunch of loose pages thrown into a manila folder

Every time I see this happen (and I see it more often than you’d think!), I cringe. I mean, REALLY! If you don’t care enough about your work to doll it up a bit, do you really expect an employer to bring you into the fold? I’m not saying you need to go out and spend tons of money on a portfolio. There are inexpensive ways and professional ways to present your work (stay tuned for posts about how to present your work).

Employers are looking for organization and a presentation that is easy to pass around as we’re talking. I’ve been a part of interviews (on both sides of the table) that have had up to 10 people in them. Loose pages are worthless in this situation.

3. Your portfolio is filled with stuff that is CRAZY old

I recently  had a talented candidate bring in work that had been done 25 years ago. Yes, you read that correctly, 25 years ago. A victim of a layoff from a company who had contributed to proprietary projects for 20 years, this candidate didn’t have anything else. Or at least that was the perception.

Potential employers understand holes and even appreciate your ethics in not sharing proprietary information. In fact, if you show something in your portfolio that you shouldn’t the interview is usually over. You’ve just given a very strong representation that you can’t be trusted.

If all you have is something that you did eons ago. No worries, you CAN use it. You simply need to revitalize it. Take a bit of time and redo the piece the way you would do it today. It’s a great before and after opportunity. This simple exercise will show how you’ve grown (or not grown) and adapted to changes in technology over the years. It sets the stage to allow a conversation about special skills or training you’ve had.

4. You have no idea what is actually in your portfolio

It kills me when I sit across from someone who fumbles through their portfolio for something that may or may not be there! Your portfolio is a tool that you use to represent yourself. If you don’t know what is in there and can’t turn quickly to something that supports the conversation, you’re literally throwing red flags at your potential employer’s head. And, quite likely hitting them square between the eyes.

A potential employer wants to see you have a command of what is in the portfolio. If you are one with your portfolio and can use it as a tool to show how your skills you’re discussing, you’re not only displaying your skill set, you’re giving a VERY strong indication of how organized you’re going to be as an employee.

Not only do you look silly and incredibly disorganized, you’re taking up valuable time that can be better spent in other ways.

5. Your portfolio doesn’t leave your hands during the interview

Your portfolio is supposed to show off your skills. Let it out of your hands and let your potential employers actually SEE what you’ve got to show. I can’t see how your sentences are constructed or the fine details of that form you made across the table or room.

When a potential employer says they want to see your portfolio. They literally want to see it. They want to be able to look at the pieces and ask questions about it. They don’t want to sit there and watch you turn the pages and listen to you tell them what you think they want to hear about a project.

When you sit across the table from someone and go from page to page or project to project, you’ve quite likely lost your audience. Instead of wanting to get to know you better and learning how your unique skills will benefit the company, your potential employer is quite likely trying to figure out how to get a word in edgewise and end the interview and get back to the large pile of work sitting in queue and is quite likely the reason why you’re there in the first place.

Don’t want to blow the interview? The basic thing you need to remember that your portfolio’s purpose is to reperesent you and give you a common area around which you and potential employers can have  a conversation about how you are the perfect person to be a part of company or project.

No portfolio, low potential of getting hired. If I’ve asked you to come in for an interview, it’s highly likely I’ve projects for which I need immediate assistance. (Immediate as defined by most of my clients means due last week.) If you come to work for me, you’ll be hitting the ground running, so seeing what you’ve already done is important. What I see in that portfolio and how you handle it during the interview process will determine your likelihood of becoming a part of my team.

As a potential employer, your portfolio is very important to me because it allows me to determine

• what skills you have
• if your experience complements the skills already present in my business
• if you’re starting out in your career, it tells me how much mentoring I’ll be doing
• your potential
• if you’re able to follow instructions
• how I can expect you to  treat my projects if you become a part of our team.

While I am looking at the content in your portfolio, I’m looking at much more than just the pieces. In fact, I’ve hired some very amazing people who had only one or two relevant things in their portfolio because they nailed all the criteria I listed above.

To stress this point even further, my first job in this industry was due to the potential my new boss saw in my portfolio. As I made the transition from being a high school English teacher to  a writer, editor, graphics artist, and web designer, my first portfolio was a paltry presentation with few pieces that I had pulled together in an afternoon. (I happened to have bumped into the hiring manager as I was dropping off an application for a different position mid-afternoon and as we set the interview for 8:00 am the next morning she said, “Oh yeah, be sure to bring your portfolio with you tomorrow.”) Literally, my portfolio was a small report cover with a few “projects” tucked into clear page protectors. These projects were

• three mini posters I had made to support a poetry unit for my classroom bulletin boards
• worksheets I had made
• a one-page news brief I had done for my department
• a copy of a wine label I had made for a recent batch of home made wine my husband and I had bottled the night before.

The day I started, I asked my manager why she chose me over all the other candidates. (I wanted to know what I did right so I could be sure to do that the next time I was looking for a job!) And she responded, “The content and packaging weren’t the best we saw. We hired you because it told us where you are right now  your career, your potential, your personality, and how you would fit into our department.”

Now that the roles have been reversed and I find myself bringing people to work for me, her words ring true. I’ve been able to say much the same thing about some people who have become indispensible in my company.

If you’re a creative professional looking to get a job or contract, your portfolio is vital and needs to represent where you are right now.

What are some of your experiences in using portfolios. The comment box is open. If you’re a manager, what are you looking for when you look at a candidate’s portfolio? Job seekers, let us know some of the things that you’ve seen hiring managers look for.

What are your buring questions about how you can use your portfolio? We’re here to help you figure it out! Let us know what you’re pondering in the comments.