You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Ask the readers: do you keep a portfolio?”.
Possibly related posts:
- Portfolio assessment in the age of the computer On the PCHE course, a major component of the assessment is the portfolio. We have to maintain this portfolio throughout...
- Ask the readers: Why use technology in teaching? Today I have a challenge for you, dear reader; but first a little context. Each year, the PCHE course has...
- Reflective writing “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So said Socrates, anyway, and he was a pretty bright chap by all...
Hi, I'm Jez. Welcome to my blog, where I talk about learning, teaching and educational technology.
With an RSS reader
By email
Hi Jez,
I don’t and never have kept a portfolio, however for people in a similar situation as yourself I think it is a very good idea. I have occassionally been part of interviews of grads and post-grads and one of the more difficult things is to grasp what they are about as they often turned up with little more than a suit, tie and debilitating nerves.
The advantage that someone with more work experience has over a grad in this situation is that their CV usually acts as a mini-porfolio that you can go through and gives the interviewer a “hook” to get to know the interviewee better.
A “good” e-portfolio would provide this hook and stimulate conversation, which gives the candidate – who might otherwise be too nervous to really come across well – a way of relaxing enough to say something interesting.
As I’m sure you’re aware e-portfolio’s are a big part of the current Learning Platform vision for schools so hopefully school children grow with a habit of recording useful work that they have done and being able to reflect back on it in the future.
Steve
p.s. sorry I haven’t answered your question really.
@Steve Thanks for your response — strictly speaking you answered my question in the first sentence, but the rest of your comment is insightful nonetheless! I’d be interested to know how and when a candidate might share their portfolio with prospective employer, particularly in careers where such portfolios are not standard.
I remember back when I was at school putting together my National Record of Achievement. I feel sure that if it was introduced and supported in the right way, this could have become a genuinely useful document. As it was, however, the subject was only breached in my final year before 6th form and the whole thing seemed to be presented as a one off.
It consisted of a folder containing a series of forms to fill in: one for your personal details, one for your educational achievements etc. Far more emphasis was placed on the usefulness of the standard format, rather than the discipline of maintaining it. No-one at any point suggested it was worth keeping this up to date, or reflecting on your progress. I hope the new e-portfolios are better thought out and implemented than this.
At the moment I would have thought that employers don’t expect them so don’t ask – this may change if they become common – interviews have to be fair so they’d have to be careful to not penalise for the lack of a portfolio (unless the industry specifically required it).
I figured that in the short term this would give people a leg-up to writing their CV’s / letters, but also give them some background info to talk about when they’re asked the inevitable open ended questions at interview.
E-portfolios are new and I get the feeling that they are still waiting for mass take up to happen. If they do this will then lead to the next stage in their evolution as feedback will be returned and developers will have to adapt. The one we produce has just added media tools so kids can easily record their progress using sound / video using flash based tools.
Learning Platforms are increasingly integrating with external services like youtube, therefore the content of your E-portfolio may not necessarily reside in the platform itself. The challenge here is, that though there are notable exceptions, some of these external services don’t always stand the test of time so how do you capture things that may need to be kept for 5+ years when your accounts on those services might expire or the services may stop wanting to host it. no answers to this at the moment.
[...] a semi-related note, I’m still looking for ideas and opinions about using a portfolio to record professional development, so please drop by that post and join in the conversation. Share and [...]