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A student portfolio Web site can be a valuable communication aid for a student when seeking future employment. This paper presents a straightforward approach on how to develop a student portfolio Web site by modifying a prototype Web site, using only Microsoft Word and the Internet Explorer. The procedure is for the student to copy the prototype Web site to his or her individual PC, modify the template Web pages of the prototype to include his or her personal information, add copies of his/her digital works and then copy the result to an Internet server. Eighteen student portfolio Web sites were created. A sample of the Web sites is presented. All 18 are available on the Internet and may be viewed in their entirety.
Introduction
A student portfolio Web site is a Web site that contains samples of a student's work, such as word processed documents, workbooks, presentations and other types of works. It also contains a few summarizing Web pages that provide easy navigation to the various works. A student portfolio Web site can be a valuable communication aid to potential employers.
Suppose a student submits a resume to apply for a job and then receives a phone call from the company he has contacted. During the conversation, the interviewer may say that the job requires good writing skills. The student may volunteer that he/she has a portfolio Web site which the interviewer may view via the Internet. After providing the Web site's address, the student can lead the interviewer directly to the document in question. They can then have a more meaningful discussion, because the interviewer is looking at the document. If appropriate, the student can direct the interviewer to look at additional workbooks, presentations and/or other works that demonstrate the student's related abilities. In short, the existence of a portfolio Web site increases a student's ability to communicate the value of his or her works. In addition, once the student is invited for an onsite interview with a potential employer, a portfolio Web site can be helpful in one-on-one interviews and presentations to larger groups.
This paper presents an approach for a student to develop a personal portfolio Web site by modifying a prototype Web site, using only Microsoft Word and the Internet Explorer. Specifically, this paper describes the templates available from the prototype, the five step-by-step exercises used in an undergraduate management information systems (MIS) course, links to view the resulting student portfolio Web sites and a brief presentation of some of the resulting student Web sites.
Literature Review
Traditionally, artists have maintained portfolios of their work to show to potential buyers, agents and galleries, as an aid in selling their current art and seeking future work. In a similar fashion, a student portfolio contains work that a student has collected, reflected, selected and presented to demonstrate key skills and accomplishments. A critical component of a student's portfolio is the student's reflection on the individual pieces of work, as well as an overall reflection on the story that the portfolio tells (see Barrett, 2007).
As discussed in Greenberg (2004), it is helpful to classify portfolios in terms of when the work is organized relative to when the work is created. This results in three types of portfolios:
1. Showcase Portfolio: organization occurs after the work has been created.
2. Structured Portfolio: a predefined organization exists for work that is yet to be created.
3. Learning Portfolio; organization of the work evolves as the work is created.
Showcase Portfolio. With so much material in digital form, a common starting point for a student portfolio is a Web site that contains specific examples of work that has already been created. Although student showcase portfolios can be free-form and open, institutions like Pennsylvania State University (2007) find that students need some guidance if the portfolios are to be useful for job interviews and applications to graduate school. See Shaffer (2007) for an example of a well-presented student portfolio. Providing templates for organizing work into different categories and perspectives can help to provide a framework for a student showcase portfolio. LaGuardia Community College (2007) offers students three levels of portfolios:
* The Basic Level uses the Blackboard 6 ePortfolio Environment. Gibbon's (2007) basic portfolio has informative summaries of five classes she has taken.
* The Intermediate Level requires students to use the free program Netscape Composer with a preset template. Shirley Rivas' (2007) intermediate portfolio has uniform navigational links to her Welcome, About Me, Classes and Projects, Resume, Educational Goals, Links and Contact Web pages.
* With the Advanced Level, students use programs such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash. Mallari's (2007) advanced portfolio has, in addition to the above, a photo gallery and a video clip.
Structured Portfolio. Another approach is to use a structured portfolio to establish a predefined organization in anticipation of work that will be completed. In a structured portfolio, demonstrating accomplishments for certification is a common goal. In addition, the predefined organization of a structured portfolio can make it easier for work to be systematically reviewed, evaluated and compared. Some professions, such as elementary and secondary teaching, have formal standards and certification requirements that candidates must meet. The Center for Technology in Education (CTE) at Johns Hopkins University (2007) has developed a structured portfolio system for teacher education as a replacement for the paper portfolios used in the Master of Arts in Teaching program. In the CTE Electronic Portfolio, prospective teachers can share and discuss work with peers, request feedback from advisors and use an online journal to reflect on their progress and growth as a teacher.
Learning Portfolio. The organization of a learning portfolio evolves over time as tasks are identified, worked on and completed in response to the student's changing interests, requirements and understanding. Learning portfolios encourage ongoing reflection that can help students better understand their learning processes. The University of Washington Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (2007) has developed a set of web-based tools, called Catalyst, to support learning and collaboration. Students can use the Catalyst Portfolio to collect, annotate, organize and share their work. In her portfolio for an English writing course, Jessica Whitman (2007) gives an interesting final reflection about how she greatly improved her papers as a result of the revision strategies she learned in her course.
As discussed in Lorenzo (2005), learning portfolios are also moving into the general public through partnerships between government and higher education. The State of Minnesota (2007) has established a statewide learning portfolio system, entitled eFolio Minnesota, which offers every resident a free lifetime portfolio. The system has easy-to-use templates for creating three classes of portfolios--student, educator and career. Started in May 2003, by March 2005 eFolio Minnesota had approximately 27,000 registered users.
The prototype portfolio Web site to be presented in this paper contains elements from all three of the above:
1. Showcase Portfolio: the prototype contains a Web page entitled Showcase, where students list their best wordprocessed documents, workbooks, presentations and/or other digital works.
2. Structured Portfolio: although there is not a formal certification required of business students, there is an informal understanding by most employers that a student has appropriate writing and worksheet skills. For that reason, there are two Web pages for best wordprocessed documents and best workbooks, where the students can demonstrate their skills.
3. Learning Portfolio: since learning portfolios encourage ongoing reflection that can help students better understand their learning processes, the works to be included in the prototype were not limited in any way. Thus, students can reflect upon all of their work, including high school and nonacademic work. The prototype also includes two Web pages for most creative works and best courses. These were not required for the MIS course, but were included for the students who develop their learning portfolio in the future.
As discussed in Heaney-Hunter (2007), some faculty at St. John's University are actively involved with student portfolio Web sites. Dr. James M. Keane, Assistant Provost, Academic Service Learning and Ozanam Scholar's Program, is initialing the use of the electronic portfolio as a way to examine student growth and development in the new Ozanam Scholar program. The Ozanam program is a four-year academic/service program (43 students enrolled). The four pillars of the program are student leadership development, social justice and service development, academic development and Vincentian formation. Vincentian formation is the personal growth in following the teachings of St. Vincent de Paul, (see www.famvin.org/wiki/Starting_point_for_Vincentian_Formation.) This year Keane has introduced the free Carnegie Foundation KEEP Toolkit (http://www.cfkeep.org/) for students to develop their portfolios.
At the College of Professional Studies, in one of her courses. Professor Carol Fletcher's (2006) students collect all of their multi-media assignments in an e-portfolio. At the end of the course, each student selects the best elements of the coursework collection and writes a reflection on the learning experiences. Professor Ellen Tufano includes samples of student work on her course portfolios. Her article (Tufano, 2007) discusses the student portfolio programs at five colleges, one of which is Dartmouth College. The Dartmouth Web site (2007) presents a helpful guide for any student who is starting a portfolio Web site. It contains four examples of how students articulated their best examples of competency areas for creativity, critical thinking, leadership and communication. Professor John DiMarco (2006) has recently published a book that discusses the process of creating a Web portfolio from initial concept through uploading to the Internet and promoting work.
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