Organizing the Portfolio
A basic digital presentation portfolio contains the following five sections. Organize your portfolio accordingly:
- Main Menu – the main menu takes the place of a table of contents in a traditional portfolio. It consists of graphic or text links that users click to navigate to the other sections.
- Resume – A conventional resume should be included. Convert your resume to a PDF (Portable Document Format) or text (RTF, TXT, doc) in case the reviewer wants a hard copy.
- Portfolio – This section will contain the bulk of information. It includes your mission statement, artifacts, and reflective evaluation statements. The items in the portfolio section do not need to be sorted in chronological order. Rather, group them by the artifact or skill type.
- References - This section should contain excerpts (not the full documents) of letters of recommendation or gratitude from supervisors, instructors, peer, or clients.
- Contact Information – Include your name, address, telephone number (if your portfolio is web-based you may not want to include address and phone number) , primary e-mail, and homepage address.
For an example of how to implement the recommended layout view my portfolio.
Portfolio Checklist
This checklist is designed to assist you when either creating or evaluating your portfolio. It may be used ex post facto to identify weaknesses and strengths of a completed portfolio and to amend the portfolio accordingly before submitting it for assessment, or to an employer. It may also be used as a formative assessment tool when initially selecting materials that will eventually constitute the final document. In any case it is important to remember that a portfolio must always remain dynamic.
| Question | Yes | No | Possibly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Does this material add value to the portfolio? | |||
| 2. Will this information be interpreted as intended? | |||
| 3. Have on significant items been included? | |||
| 4. Will the format be easily understood by another person? | |||
| 5. Is the presentation format appropriate for the materials? | |||
| 6. Are there weak statements that must be eliminated? | |||
| 7. Will the portfolio serve as a mirror image of the author? | |||
| 8. Are competency statements consistent with course objectives or employer skill requirements? | |||
| 9. Do competency statements reflect degrees of proficiency? | |||
| 10. Are artifacts restricted to essential elements that demonstrate proficiently for a specific field/position? | |||
| 11. Are only major artifacts provided? | |||
| 12. Have materials been properly identified within the portfolio? | |||
| 13. Are supporting document/samples identifiable and retrievable? | |||
| 14. Has redundant information been eliminated? | |||
| 15. Are statements of connectivity apropos? | |||
| 16. Has editing been used to reduce unnecessary verbiage? | |||
| 17. Has spelling and grammar been checked throughout the portfolio? | |||
| 18. Has clear navigation structure been included? | |||
| 19. Has a credits and contact page been included? | |||
| 20. Do the color scheme and graphics reflect the culture of the target audience? | |||
| 21. Have headers and footers been used where beneficial? | |||
| 22. Has material not germane to assignment/position been eliminated? | |||
| 23. Have materials been checked for weaknesses and inaccuracies? | |||
| 24. Is the resume / vita (vitae) prepared and included? | |||
| 25. Is the portfolio an ethical representation of the author? |
