Blog Your PortfolioOnline Career Services: Using the Blog Format to Present Your Career Portfolio

Melissa A. Venable, PhD OnlineCollege.orgPoster presentation for Sloan-C 2011, Orlando, FL

http://blogyourportfolio.wordpress.com/

The full presentation is online as a WordPress.com blog (linked above), which contains the following:

• Comparison of different types of student portfolios,• Research related to ePortfolios and blogging platforms,• Presentation of examples,• Current resources for getting started with blogging and

eportfolios, and• Recommendations for career services professionals,

students, faculty, and employers.

Getting Started

• Types of Portfolios– Study (assessment)– Career (job search)

• Organization– Consider Structure (resume headings, established standards

and competencies) – Select Specific Artifacts (best examples, coursework and

workplace)• Why Blog? Blogs are:– Flexible, Easy to Use, Affordable, Accessible, and Quick to

setup

Recommendations

• For students and job seekers– Collaborate with your career center– Network with alumni– Consider online presence and reputation– Gain more visibility

• For faculty members and instructors– Create a showcase event– Consider when developing course assignments

Recommendations (cont.)

• For career services professionals– Integrate with existing portfolio materials– Integrate with existing social media materials– Collect examples from your students and alumni

• For employers– Provide your guidance to career center

professionals– Share the kind of information you are interested in

seeing in digital format.

Resources• An Introduction to WordPress – Adam Warner• Using Blogger to Create an ePortfolio - Helen Barrett• Creating an Electronic Portfolio – ePortfolios at Penn State• Blogs as Showcase Portfolios – Kim Cofino• 4 Steps to Setting Up Your bPortfolio – David Wicks (student

examples included)• At last – Recognition for Blog-based Portfolios – Jim Shimabukuro,

ETCJournal• ePortfolio Resources: Publications, Presentations, Podcasts, Blogs

– EDUCAUSE• Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research –

NCEPR.org

Research Review

• What is a blog? –website, reflections, comments

• bPortfolio Effective Practice Award – SPU• Critical skills – work and life roles – FSU• Employer perspective – resumes/written

work/projects/presentations• Integration with academics and career center• Resume of the future?

Live Chat! A live Twitter chat was conducted from the conference poster session on

Thursday, November 10th, 2011, 5pm-6pm ET.

Topic: Blogs, Resumes, Portfolios, and the Job Search.

Chat Discussion Questions:• Q1) What are some of the potential benefits of using open blog platforms for

the presentation of student work?• Q2) From your perspective (student, career counselor, instructor, employer…)

what are some of the challenges of blog portfolios?• Q3) How might blog portfolios become a replacement for traditional resumes

in the future (or work to supplement traditional resumes today)?

Take a look at the Chat Report for a summary of the conversation that took place at this live event.