Portfoloio Development Web

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Portfolio Development Web
SBA Portfolio Handbook

Introduction to the portfolio requirement

The School of Business faculty has implement a portfolio requirement for all BBA students who declare a business major in 2003-2004 and after. The portfolio is designed to demonstrate attainment of critical competencies. While the concepts and process of the portfolio are integrated into the curriculum, we believe that students will benefit from having easy access to a Web-based tutorial which will enable them to make progress on their portfolios independently of enrollment in specific classes.

Objectives

A digital portfolio offers students an opportunity to document their academic achievements in the competency and knowledge areas identified in the School of Business objectives. Students who have carefully developed career goals are better able to use their portfolio evidence make a persuasive case with potential employers.

The objective for this on-line module is to enable each student develop his or her own digital portfolio with a minimum of frustration. In this Web module you will compile an inventory of your academic and co-curricular achievements to date, create the structure and basis for your own digital portfolio, and develop objectives for the remainder of your academic career. Specifically, this means that students who complete the entire module will:

Identify their primary and secondary academic objectives (career path(s), academic prerequisites for the relevant career path(s), co-curricular interests and the linkage between those interests and career choices)
Perform a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to determine what they have accomplished in their academic careers to date and what learning experiences will be most effective and important in achieving the objectives identified in #1, above.
Compile an inventory of significant academic and co-curricular work to date, including but not restricted to term papers, semester projects, class presentations, case analyses, student leadership positions and internship/work experience.
Students will examine existing portfolios and learn to constructively critique what others have done in order to better display their own work.
Determine how best to represent their accomplishments to date using selected artifacts to show both development (i.e., evolution) and achievement of skills and abilities.
Prepare a reflection on their academic and co-curricular experiences. (e.g., What was learned from doing this piece of work? How did I learn it? How can I now (and in the future) apply this learning?
A software package called Uedit is available for portfolio development. You may use this or any standard Web development toll you wish.
Develop an action plan to ensure that their individual academic and co-curricular objectives will be achieved.

Contact

The Portfolio Development Web was prepared by Professor Gerry Myers of the PLU School of Business. If you have questions about the portfolio development process or suggestions for the improvement of this Website, please contact him at myersgm@plu.edu.

Texts and materials

All materials for the completion of this module are available electronically. Appropriate hyperlinks are provided in the descriptions of the steps in the process.

Portfolio Evaluation

The evaluation of your portfolio hinges on the answer to two questions. The answer to both questions must be "yes" to complete the portfolio requirement. Question 1 is "Did you get the job done?" In other words, did you develop a working portfolio which appears to be a credible reflection of your skills, capabilities and achievements? Question 2 is "Is the student's portfolio worthy of the imprimatur of Pacific Lutheran University?" Your portfolio need not be a work of art, but it should reflect favorably on you and the institution. Remember that a portfolio is essentially a public document, so you want it to be something that you wouldn't be embarrassed to have others see. Unprofessional or sloppy work will be evaluated accordingly. Things like spelling errors, poorly written work and poor formatting reflect unfavorably on you and on the school, and diminish the value your degree and the degrees of all those who call themselves "Lutes."

Portfolio format

As noted in the Portfolio Handbook, all portfolios will be in digital format. Students who elect to do so may use their own space on the PLU server. alternatively, portfolios may be accessed through the Digital media Center Website. Some students will choose to make use of audio and video clips from faculty members or other who are able to attest to the quality of their work. While this is an excellent way to present some information, inclusion of audio and/or video testimony in your portfolios is strictly optional. If you lack the technical expertise to do such things well, it is probably best to avoid doing them at all.

Steps in the process

It is important that you work through the steps below in order. Skipping around may be more interesting, but I can guarantee that you will spend more time than if you work through everything step by step. I suggest that you read through the entire process before you actually start work on step 1. The whole business will make more sense if you have the big picture as you move along.

There is a potential benefit to working on this project with someone else who you know and trust. The advantage in having a partner is that you can share ideas, critique each others' work and provide feedback. If you are fortunate enough to be able to work with such a person, that's all to the good, but it is not necessary.

The specific steps required to complete your portfolio are outlined in the Portfolio Handbook. Use the hyperlinks below to access the individual sections of the handbook.

SBA Portfolio Handbook

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