For this week’s forum

For this week’s forum, think about the best location for your e-portfolio. Do you want to use an existing social media platform, or create your own? Do you want to post a blog, or create a website? What period do you want your e-portfolio to be available for viewing? Will the public be able to access your site, or will access be restricted? Be constructive in content and tone. Highlight your thoughts in an action plan.

E-portfolio Location

The selection of an appropriate location for one’s e-portfolio is very important since it determines the type of professionals and the number of people that will be able to access the e-portfolio. To determine the most appropriate location for my e-portfolio, I will consider different available portfolio hosting sites and evaluate the key functionalities and features of each. The features and functionality of each e-portfolio hosting site or tool can be evaluated by considering what I can do with each tool, what my instructor and site visitors can do with each tool, and the ease of access of every tool (Meyer, 2016).

An important consideration in the selection of an appropriate location is the usability of the software or site. Any user-unfriendly site becomes difficult for teachers and visitors to use (Meyer, 2016). The selected site has to be user-friendly to make it easy for teachers and visitors to adopt the e-portfolio and go through it. An appropriate location for the e-portfolio also needs to be easy to integrate with the school’s learning management system and student information system. This will make it easier for teachers to access my e-portfolio and assess it since it is a requirement for the course.

Other important features that have to be considered when choosing an appropriate site for an e-portfolio include usability of the site, the ability for teachers to assess student work with ease, and the ability for students to edit their work and reflect on their e-portfolio (Meyer, 2016). After a keen evaluation of various sites and the consideration of these key functionalities and features, I decided that my e-portfolio will be located on an already existing social media platform. I, however, plan on creating a blog in the future to better showcase my e-portfolio.

There are various benefits of posting an e-portfolio on an already existing social media site. Most existing sites have been developed with user-friendly interfaces. This makes it easy to post my documents and interact with the site. They are also social media networks, which means that I can connect with and follow other students and employers (Buzzetto-More, 2010). Such interaction is important for finding employment opportunities and networking with other students and professionals. The main problem with posting an e-portfolio on a new site is that it may take several months or years before employers and other professionals are aware of the site’s existence, which makes it more difficult to interact with other people and use the e-portfolio to find employment opportunities.

Existing social media sites will give me amazing features such as the ability to embed my showcase on external websites, watermarking and editing tools, image upload features, and the ability to connect with people and interact through messaging. Some sites such as PortfolioBox and Portfolium even allow users to create and host their portfolios on the site, providing customizable designs that are ad-free. Access to the e-portfolio will be restricted until all the work is approved by my teachers. In the future, I plan on creating a personal blog that will enable me to showcase my school and career work while providing an opportunity to interact with people, professionals, and employers.

An e-portfolio on a personal blog will provide a good platform for me to upload my future career work and experience, which will serve as my resume for future job applications (Buzzetto-More, 2010). The public will be able to access, and the work posted will not be taken down.

References

Buzzetto-More, N. (2010). Assessing the efficacy and effectiveness of an e-portfolio used for summative assessment. Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Learning and Learning Objects, 6(1), 61-85.

Meyer, L. (2016, November 16). How to Select the Right E-Portfolio Platform. Retrieved December 16, 2019, from https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2016/11/16/How-to-Select-the-Right-E-Portfolio-Platform.aspx?Page=1.