E-Portfolio

1. E-Portfolio Gaining employment within the education sector

2. Agenda • What are E-Portfolios? • Sell yourself using your E-Portfolio-Best Practice • How to make your E-Portfolio look Professional • Do’s and Don’ts • Case Study-What a good E-Portfolio looks like • Getting started with my E-Portfolio • Summary

3. What would I like to get out of this session?

4. What is an e-portfolio? • Personal Repository-Online space to showcase learning development, skills and competencies, reflection on achievements, areas of development • Presentational Function-Digital artefacts • An interactive function-linking to other learners, tutors, mentors, or employers • Developmental function-Constantly updated throughout your time at University

5. What is an e-portfolio? • Reflects the type of work an employer can expect from you-form of a CV • Blackboard→ Glamedge→ My E-Portfolio • Documenting work in progress - like a blog • It’s free! • www.jisc.ac.uk/eportimplement

6. The blind men and the elephant parable • The reason why e-portfolios can be difficult to define is because they have so many different purposes. • In various versions of the tale, a group of blind men (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement.

7. Blind Men and the e-portfolio It’s for art students only! It’s for programme assessment It’s a career development tool It’s a showcase tool!

8. What might an employer need to see in your E-Portfolio?

9. Historical Employer Mistakes • Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper….. for his lack of ideas • MGM’s memo after Fred Astaire's screen test read….. “can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little” • Beethoven’s violin teacher declared him…… “hopeless as a composer”

10. Interesting recruiter facts • HR Professionals and Hiring Managers will spend on average 10-30 seconds looking at a CV • Research has shown that constantly sifting through CV’s can cause attention spans to drop to a 9 second glance-that’s the equivalent to a Goldfish • Spelling and Grammar mistakes can cost you the shot at an interview and is the most common mistake made by job seekers

11. E-Portfolio Best Practice Why are people successful in gaining employment? • Placements • Testimonials • Creativity-platforms for self-expression • ICT Skills- inputted text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. • CV Reels and demo tapes 

12. Teamwork • Communication • Initiative • Extra CPD • Spelling and Grammar! • Member of Professional Body-CIPD

13. E-Portfolio Best Practice-Think about You Potential Employer • Skills • Knowledge • Experience • Attribute's • Requirements • Position • Company

14. Language used in E-Portfolio • Maintain a consistent writing style. Do not use “I” or “my” For my final-year project, I had to carry out a survey of patients' attitudes to health care services for the elderly. This involved interviewing patients in hospital and in their homes. A database was used to keep track of data collected. This project was finished on time and was awarded a 2.1 grade • Start each description with an action word Devised and prepared a survey of patients' attitudes to health care services for the elderly as my final-year project. Interviewed 70 elderly patients and obtained a substantial amount of data. Created a database to analyse and interpret this material. Completed this project three weeks ahead of schedule and achieved a 2.1 grade

15. Action Words

16. Can we make these statements better? • I used classroom management skills and learnt excellent behaviour management techniques. • I joined in with extra curricular activities such as Tennis Club and organized a trip to the houses of Parliament. • I improved my ICT skills by using an Interactive Whiteboard.

17. Action Words • Successfully implemented classroom management strategies and developed excellent behaviour management techniques • Participated in extra curricular activities such as Tennis Club and organized a school trip to the houses of parliament • Developed excellent ICT skills including using an Interactive Whiteboard

18. Language cont. • Make sure your statements are clear and understandable • You do not need to include everything you have done, be selective in your listing • Use past tense verbs for previous activities-created, developed

19. What should we avoid when developing our e-portfolio’s?

20. Things to avoid • Don’t oversell yourself or stretch the truth • Don’t use email addresses like OnedayIwillMarryHarryStyles@hotmail.com • Don’t use humour • Don’t think too outside the box-although its good to be creative • Don’t include your life story-relevant information only • Don’t start sentences with ‘I’ or ‘my’ • Don’t use abbreviations

21. Case Study • My E-Portfolio homepage-This area is for your professional development. Here you can talk about how you have developed professionally i.e. in terms of your future career. • I am currently in my 3rd year of University studying English. I am looking to eventually work within education. I have completed placements within Tongwynlais Nursery and Radyr Primary Scool. Whilst completing my studies at the University of Glamorgan, I have developed my skills by attending Drama Society and have worked as a campaigner for the Women’s Group at the Student Union. I enjoy reading and have helped start a reading club at Radyr Primary School whilst on placement. I developed excellent behaviour management skills and worked closely with other members of staff.

22. Case Study • My E-Portfolio homepage • A well presented, self motivated and confident Special Educational Needs graduate who has extensive knowledge of how to successfully support pupils with the medial needs of PMLD pupils then develop and implement suitable care plans for them. Possessing excellent counselling, listening and general communication skills, along with the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information about medical matters in an understandable form to parents. Having exceptional multi-tasking and organisational skills, all of which are imperative when working closely with Physicians or other health care professionals. Now looking to further an already successful academic track record by finding a suitable graduate entry level position with a progressive employerwithin a Special Needs School.

23. Over to you………..

24. Summary • Sell yourself • Make sure that spelling and grammar is correct • Ask somebody to proof read for you • Don’t oversell • Tailor your E-Portfolio • Ask yourself, if I only had 30 seconds to read it, what impression would my E-Portfolio give? Am I doing myself justice? Will it sell me to my ideal role?