Creating Your Electronic Portfolio: Envisioning and Creating an Electronic Portfolio

Interested in or assigned to create an electronic portfolio? This handbook addresses the elements that go into an e-portfolio through both specific content suggestions and a discussion of the value of storytelling. Is your e-portfolio a "great tale?" Will telling it incite emotion and excitement from your audience? Most certainly your journey contains a host of experiences and emotions, triumphs and challenges. Creating your e-portfolio in a way that captures your story contains the power to inspire. You may also find the process of portfolio creation a useful tool for new work or academic possibilities. Above all, designing it is a chance to celebrate your accomplishments, have fun, and reflect on your journey to date.

Dr. Therese Madden is the Human Services Program Director at Notre Dame de Namur University. She holds a doctorate in Organization and Leadership. She works with undergraduate students who design career portfolios as part of their senior capstone project. The accomplishments these students have shared in class fuel her interest in storytelling as a vibrant medium for showcasing student success. The use of an e-portfolio carries the added benefit of facilitating assessment of student learning outcomes and documenting the value of their educational and professional experiences. Her current research includes the journeys of those who find meaning in work, mentoring, fostering creativity, and learning climates of and for adult learners. She is the author of "Journeys of Purpose; Inspired by Wisdom, Fueled by Imagination." She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Charles and daughters Katherine and Gabriana.