ITEC students are encouraged to develop an online portfolio over the course of the program. Portfolios should not contain all works produced during the ITEC program, but should be comprised of selected samples that best demonstrate your creativity and professional competency in:
- The instructional design process
- The ability to use industry-standard software programs
Before developing your portfolio, it is important that you take time to identify your:
- Professional Goals.
- What do you want to do with your ITEC degree?
- Can you show prospective employers, customers, or faculty that you are proficient with the process and tools needed for effective instructional design, product development, or project management?
- Assess your strengths.
- Audience. Who is your intended audience and what is their mission? Schools, corporate training organizations, or developers? Your portfolio should address your audience's needs.
- Content. Showcase samples related to your goals. What do you want to illustrate, and in what order? This is an opportunity to reflect your style.
- Presentation. The portfolio should be well designed and aesthetically pleasing.
Make it easy for portfolio viewers to look through your portfolio by including a Table of Contents, a statement about your professional goals, your resume and a summary of your main skills. Do not include more than 10 -12 samples, and if your portfolio contains written material, excerpt no more than two or three representative pages. Artifacts should be grouped by category and annotated with a brief caption explaining when the work was done and what challenges you faced.
Before you make your portfolio public or take it to interviews, be sure to get a second or third opinion from ITEC faculty or peers, then proofread and revise it! Use a consistent format. Mistakes will undermine your credibility.
Indiana University, Bloomington provides its doctoral Instructional Systems students with an excellent discussion of portfolios and is a good resource.
