Academic Courses > DOS 750 > Benefits of e-Portfolios

DOS 750 - Week 1 Discussion

Writing Prompt

As a student who will be entering the workforce in the near future, describe the benefits of an e-Portfolio for you in the medical dosimetry profession. Do you think this can enhance your skills and achievements? Will this provide more marketability?

Initial Post: Benefits of e-Portfolios

An online e-Portfolio serves many roles. As Helen Barrett points out, it is more than a simple aggregation of artifacts that show capabilities and experiences; a well-constructed e-Portfolio can demonstrate the process of personal development over time.1 Barrett breaks down the phases of construction of an e-Portfolio into collection, selection, reflection, projection, and presentation. In short, you have to gather everything you might possibly want to put into a portfolio, weed out the pieces that are superfluous, think about why an artifact is important and how it made you grow, and then go through the process of linking and presenting your work.

I think that one overlooked aspect of creating an online e-Portfolio is that this act of assigning coherent structure to nebulous thoughts and experiences is an important part of preparation for interviews. An e-Portfolio will make you stand out from the crowd, which will improve the odds of getting an interview,2 but landing an interview is only the first step in getting a job. You also have to interview well. Being able to tell a coherent story that shows the links between study and practice is much easier when you have already gone through the process of deciding what is important and what isn't during the construction of an e-Portfolio. The editing and re-editing of an e-Portfolio over time will add polish to the way you sell yourself both online and in person, and the e-Portfolio also serves as a reminder of the amazing things you have accomplished that may have slipped your memory as you prepare for an interview.

Being able to both increase the chances of getting an interview and increase the chances of acing the interview are both good ways to improve a student's marketability. The skills learned in the process of making an e-Portfolio are also important. The ability to be build and maintain a webpage is a valuable skill in my experience.

Grayden, Seattle

References:

  1. Barrett, Helen. Electronic teaching portfolios: multimedia skills + portfolio development = powerful professional development. Electronicportfolios Website. http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/site2000.html. Created 2000. Accessed September 3, 2014.
  2. Portfolios: a secret weapon for your internship search. InternWeb Website. http://www.internweb.com/portfolios-a-job-search-secret-weapon/. Accessed September 3, 2014.
Academic Courses > DOS 750 > Benefits of e-Portfolios
Written September 3, 2014
Republished December 15, 2014
First Semester, Pre-Internship