Redesigning professional self-presentation: a model for electronic portfolios

Electronic portfolios are essential for communicators. Faculty members at Clarkson University have developed a model electronic portfolio for Technical Communications majors to emulate, in order for the students to best present to prospective employers the work they have accomplished in their academic careers. Other higher education institutions make use of electronic portfolios-largely for individual course requirements or for assessment purposes, and none for communication students. The TC department at Clarkson surveyed communication professionals and conducted research to develop the model electronic portfolio. Our resulting model is an HTML file that includes all the work the student has done to date, burned onto a CD-ROM, following organization guidelines that stem from survey responses. Screen captures of the model electronic portfolio appear at the end. The model is not final; it will continue to evolve with professional and technological trends