When it comes to anything online, I like simple and manageable. That might have been my problem with many of the portfolios we looked at in class. Stephanie's seemed to be a little over all-over-the-place, both in terms of visual and navigability. I didn't mind Toby's. I liked the graphics he included, but it also seemed to cover a lot and to be honest, the yellow started to hurt my eyes. Obviously in a teaching portfolio, the creator wants to establish the kind of teacher they are; they might stress personality a little more than a professional portfolio. Professionally, I want my work to speak for me; as an educator, I want to be able to illuminate the kind of instructor I am with philosophies, anecdotes, etc.
That dichotomy is probably what will be the hardest for me to tackle in my portfolio. Since I am looking towards working in the academy, that will be the main focus of my portfolio. But, I also have a great deal of professional experience and I want to be able to touch on that as well, especially since I see myself more as a technical and professional communication educator. My plan is to look at it more as a resume. I want to post my CV and teaching philosophy. I want to have an area to discuss my research interests and what conferences I have attended. I will definitely talk a little about my professional career and display some clips of things I have done.
As for different modes, I will connect to this blog because even after this class is over, I plan on using it as an idea tank for myself, a place to brainstorm and work out concepts for myself. I think this will help a lot as I start working on my dissertation. I am playing around with the idea of linking it to my Twitter account... at least for now. I do Twitter about ideas and things going in school, but I do a fair share of personal tweets as well (I might be having my own Clancy dilemna). I am also wondering about including a page of projects I have done and including the audio story from last semester's class. I am still thinking of how I could make that fit, but I loved doing that story and thought it turned out really cool.
I want to have an environmental theme...not recycle signs all over the place, but more looking at colors and graphics that seem more natural. Being green is a big part of my identity, both personally and professionally, so this way I can hopefully convey this part of me in both areas of my life.
Now I've just got to get it done.
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2 comments:
fascinating that you've termed Clancy as an adjective. I wanna see the dang portfolio! Mine was in John Deere green in its first draft.
Meg-
I am so glad you have zoned in on the problem of being scattered or overly ambitious in online spaces. To be fair, the portfolios I showed you guys had a different goal - more of a traditional portfolio goes digital than a conscious performance of a given identity.
I really think your tech/prof comm bent actually allows focus rather than takes away from it. While you can clearly include all the classes you have taught, it seems the maing components of your portfolio will build this professional writing teacher persona.
I am so glad you mentioned including your audio story. I would suggest that for you because your emphasis seems to be on real-world/work-world uses of a variety of composing practices and modes. If you include web design, the podcast, a link to the blog and text you will more than cover the three media requirement.
I like the idea on the color scheme being green, but make sure that it tied to your focus on prof comm, new media teacher. At this point, I am wondering how the two would be visually linked without being textually described. And I think going green in this identity might get away from your "less is more" approach.
Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Jen
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