Composing an E-Portfolio

GMU Eportfolios:

Farrah Dang

Yvonne
Gabonia

Heather Livingston

Chris Tran

English 498/504
Internship in Writing and Editing

If your work as an editor or writer in the internship has been conducted primarily online—or if the publications that result from this work appear online, you should consider an e-portfolio. The e-portfolio displays the same kinds of skills, knowledge, and expertise as the paper portfolio, but it carries the added value that it can be shared instantly with anybody in the world via the Internet because it resides online.

Briefly stated, the e-portfolio is an electronic folder of files representing your work which you will load (and subsequently update) on a server where some space has been reserved for you. You currently have enough space on your account at GMU to load this portfolio. If you also have a private email account with another internet service provider (or ISP), chances are you have also been allotted some space on a server by that ISP which could also be used to store your e-portfolio.

In a sense, an e-portfolio is the equivalent of your personal web page: viewers locate it by going to your web address (or URL), clicking on your introduction, and following the links you have included to your various documents. Thus, if you want to show your e-portfolio to someone in Australia, you merely e-mail that person the URL, which they copy into a web browser and view just as any other web site. To see some e-portfolios compiled in English 410: Technical and Report Writing, visit this link:

http://mason.gmu.edu/%7Ejhenry/410E-Portfolio.html

If this option entices you, attend the workshops on compiling e-portfolios. In those workshops, you will learn the basics of composing a simple web page in Netscape Composer, setting up all of you pertinent files in a folder, uploading this folder to your server space, and managing the folder (or e-portfolio), using a file transfer protocol (or FTP) program. You may have noticed that the web page above includes some helpful pages on web basics, composing a page, and using FTP. Spend some time reading these pages before the attending the workshop, and chances are you’ll have a basic page up and running by the end of it. Once that page is established, you can enhance your portfolio every time you have a new significant piece of work or example of expertise you’d like to display. Who knows—this e-portfolio could evolve into an extensive web site, as you display your writing and editing prowess across different genres and in several domains.

A major bonus of compiling an e-portfolio is that we can link to it—if you so desire--from the nonfiction universe website, providing you with a wide audience for your e-portfolio as soon as you post it!