Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio
(using off-the-shelf software)

In the October 1998 issue of Learning and Leading with Technology, I outlined the strategic questions to ask when developing electronic portfolios. In this article, I will describe on my further development of the electronic portfolio development process, and will describe seven different generic software packages or strategies that were mentioned in the last article. There are some very good commercial electronic portfolio programs on the market, although they often reflect the developer's style or are constrained by the limits of the software structure. Many educators who want to develop electronic portfolios tend to design their own, using off-the-shelf software, or generic strategies. In this article, I will discuss the structure of each type of program, the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, the relative ease of learning the software, the level of technology required, and other related issues. A summary chart is also included.

The seven generic types of software that will be reviewed here are:

1. Relational databases
2. Hypermedia "card" software
3. Multimedia authoring software
4. World Wide Web (HTML) pages
5. Adobe Acrobat (PDF files)
6. Office Suite multimedia slide shows
7. Video (Digital and Analog)

The Electronic Portfolio Development Process

Electronic portfolio development brings together two different processes: multimedia development (keywords: assess/decide, design, develop, implement, evaluate) and portfolio development (keywords: collection, selection, reflection, direction).  When developing an electronic portfolio, equal attention should be paid to these complimentary processes, since both are essential for effective electronic portfolio development.

Framework for the Portfolio Development Process (Based on Danielson & Abrutyn & ASCD, 1997)

In the selection phase, the portfolio developer examines what has been collected to decide what should be moved to a more permanent assessment or display portfolio. The selection criteria should reflect the learning objectives that the portfolio is demonstrating.

At the reflection stage, portfolio developers articulate their thinking about each piece in their portfolio. Through this process of reflection, we become increasingly aware of ourselves as learners. For the novice or young learner, it may be appropriate to use reflective prompts, or open-ended questions to guide the reflections. It is recommended to include reflections on every piece plus an overall reflection on the entire portfolio.

In the projection (or I prefer direction) stage, the portfolio developers, review their reflections on their learning, taking the opportunity to look ahead and set goals for the future. At this stage, portfolio developers should see patterns in their work and use these observations to help identify goals for future learning. This is the stage where portfolio development becomes professional development.

I have added the connection stage to the ASCD model, since this can become a powerful motivator for long-term development. In this stage, the portfolio is presented to the appropriate audience and discussed in meaningful conversation about teaching and/or learning. (This stage may occur before or after the projection stage.) Often, appropriate "public" commitments to learning goals can encourage collaboration and commitment to professional development and lifelong learning. Also, the feedback received in this stage can lead to further goal-setting.

In another model, Robin Fogarty, Kay Burke, and Susan Belgrad (1994, 1996) identified ten options for portfolio development:

Framework for the Multimedia Development Process

Assess/Decide: In the first stage, in the case of a multimedia presentation, the focus is on a needs assessment of the potential audience, the presentation goals, and the tools that may be most appropriate for the presentation context. When developing an electronic portfolio, the focus is on the audience for the portfolio, the learner goals that the portfolio should be demonstrating. These goals should follow from national, state, or local standards and their associated evaluation rubrics or performance indicators. This stage in the portfolio development process should identify and describe the assessment context.

Design/Plan: In the second stage of multimedia development, the focus is on organizing or designing the presentation. The focus is on determining audience-appropriate content and presentation sequence, constructing flowcharts, writing storyboards. This is also the time to determine audience-appropriate software, storage and presentation medium. When developing an electronic portfolio, the focus is also on describing the audience(s) for the portfolio, whether they be the student, parent, college, community, or any other stakeholder in the assessment process. Now is the time to determine content of portfolio items (by context) and the type of evidence to be collected; determine which software tools are most appropriate for the portfolio context; and determine which storage and presentation medium is most appropriate for the situation.

Develop: In this third stage of multimedia development, the focus is on gathering multimedia materials to include in the presentation, organizing the materials into a sequence (or with hypermedia links) for the best presentation of the material, using an appropriate multimedia authoring program. When developing an electronic portfolio, the focus is on gathering multimedia materials that represent a learnerís achievement and including those artifacts in the portfolio. This is where the artifacts can be linked to standards. In electronic portfolio development, students also record their self-reflections on their own work and achievement of the goals/standards. Teachers record feedback on student work and achievement of goals/standards. The final part of this stage is to organize the material using hypertext links between goals/standards, student work samples, rubrics and assessments.

Implement: In this fourth stage of multimedia development, the developer gives the presentation. In electronic portfolio development, the portfolio is recorded to appropriate presentation and storage medium. The electronic portfolio is also presented to an appropriate audience, by the student in age-appropriate situations.

Evaluate: In this final stage of multimedia development, the focus is on evaluating the presentationís effectiveness. In electronic portfolio development, we not only evaluate the portfolioís effectiveness in light of its purpose and the assessment context; we also use the portfolio evidence to make instruction/learning decisions. In some cases, we may collect exemplary portfolio artifacts for comparison purposes.

The Electronic Portfolio Development Process óFive Stages

Based on the stages of the Electronic Portfolio Development identified above, here are a few items to consider as you make this software selection:

Stage 1: Defining the Portfolio Context and Goals (Keywords: Purpose, Audience, Decide, Assess)

• What is the assessment context, including the purpose of the portfolio? Is it based on learner outcome goals (which should follow from national, state, or local standards and their associated evaluation rubrics or observable behaviors)? This is a very important step, setting the assessment context, which should help frame the rest of the portfolio development process.
• What resources are available for electronic portfolio development? What hardware and software do you have and how often do students have access? What are the technology skills of the students and teachers? The 1998 article contained different criteria for technology skills and level of technology available. These are updated and reproduced as Tables 2 & 3:

• Who is the audience for the portfolio--student, parent, college, employer (often based on the age of the portfolio developer)? The primary audience for the portfolio will contribute to the decisions made about the format and storage of the formal or presentation portfolio. Choose a format that the audience will most likely have access to; i.e., parents may not have a home computer, but may have a VCR; a potential employer may want to view the portfolio on the WWW.

Differentiating the Levels of Electronic Portfolio Implementation

You will know you are ready for the next stage when:

• You have identified the purpose and primary audience for your portfolio.
• You have identified the standards or goals that you will be using to organize your portfolio.
• You have selected the development software you will be using and have completed the first stage using that tool.

• What is the content of portfolio items (determined by the assessment context) and the type of evidence to be collected? This is where the standards become a very important part of the planning process. Knowing which standards or goals you are trying to demonstrate should help determine the types of portfolio artifacts are to be collected. For example, if the portfolio goal is to demonstrate the standard of clear communication, then examples should include examples of the student's writing (scanned if handwritten; imported from a word processing document if created on a computer) as well as examples of the student's speaking abilities (sound only, or video clips if the technology exists to record and store digitized movies).
• Which software tools are most appropriate for the portfolio context and the resources available? This question is the theme of the rest of this article. Just as Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message", the software used to create the electronic portfolio will control, restrict, or enhance the portfolio development process. Form should follow function, and the electronic portfolio software should match the vision and style of the portfolio developer.
• Which storage and presentation medium is most appropriate for the situation (will you use computer hard disk, videotape, local-area network, a WWW server, CD-ROM, etc.)? The audience for the portfolio will have a major impact on this answer. There are also multiple options, depending on the software chosen.
• What multimedia materials will you gather that represent a learner's achievement? Once you have answered the questions on portfolio context and content, as well as the limitations on the type of equipment available and the skills of the users (teachers and students), you will be able to determine the type of materials you will digitize, such as: written work, images of 3-D projects, sounds of speaking or reading, and video clips of performances. You will want to collect artifacts from different points of time to demonstrate growth and learning that has taken place. Use some of the graphics capabilities of current computer systems to add style and flair to the portfolio, and to interject personality and individuality.

You have a collection of digital portfolio artifacts that represent your efforts and achievement throughout the course of your learning experiences.

You have used the graphics and layout capability of the chosen software to interject your personality into the portfolio artifacts.

It is time to turn this collection into a portfolio.

 

• How will you select the specific artifacts from the abundance of the working portfolio, to demonstrate achievement of the portfolio's goals. What is your criteria for selecting artifacts and for judging merit? Having a clear set of rubrics at this stage will help guide portfolio development and evaluation.
• How will you record self-reflection on work and achievement of goals? The quality of the learning that results from the portfolio development process may be in direct proportion to the quality of the student self-reflection on their work. One challenge in this process will be the need for confidentiality of these reflections. This is the place where the personal, private reflections of the learner need to be guarded, and not published in a public medium.
• How will you record teacher feedback on student work and achievement of goals, when appropriate? Even more critical is the confidential nature of the assessment process. Teachers' feedback should also be kept confidential so that only the student, parents and other appropriate audiences have access, and not published in a public medium.
• How will you record goals for future learning based on the personal reflections and feedback? The primary benefit of a portfolio is to see growth over time, which should inspire goal setting for future learning. It is this process of setting learning goals that turns the portfolio into a powerful tool for long term growth and development.

• You have selected the artifacts that are going into your formal or presentation portfolio.
• You have written the reflective statements and identified learning goals for the future.

• How will you organize the digital artifacts? Have you selected software that allows you to create hypermedia links between goals, student work samples, rubrics, and assessment? The choice of software can either restrict or enhance the development process and the quality of the final product. Different software packages each have unique characteristics which can limit or expand the electronic portfolio options as this article will illustrate.
• How will you evaluate the portfolio's effectiveness in light of its purpose and the assessment context? In an environment of continuous improvement, a portfolio should be viewed as an ongoing learning tool, and its effectiveness should be reviewed on a regular basis to be sure that it is meeting the goals set.
• Depending on portfolio context, how will you use portfolio evidence to make instruction/learning decisions? Whether the portfolio is developed with a young child or a practicing professional, the artifacts collected along with the self-reflection should help guide learning decisions. This process brings together instruction and assessment in the most effective way.
• Will you develop a collection of exemplary portfolio artifacts for comparison purposes? Many portfolio development guidebooks recommend collecting model portfolio artifacts which demonstrate achievement of specific standards. This provides the audience with a frame of reference to judge a specific student's work. It also provides concrete examples of good work for students to model.

Your documents are converted into a format that allows hypertext links and you can navigate around your document using those hypertext links.

You have inserted the appropriate multimedia artifacts into the document.

You are ready to share your portfolio with someone else and/or you are ready to publish your portfolio.

Stage 5 - The Presentation Portfolio (Keywords: Respect, Celebrate, Present, Publish)

• How will you record the portfolio to an appropriate presentation and storage medium? These will be different for a working portfolio and a formal or presentation portfolio. I find that the best medium for a working portfolio is video tape, computer hard disk, Zip disk, or network server. The best medium for a formal portfolio is CD-Recordable disc, WWW server, or video tape.
• How will you or your students present the finished portfolio to an appropriate audience? This will be a very individual strategy, depending on the context. An emerging strategy is the use of student-led conferences, which enable learners to share their portfolios with an appropriate audience, whether parents, peers, or potential employers. This is also an opportunity for professionals to share their teaching portfolios with colleagues for meaningful feedback and collaboration in self-assessment.

Software Selection

1. Relational databases (like FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access) -- not always a good choice for presenting written documents -- best for keeping track of checklists and linking student artifacts to a set of standards - a more teacher-centered approach.
2. Hypermedia "card" programs (like Hyperstudio, SuperLink) -- a viable option for K-12 schools - includes construction as well as presentation tools. HyperStudio files are somewhat accessible on the WWW, but you need a special (free) plug-in for your browser to be able to open the files.
3. Multimedia authoring software (Like Director, Authorware) -- cost is high, learning curve is high. For those learners who have these skills, and want to use this tool to demonstrate their multimedia authoring capabilities, this can be a very flexible authoring environment.
4. WWW pages in HTML (preferably using an HTML authoring program) -- cost is OK, learning curve is high. Web pages work fine for text and graphics. They are more problematic for sound and video. If you want direct web access, this is the most obvious choice, but not as user-friendly.
5. Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents -- easy to learn, but a new type of software. Acrobat is a presentation program, not a development program. Documents are created by other programs (such as word processors, slide shows, etc.) and then "printed" to PDF format. Allows a lot of flexibility for combining information from a lot of different programs. This is the closest to a "notebook-based" portfolio format. Also allows easy integration of sound and video. PDF files are web-accessible if you use the Acrobat Reader plug-in.
6. Multimedia Slide Shows (like Microsoft Office-Word/PowerPoint and Binder or AppleWorks) -- A place to start, but may lack the capability to make easy hypertext links with standards.
7. Video, both analog and digital -- Digital video can be a powerful addition to many of the strategies noted above; non-linear digital video editing could be used to organize videotaped portfolio artifacts. Analog video can be used to gather evidence of student learning in a low cost storage medium, and video tape is a popular final publishing medium for sharing student presentation portfolios with family and friends.

I. Relational databases

Advantages:

1. Flexible reporting -- teachers can create a variety of reports either on an individual basis for a single student, or on a composite basis for a whole class, to track overall student achievement.
2. Network friendly and WWW accessible -- The most popular programs available today are FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access. Both of these programs can be made accessible over network as well as through a World Wide Web browser.
3. Cross platform capable -- FileMaker Pro comes in both Macintosh and Windows versions and files are interchangeable between both platforms.
4. Tracking and reporting achievement of standards -- a relational database is most effective in being able to keep track of the relationship between student artifacts produced for the portfolio and the standards that they demonstrate achievement.
5. Multimedia capabilities -- the current versions of these programs allow fields that will store multimedia objects such as sound and graphic files, and links to QuickTime movies.
6. Security -- these databases have password access which allows student assessment information to be kept confidential.

1. Size -- Relational database files can become quite large.
2. Player -- The software may not be readily available and a player would be required to view the files.
3. Development skill -- designing an effective relational database requires a higher level of skill. School districts that choose this route may wish to create a template for teachers to use in the classroom.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, where one is the easiest to use and five is the most difficult and requires the most skill (see Table 1), I rate the use of a predesigned database at level two, and the actual development of a relational database at level four or five. Teachers could start out with the AppleWorks database, which is similar in operation to FileMaker Pro, to set up data files to experiment with the process; however AppleWorks database is not relational.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, where one is the lowest level of technology available in schools today and five is the highest, (see Table 2) I rate the technology needed for relational database use in the classroom in the middle, at level three.

Cost: There are educational discounts available to purchase FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access is included in the Windows version of Microsoft Office Professional.

Player available: FileMaker Inc. has made a player available on its website for FileMaker Pro. This makes this application playable on computers which do not have the full program.
 

II. Hypermedia "card" files

Advantages:

1. Widely accessible classroom tool -- many classrooms use hypermedia software for student construction of multimedia presentations.
2. All inclusive -- Construction and presentation tools are included in the program, including graphics, sound, and in some cases, video production tool.
3. Cross platform -- HyperStudio and Digital Chisel versions are available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.
4. Multimedia -- these programs were created with multimedia in mind. Students can create files which include graphics, text, sound, navigation buttons, animation, video, all of which are elements of a good multimedia development program.
5. Security -- these files can be password protected which allows student assessment information to be kept confidential.

1. Web accessibility -- most of these programs are not directly web accessible; HyperStudio requires a free plug-in that must be added to your Web browser. Digital Chisel, which is Java-based, creates files which can be converted to Web pages.
2. Size and resolution -- The view is limited to the size of the screen, and usually at a resolution that is limited to the screens size, i.e., 72 dpi and 640x480 pixels, whereas student work is usually created in much higher resolution on standard paper size, 8.5x11 inches.
3. Link to standards -- Great effort is required to individually link the portfolio artifacts with the standards that they demonstrate.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, I rate hypermedia in the middle, at level three. Students and teachers need minimal multimedia development skill, and the ability to design in a multimedia environment.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, I rate hypermedia in the middle, also at level three.

Cost: There are educational discounts available to purchase all of these programs, and with site licenses, the cost can be less than $40 per computer.

Player available: Most to these programs have a free player that can be included with files for users who want to view them but do not have the full software on their computers.
 

III. Multimedia authoring software

Advantages:

1. CD-ROM -- these programs offered the most flexibility in developing for CD-ROM publishing. Many CD-ROMs that are commercially developed use these programs.
2. Multimedia tool -- these programs were also created with multimedia in mind. Students can create files which include graphics, text, sound, video, and especially animation.
3. Player included -- these programs allow students to create stand-alone, self-contained files.

1. Learning curve -- the learning time required to master these authoring environments is beyond the reasonable expectations for the average classroom teacher.
2. Links to standards -- As with hypermedia programs, great effort is required to link portfolio artifacts with the standards they demonstrate achieving.
3. Security -- these programs may not have the the password security needed to protect access student assessment information.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, these programs are the highest (level five) end of the spectrum, requiring great efforts to learn, although most recent versions are much easier to use.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, these programs require the most sophisticated computers available in classrooms, level five.

Cost: Even with educational discounts, the cost per computer can exceed $150 to $800, depending on the version.

Player available: The software creates self-contained files which do not require a special player.
 

IV. World Wide Web pages

Advantages:

1. Web accessible -- obviously, this format is the most accessible on the World Wide Web.
2. Cross platform -- by its very nature the World Wide Web is accessible from both Macintosh and Windows platforms with the appropriate browser software.
3. Multimedia -- students can easily integrate text and graphics in the Web pages, and in some cases sound and video, although with some difficulty on some servers.

1. Learning curve -- to effectively create Web pages requires a level of skill that requires more time then the average teacher can afford.
2. Complex structure -- Web pages are comprised of separate text and image files, which requires much more file management skills. Multimedia, especially video, is also not well integrated.
3. Security -- student assessment information, and especially student pictures, should not be publicly available on the World Wide Web; in some states it is against the law. Most Web-based portfolios should be posted on an Intranet, accessible only within the school district environment.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, if students use a Web editor I rate the ease-of-use at level three; without a Web editor, I rate the ease-of-use at level four or five.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, access to the World Wide Web requires more sophisticated technology at level four.

Cost: Students can create Web pages with free editors available, but a good Web editor costs from $50 to $99.

Player available: Web browsers, such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer, are free.
 

V. Adobe Acrobat

Advantages:

1. Web accessible -- these files can be read with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded from the Internet, and through a Web browser if the Acrobat plug-in is installed.
2. Cross platform -- PDF files, once created, can be read by the Adobe Acrobat Reader that is available for most common computer platforms.
3. Multiple applications -- PDF files can be created from any application that prints to a printer. This allows portfolios to include excerpts from many different applications in a single document.
4. Multimedia -- with the Adobe Acrobat Exchange program, users can integrate sound and video files with ease.
5. CD-ROM -- Adobe Acrobat is an ideal format for CD-ROM publishing. Students can include the free Adobe Acrobat reader application for multiple platforms on their CD-based portfolios.
6. Size and resolution -- PDF files can be created in any size, but most frequently in standard paper formats at 8.5x11 inches. Graphics and text retained high-resolution, even when magnified up to 800%.
7. Security -- these files can be password protected which allows student assessment information to be kept confidential.

1. Size of files -- although Adobe Acrobat files are usually smaller than the originating word processing documents, there still much larger than HTML files.
2. Separate creation software -- Adobe Acrobat files are actually created by other applications. There are limited built-in editing tools for changing the contents of the files (such as correcting spelling errors).
3. Linking to standards -- students must still create hypertext links between portfolio artifacts and the standards they demonstrate.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, Adobe Acrobat Exchange is relatively easy to learn, creating PDF files with PDF Writer at level two, and editing them with Acrobat Exchange at level three. Once the students and teachers learn the concept of how the program works and the PostScript-based page structure, the process is relatively easy to manage.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, Adobe Acrobat Exchange requires a relatively sophisticated computer system at level 4 with additional memory required for editing the files.

Cost: Adobe offers educational discounts for Acrobat Exchange and the PDF Writer. Adobe Educational License Program fees as low as $42 per computer are available in educational software catalogs. Educational cost for shrinkwrap package with CD-ROM is under $90.

Player: The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free for download off the Internet and comes installed on most computers.
 

VI. Multimedia slide shows

Advantages:

1. Commonly available -- this software is commonly available since it is included in most of the Office Suites.
2. Multimedia -- these tools allow integration of graphics, sound, video.

1. Links with standards -- students and have limited capability with this software to create hypertext links between standards and portfolio artifacts.
2. Size of files -- these files, especially PowerPoint, can be very large.
3. Web accessibility -- to publish these files on the Internet requires a conversion to HTML. The latest versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have the capability to convert the document into HTML format with relative ease.
4. Security --these programs may not have the password security needed to protect access to student assessment information.

Ease-of-use: On a scale of 1 to 5, I find the skill needed to create slide shows at level three.

Technology required: On a scale of 1 to 5, Microsoft PowerPoint requires a relatively higher level of technology, level four, whereas versions of ClarisWorks are available for technology at level two.

Cost: Microsoft PowerPoint is included with the latest versions of Microsoft Office, and the educational discounts vary for this software, based on site licenses and quantities purchased. ClarisWorks (now AppleWorks) is available at educational discounts as low as $29 in quantity.

Player: PowerPoint has a free player that can be included with the files for playback on computers that do not contain the full software package. There is no such player available for ClarisWorks.

VII. Video (Analog and Digital)
 

NOTE: The process and requirements for recording computer screen to analog video is covered in a PDF file information booklet entitled, "Using the VCR as a Printer for HyperStudio Projects" located online at: ftp://www.hyperstudio.com/resource/library/VCRPrint.pdf. Includes wiring diagram, definition of terms and hardware requirements.

Conclusions

I will be posting a questionnaire online to gather more information on development strategies and would like to hear from educators who have experience with electronic portfolios. From this data, I would like to build a decision matrix to help educators determine the best strategy for their situation. I maintain a web site on technology support for alternative assessment and electronic portfolios at: http://transition.alaska.edu/www/portfolios.html or (soon) http://portfolios.alaska.edu/ and I can be reached by e-mail at: afhcb@uaa.alaska.edu. My university also hosts a listserv on this topic, and information on joining the discussion list is on the web site. Let's continue discussing the possibilities.

References:

Barrett, Helen (1999). "Using Technology to Support Alternative Assessment and Electronic Portfolios" [online: http://transition.alaska.edu/www/portfolios.html]

Barrett, Helen (1998). "Strategic Questions; What to Consider When Planning for Electronic Portfolios" in Learning & Leading with Technology. October, 1998. Vol. No. , pp.8-

Burke, Kay; Fogarty, Robin; Belgrad, Susan (1994). The Mindful School: The Portfolio Connection. Palatine: IRI/Skylight Training & Publishing

Danielson, Charlotte; Abrutyn, Leslye (1997) An Introduction to Using Portfolios in the Classroom. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Fogarty, Robin (ed.) (1996) Student Portfolios: A Collection of Articles. Palatine: IRI/Skylight Training & Publishing

Ivers, Karen, and Barron, Ann E. (1998) Multimedia Projects in Education. Englewood, Co.: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
 
 

© 1999, Helen C. Barrett
 

Case Studies:

As a faculty member in the School of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage, I am required to develop a portfolio that demonstrates my capabilities in teaching, research, and service. In the fall of 1997, I developed a comprehensive teaching portfolio using Adobe Acrobat. I found that the best storage medium for my working portfolio begins with the files on my hard drive, or files copied to a Zip disk, and ultimately copied to a Jaz drive for CD ROM development. I have divided my Jaz disk into two separate partitions, one at 650 megabytes (the size of a CD-ROM) and the other at 350 megabytes for other working files, such as the Windows version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. [When creating a cross-platform CD-ROM, I use the Toast software with my CD-ROM recorder, and the process of creating a "Hybrid" CD (with both Mac and ISO 9660 formats) requires that my "shared data" exist on a Macintosh-formatted volume, and the files that are only used in the ISO 9660 (Windows-accessible format) be on a different volume and incorporated when the CD-R is written.]

On a regular basis, I select specific files that I want to include in my formal portfolio, and print them to PDF files. I regularly save e-mail messages from students and colleagues, as well as other documents that I create. I store those files in a folder on my hard drive that I call "new items". I create many Web pages to support my courses, and I also print those out to PDF format. Once a year, I sit down with my working portfolio files, discard items that no longer represent my best work, and insert the new items that I've collected over the last year. My portfolio is organized around the standards for teaching, research, and service that have been established for my College. I use this opportunity to reflect on my goals for the last year, my achievements, my goals for the next year, and my growth as an educator. I pull all the new files together into a new PDF file, re-organize my portfolio on my Jaz disk, and write a new CD ROM portfolio in cross-platform format so that it can be read by anyone with a Macintosh or Windows computer.

I have also introduced this strategy to students in the MAT program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where they have included portfolio artifacts which demonstrate achievement of the State of Alaska Teacher Education Standards (4 AAC 04.200). These artifacts include lesson plans, QuickTime video clips of classrooms and student teaching, student comments, student products, a current resume, and a self evaluation.