Portfolio is not just a storage cupboard where you stack all your files and texts.

It is important for you and other people who will read your ePortfolio that it is well organised and presented so that you give a good impression of yourself and also to make life easier when searching for what you need.

Your ePortfolio may be made up of 3 main elements:

A storage area (repository) where you will put your documents, such as texts, photos, sound or video recordings which you think are important in representing who you are, what you have done and what you are proud of. It is important to organise this space in such a way that the information can be easily found.

A dialogue and reflection area where you invite people to comment on your ePortfolio and you collect these comments. It is also an area where you reflect and dialogue with yourself, to better understand what you have done and learned and how you will use that in the future. This continuous dialogue with people you trust and with yourself is an important way of getting the best out what your have learned and experienced.

A presentation area (the visible part of your ePortfolio) where you will present one or more views of yourself. One type of presentation you will probably create if you are looking for a job is a CV. In order to make your CV more interesting and more lively than a paper CV, you will create links between the things you say about yourself and documents that you will have stored in your ePortfolio in order to illustrate or demonstrate your abilities.

1. Storage

If you are using an online ePortfolio (on the internet) , it is most likely that the storage area will be limited to a few megabites (MB). This means before you upload files into your ePortfolio you should check how big they are (the size is indicated when you list your files by detail) to ensure you have enough space for them in your ePortfolio storage space. Very often photos, audio and video can be quite large files

For photos this shouldn’t be a problem as it is quite easy to find additional free (or cheap) space on the Internet where you can store photos (http://www.flickr.com) or any type of documents (http://360.yahoo.com).

2. Reflection and dialogue

No doubt you have been told many a time that learning is important. But sometimes it is difficult to understand how to go about learning new things. True and deep learning really happens when you think and reflect on things you have done, seen and heard. You can do it on your own, but you should also invite people you trust to share their thoughts with you about what have done and what you think.

It is up to you to decide who you invite to provide comments on your work and ePortfolio at different points in time. You may at first just want to record your own reflections but then invite friends, tutors or family to also give you feedback.

If you enjoy sharing your thoughts and opinions and like getting comments from others then why not include a weblog (a blog or on-line journal) as part of your ePortfolio. Find out more about blogs as ePortfolios in the next chapter.

To get you started ask yourself the following questions as a starting point to reflect on a particular experience:

1. What have I learnt this year i.e. what can I do now that I couldn't do last year?

2. What have I learnt about myself in terms of my strong and weak points?

3. What have I learnt about others?

4. What new experiences have I had?

5. What would I do differently now from in the past?

6. What are my plans for my future, in terms of training, job, hobbies and activities?

3. Presentation

One of the great advantages of an ePortfolio is that it allows you to present yourself in different ways to different people for different purposes. For example you probably wouldn't want to show the same information, photos etc. to your tutor as you would to a friend. You would select the most suitable information for that particular person or purpose.

You will most likely create different views or presentations for the following purposes:

• end of term assessment by tutor

• sharing what you have done with a friend or family

• presenting yourself to a future employer

• showing a new college your IT skills

It is important for you to organise your ePortfolio and the information, text and files you put in it according to what you want different people to see. Most ePortfolio tools allow you to select who you share parts of your ePortfolio with i.e. just for you (private), just with friends and people of your choice (restricted) or with anyone (public).

 You need to check who can see what in your ePortfolio before asking others to view or comment it. You can find out more about sharing your ePortfolio with others.

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