Tech Coordinator

stock photo from dreamstime.com

It took longer than I expected but I am finally ready to upload the first techcoordinator.org video tutorial.  In Video 1 – The Basics I show you how to sign up for the ePortfolio, how to log in the first time and how to create your profile.  The next video (release date Tuesday 4/19) will show you how to fill in the ePortfollio resume section.  I hope to release a new tutorial each week for the next several weeks on topics such as: how to upload and organize your files, how to create views, and other site features.  Let me know if you want a video on any other subject.  The video is an MP4 file.  I recommend using VLC , a free media player that can play just about any format.  The video will also work in iTunes.  (Down load high quality video Video 1 – The Basics )

You may be asking why would I need a ePortfolio.  I’m happy in my job, or I just got this job so I’m not looking for a new job.  Well congratulations if you have a new job.  Are you sure you will be at that job forever?  The same for those you are happy at their job.  Things change.  We change.  What satisfies us today may not next year or five years down the road, or maybe tomorrow.

You should not think of an ePortfolio as only for job searching.  An ePortfolio is like a professional scrapbook.  You can put stuff in there to remember it, or to show it to others.  Others may be a prospective employer, your current employer (they document their version of what you do, why not document your version), your biographer or anyone.  OK most of won’t have a biographer but we will have current and prospective employers.

You should start your ePortfolio now and add to it as you go forward.  Even if you never plan to change jobs, it will become a permanent record of your accomplishments.  So next time you spend two weeks on that report for your boss, save it to your ePortfolio or when an article appears in the school newsletter about you or your job, in it goes.  You get the idea.

I wish I had taken my own advice years ago, of course there may not have been ePortfolios years ago, but you get the idea.  Trying to gather documents now that highlight my past work is difficult.  It is so much easier to add as you go.  Let me sound like one of those infomercial guys.  How much would you pay for this service?  $25 per month?  No not $25, or $10 or even $1.  It’s FREE.

Now with Techcoordinator.org and our free ePortfolio you have no excuses not to start one today.  My next post will begin a series of tutorials on using the ePorfolio, so stay tuned.  Click on the register link and sign up for an account today.

I have done a little research and I found a couple of interesting links about ePortfolios.

This one is from Dr. Helen Barrett .

Here is a self assessment rubric from UW Stout.

Finally here is a list of links about ePortfolios.

dreamstime.com stock image

Now you have your very own ePortfolio, or you could have if you sign up for free, what do you put into the eportfolio?  A glib answer would be anything and everything that will fit.  Let’s look at what I am putting in mine and give you some ideas for yours.

First off you need a resume.  However even this step is not as simple as it sounds.  What I am reading and hearing online is that your resume should be tailored to each job description.  So how do you post your resume online?  I have created a base resume which covers everything a resume should and that is what I post in  my ePortfolio.  When I send resumes in response to an ad, I tailor the resume to that ad, using their keywords and highlighting relevant sections, while removing sections that are not appropriate.

After the resume what next?  A ePortfolio is meant to showcase your talents and passions.  I what to emphasize my strategic leadership.  As many technology coordinators I lead the team that writes our district’s technology plan.  I have included PDF copies of the last two plans in my ePortfolio.  Oral communication skills are also a skill I want to showcase.  I include the slides from presentations I gave.  I am working on having someone video me giving a presentation and I will post that.

I am taking graduate classes.  Almost everyone has had a final project requirement.  I have included copies of all of these in my ePortfolio.  I try to keep organized so I have created several folder to keep different types of documents separate.  I have a grad school folder, a presentation folder and a docs folder.

Here are some ideas I have yet to implement, but I am thinking about.  I want somehow to highlight the importance of our district’s web site to the community, I am looking at screen captures of Google Analytics reports.  I may also show my involvement with the online community by putting copies of any posts I have.  I am teaching a independent study class, I am thinking about putting up my syllabus and a lesson plan or two.

As you can see there are a whole lot of things you can add to your ePortfolio.  So maybe my glib answer was not too far of after all.

So what is that strange object at the top of this post and what does it have to do with anything I wrote?  That is a neuron, part of you brain.  Your brain is where you store stuff, so the neuron connotes storing information, just like a ePortfoilo.  Cool huh?