Essentially, a portfolio is a record. It is a record of your original thoughts and accomplishments in a specific area. It is a record of important events. It is a record of your best work, and it demonstrates the progress you have made creating it contents. It is a record of original work with sketches, diagrams, and other evidence to back up the originality. It is a record of your thought process as you moved through a unit. And, most importantly, it is a record of your progress through a specific area.
Portfolios are used in many areas. Artists use them to illustrate their work. When a student is applying to an art school, he/she needs to submit a portfolio of his/her sketches and work in various mediums. Architects use portfolios to show the buildings they have designed and the awards they might have earned for their work. Engineers utilize portfolios to illustrate specific design projects and their progress through a project. In fact, an engineer's portfolio, in the format of an engineer's notebook, is a legal document that can be used as evidence in a court of law.
You are going to be expected to keep a portfolio for each of the engineering courses that you take. In each course, you will keep documentation of your original ideas, sketches, projects, accomplishments, best works, and materials to support your work. You will need to be careful about what kinds of documentation you keep in the portfolio. Just as copyright and plagiarism issues are important in research papers that you write for English and history classes, they are just as important here. A portfolio is about you: you ideas, your work, your thoughts, and your successes!
The unit you are about to begin is relatively short, but it is a work-in-progress. You will be expected, with guidance from your instructor, to keep working on your portfolio, removing, adding, and refining information and documentation as the year progresses.
Exercise
• Create a Portfolio
Standards
This lesson meets standards for Science Content, Math, Language Arts, and Technology.
Key Terms
Artifact Portfolio, Plagiarize
Evaluation
Student portfolios will be assessed and evaluated periodically as the year progresses.
Resources
Harms, Henry R., and Swernofsky, Neal R., Technology Interactions, Glencoe McGraw- Hill, 1999 ISBN 0-02-677701-0 (Teacher's Resource Guide) and ISBN 0-02-838779-1 (Student Text).
Hutchinson, John, and Karsnitz, John R., Design and Problem Solving in Technology, Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 1994 ISBN 0-8273-5244-1.
Hutchinson, John, and Karsnitz, John R., Teacher's Guide to Accompany Design and Problem Solving in Technology, Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 1997 ISBN 0-8273-5246-8.
Knowlton, Kenneth W., Beauchemin, Robert A., and Quinn, Patrick J., Technical and Freehand Drawing and Sketching, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1977 ISBN 0-07-035207-0.
Procedure
1. Discuss portfolios. (Instructor-led discussion)
2. Review a PowerPoint. (Student)
3. Complete Exercise - Create a Portfolio. (Student)
To create a portfolio, you will complete the following steps.
To create a portfolio
1. You will participate in an instructor-lead discussion on portfolios, why to keep portfolios, and elements of a good portfolio.
2. You will review Student Portfolio Development.ppt located in the Business Skills data set folder. During the review, you will take notes for future use with your portfolios.
3. You create the title page, the table of contents page, and section pages for your portfolio. Once completed, you will submit a paper copy to the teacher for evaluation. You will keep an electronic copy of your portfolio for future use.
4. You will submit your portfolio periodically for assessment.