3601ICT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND PORTFOLIO Introductory Lecture

Today’s Lecture Introduction to course and to portfolios Learning outcomes Assessments Compiling a Portfolio

Learning Outcomes Develop portfolios which meet industry standards Understand basic principles of professional practice Present as professionals in applications and workplace

Assessments Overview Individual assessments 5% In class submission 1- career goals and skill set/ choose an advertisement 5% In class submission 2- resume 30%Draft portfolio = portfolio 10 + peer review 10 + presentation 10 5%In class submission 3 – address selection criteria and write cover letter for chosen advertisement 5%In class submission 4 – possible interview questions and answers for chosen advertisement 50%Final portfolio = portfolio 30+ peer review 10 + presentation 10

COMPILING A PORTFOLIO

What is a Portfolio? “a large, flat container used for carrying large drawings, documents, or other papers ” Cambridge Dictionary of American English “a collection of drawings, documents, etc. that represent a person‘s work” Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary “a set of pieces of creative work intended to demonstrate a person's ability to a potential employer” The Concise Oxford English Dictionary Collection of artefacts, project samples and focused content presenting the messages and appearance of an individual/company

What is a Portfolio? Personal marketing tool that summarises your best work Some portfolio examples from last year…

Why Create a Portfolio? ??????

Why Create a Portfolio? EVIDENCE VALIDATION COMMUNICATION

Why Create a Portfolio? Portfolios (good ones at least,) demonstrate to employers that you have the qualities and skills they want; (Kimball 2003)

Planning a Portfolio The basic steps are not so different than any other project you have worked on… What do you think are the main steps involved???????

Planning a Portfolio Define  Audience  Goal & objectives  Content  Design  Delivery options

Portfolio planning: define Audience Who are you pitching this at? It may be for a specific application or perhaps a more general approach Consider what prospective employers you will pitch at? (what areas of interest? Games, educational software etc)

Portfolio planning: define goal and objectives Goal: “to showcase (provide evidence) your skills and abilities” Objectives: (what are the specific skills and abilities you want to provide evidence of?) For example: To provide evidence of my: excellent design skills for page layout, ability to produce original graphics, ability to program database driven websites,

Portfolio planning: deciding on the content Look at your objectives – find work that clearly provides evidence as unambiguously as possible for each objective.

Portfolio design Information design (categorise assets, prioritise assets, navigation design, flow chart, usability...) Visual design (style, images and graphics, font, identity, colour schemes...) How will it standout? What gives it my personal feel? What will make it memorable (for the right reasons).

Portfolio delivery options DVD? Web? Mobile device?

A critical look at some portfolios from Class discussion: How well do each of the portfolios - provide evidence? - validate professionalism? - communicate their message? If a portfolio is well compiled then the owner’s objectives are very evident.

Readings Creating the Perfect Portfolio web.com/articles/the_perfect_portfolio/ web.com/articles/the_perfect_portfolio/