1. Steve Bookman, Pace University March 2, 2017
Using the Resume Assignment to Teach ePortfolios: Beyond the Business Writing Classroom
Steve Bookman, Pace University
March 2, 2017
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Abstract
Since resumes in general are typically one page, they cannot showcase class projects, research projects, and other documents in great detail. This is where ePortfolios can showcase students’ work experience and skills, which fill in the whole picture to a prospective employer. The presenter, who is also an editor, shows his unique approach on how he teaches his students, especially in his business writing classes, how to design and proofread ePortfolios coming from the editor’s perspective through various activities he uses in his classes.
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Agenda
The Purpose of ePortfolios
Theory and Methodology to Designing ePortfolios
Designing ePortfolios
Proofreading ePortfolios
Class Activities
Benefits of Having the Mindset of an Editor
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4. The Purpose of ePortfolios
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Uses of ePortfolios
Three general purposes for ePortfolios (Lievens, 2014)
Way for students to engage more in the learning process
Reflections (e.g., First-Year Seminar) (Brammer, 2007)
Assessment through learning outcomes
Showcase of learning outcomes
General skills students acquire creating ePortfolios (Kryder, 2011)
Web writing skills
Design skills
Technical skills
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6. ePortfolios as Resumes
The resume of the future may only be online (Okoro & Cardon, 2011; Worley, 2011).
Students can showcase their experiences and skills employers look for (Brammer, 2007; Flanigan, 2012; Okoro & Cardon, 2011).
Evidence of oral and written skills, and critical thinking
Employers use the internet to learn more about prospective applicants (Brammer, 2007).
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7. Theory and Methodology to Designing ePortfolios
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Three Traditions Shaping Thinking and Beliefs About Writing and Design (1)
Craft tradition
This tradition “cultivates knowledge of guidelines, principles, rules, and procedures that are needed in order to produce visual or verbal products” (Schriver, 1997, p. 55)
The focus of instruction is on “mastering the fundamentals of style and technique” (Schriver, 1997, p. 56).
Romantic tradition
“Writing and design are successful when they express the inner vision of the writer or designer” (Schriver, 1997, p. 57).
The focus is on intuition, not analyzing and teaching (Schriver, 1997).
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Three Traditions Shaping Thinking and Beliefs About Writing and Design (3)
Rhetorical tradition
Writing is teachable and does not have to be a gift from birth (Schriver, 1997).
Three of the most important ideas include: audience, invention, heuristics (Shriver, 1977)
Audience
Everything needs to focus around the target audience.
Invention
Students research a subject, take “a point of view that is sensitive to the readers’ knowledge and beliefs” (Schriver, 1997, p. 58), and come up with explanations and arguments.
Heuristics
By using prior knowledge, people can problem solve, which can lead to new information about a problem.
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Audience (1)
Relationships formed through document design ( Kimball & Hawkings, 2008)
Clients
Users
Designers
Three different ways to analyze audience
Classification-driven audience analysis
Creating profiles of target audience
Demographics (e.g., “age, sex, income, and educational level”) (Schriver, 1997, p. 155)
Psychographics (e.g., “values, lifestyles, attitudes, personality traits, and work habits”) (Schriver, 1997, p. 155)
Problem with this method: limited overview of audience, which does not factor in diversity
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Audience (2)
Three different ways to analyze audience (con’t)
Intuition-driven audience analysis
“mental construct of imagined readers” (Schriver, 1997, p. 157)
Use human characteristics (e.g., curiosity, intelligence)
Intended audience
Ideal reader
Strength of method
Keep readers’ attention using words and pictures
Weakness of method
Little encouragement to compare with real readers
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Audience (3)
Three different ways to analyze audience (con’t)
Feedback-driven audience analysis
Use real readers “engaged in the process of interpreting texts” (Schriver, 1997, p. 160)
Two broad research traditions
How people read and interpret texts in general (e.g., reading comprehension and discourse)
How people read and interpret particular texts (e.g., professional and technical)
Strengths
Develop a very detailed view of how real readers interpret what they are reading
Weaknesses
“Gap between forming an image of the audience and taking action based on that image” (Schriver, 1997, p. 160)
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Ethics
Intellectual property (Rude & Eaton, 2011)
Copyrights
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Fair use and Four-Factor Test (Rife, 2007)
Trademarks
Patents
Trade secrets
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14. Society for Technical Communication’s Ethical Principles
Legality
Honesty
Confidentiality
Quality
Fairness
Professionalism
(Society For Technical Communication, 1998)
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15. Plain Language (1)
Plain language is defined as the “writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a cooperative, motivated person a good chance of understanding it at first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood” (Cutts, 2009, p. xi).
“At its heart, plain language involves an ethical relationship between the reader and writer. As a writer, you must want to communicate with your audience clearly” (Graves & Graves, 2011, p. 71).

16. Plain language
Plain Writing Act of 2010 by President Obama states that federal agencies are required “to demonstrate awareness of plain language, offer plain-language training, and write new public documents in plain language. Agencies must also post annual reports on their compliance with the Plain Writing Act on their websites” Willerton, 2015, pp. 8, 10).

17. BUROC Model B: Bureaucratic U: Unfamiliar R and O: Rights oriented
Long distance communication for policies and procedures
U: Unfamiliar
Jargon
R and O: Rights oriented
Affect individual choices
C: Critical
Make decisions quickly
(Willerton, 2015)

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Viewing Documents
Three perspectives of Documents (Kimball & Hawkings, 2008)
Perception
Visual-spatial thinking – physical cues
Culture
Meeting the expectations of the users
Rhetoric
The users’ lives and experiences
Users’ responses to the document
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19. Designing ePortfolios
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20. Steps to Designing ePortfolios
Audience
Reason for ePortfolio
Design/outline/layout
Content
Plagiarism
Sentence structure and grammar
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Outlining (1)
An outline is not just a writing tool to get students started, but it is a series of steps that develops any entire text into a rough draft in bullet form, using a formal outline structure (Bookman, 2012).
Outlines, if they are used to their fullest potential, are complete rough drafts. Only one draft needs to be developed (Bookman, 2012).
If students cannot envision the whole written text, they are not ready to write it.
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Outlining (2)
A partial outline is the product of brainstorming and revising the thesis statement. It is not sufficient enough to envision the entire essay. A partial outline contains an unfinished introduction, body, and/or conclusion (Bookman, 2012).
A complete outline is the entire essay in bullet form with each paragraph outlined separately (Bookman, 2012).
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23. Proofreading ePortfolios
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24. Theoretical Background to Proofreading
Role of attention
“Conscious attention to form in the input competes with conscious attention to meaning” (p. 296).
Attention is limited and selective (Van Patten, 1990).
It is impossible to pay attention to everything at the same time.
Trade-off hypothesis
Bridging content and form in the beginning frees up attention to form during proofreading (Skehan, 2007).
By spending more time in the beginning with planning and outlining, more time can be spent on individual items in the end for proofreading.
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25. Proofreading ePortfolios
Audience
Reason for ePortfolio
User experience
Layout of ePortfolio
Outline of each page
Content and background
Plagiarism
Typography and spacing
Sentence structure and grammar
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Class Activities
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27. General Observations with Student ePortfolios
Not enough time to complete it in one semester (Okoro & Cardon, 2011; Worley, 2011).
Students tend to wait until the last minute to complete them.
Not enough relevant and quality information to add to ePortfolios
Few, if any, work-related experiences weaken ePortfolios (Okoro & Cardon, 2011).
Two categories of students (Okoro & Cardon, 2011)
High-performing students produce ePortfolios of average quality.
Low-performing students produce ePortfolios of poor quality.
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28. Class Activities for Teaching ePortfolios
Audience profile sheet
Outline of each page
Document design
Layout
Design
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29. Benefits of Having the Mindset of an Editor
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30. What do employers look for? (1)
Soft skills – people skills (Strauss, 2016)
Leadership skills
Team player
Critical thinking
Problem-solving skills
Paying attention to detail
Interpersonal skills
Communication skills
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31. What do employers look for? (2)
Hard skills – technical skills (Strauss, 2016)
Writing proficiency
Public speaking
Data analysis
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Thank you for listening to my presentation. Handouts can be retrieved at My is
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References
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References (1)
Bookman, S. (2012, July 11). Complete outlines as rough drafts. Presenter at the 2012 International Learning Styles Conference. Bronx, NY.
Braummer, C. (2007). Electronic portfolios: For assessment and job search. Proceedings of the 2007 Association for Business Communication Annual Convention.
Cutts, M. (2009). Oxford guide to plain English (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Flanigan, E. J. (2012). ePortfolios and technology: Customized for careers. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 8(4), DOI: /jicte
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References (2)
Graves, H., & Graves, R. (2011). A strategic guide to technical communication (2nd ed.). Peterborough, ON: Broadview.
Kimball, M. A., & Hawkins, A. R. (2008). Document design: A guide for technical communicators. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.
Kryder, L. G. (2011). ePortfolios: Proving competency and building a network. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), DOI: /
Lievens, R. (2014). A proposal: Mitigating effects of the economic crisis with career ePortfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 4(2),
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References (3)
Okoro, E. A., & Cardon, P. W. (2011). ePortfolios in business communication courses as tools for employment. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), DOI: /
Rife, M. C. (2007). The fair use doctrine: History, application, and implications for (new media) writing teachers. Computers and Composition, 24,
Rude, C. A., & Eaton, A. (2011). Technical editing (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
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References (4)
Schriver, K. A. (1997). Dynamics in document design. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Skehan, P. (2007, September 20-22). Tradeoff and cognition: Two hypotheses regarding attention during task-based performance. Second International Conference on TBLT. University of Hawaii
Society for Technical Communication. (1998). Ethical Principles. Retrieved from
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References (5)
Strauss , K. (2016, May 17). These are the skills bosses say new college graduates do not have. Forbes. Retrieved from the-skills-bosses-say-new-college-grads-do-not- have/#653e e.
Van Patten, B. (1990). Attending to form and content in the input. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12,
Worley, R. B. (2011). ePortfolios examined: Tools for exhibit and evaluation. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), DOI: /
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