Cases and Interviews

As I examined hundreds of Web sites promising electronic or Web portfolio data for this text, and performed observations and interviews with dozens of students and colleagues, I discovered some exemplary cases of Web portfolio usage. The Web portfolio phenomena and the rise in electronic portfolio development within all disciplines have prompted academic institutions to develop Web portfolio programs and to push these programs towards faculty and students. My general observations are that the institutions that make serious efforts to develop and manage a sound electronic portfolio program are getting good results. Right now, it is not conceivable for an institution to be able to have 100 percent of their student and faculty populations to have Web portfolios. At Penn State University, in the Dutton E-Education Institute, they are trying by providing 500 MB of Web portfolio space to all undergraduate students while enrolled. The institute recently reported in December 2004 that one in three undergraduate students activate their Web portfolio and use it for academic reflection and professional purposes. The Dutton Institute and Penn State’s e-portfolio initiative are highlighted further in this chapter. During interviews with students and faculty members who have created Web portfolios, I discovered some interesting themes that included fear of copyright infringement, technical worries, and lack of process knowledge. These themes encompass problems and positive events that shaped each Web portfolio authors experiences and these are also discussed later in the chapter. Also in this chapter, a Web-based e-portfolio program proposal sample is included to give you a head start on creating a proposal for your institution or program. The sample is based on criteria for new technology proposals distributed by an academic vice president at a four-year university. It is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all proposal. It is meant to give structure to developing an initial program concept. Proposal adaptation based on discipline, industry, and curriculum would certainly be needed. Finally, electronic portfolios are widely seen in the discipline of education. This chapter provides observations of teacher Web portfolios which include all levels of educators from elementary through higher education. These cases seem to have exemplary qualities that fit the teacher Web portfolio and can be transcended into the creation of Web portfolios in any discipline. The goal of examining these cases is to identify important components in the Web portfolios of teachers that represent evidence of professional development, project and skill sets, and persuasion. These teacher Web portfolio cases are effective models for use in any discipline.

Uploading and Testing Your Web Portfolio Site

You have come a long way in your journey; the end is near, and it is time to take your Web portfolio site and present it to the world. This stage is a critical one. If the Web portfolio does not make it to the Internet, it loses its portability and fails as an on-demand communication. In this chapter we will explore the steps needed in purchasing a domain name for your Web portfolio, securing a host and Web space, and uploading site files using FTP. We will also cover how to set up a site in Dreamweaver so the uploading and future edits are easy. Finally in the chapter, we discuss usability heuristics and how they can be used to measure the effectiveness of the Web portfolio. We review some of the usability theories provided by Nielsen and Molich and adapt them to fit a model for the Web portfolio.

Motion, Graphics and Multimedia Production

This chapter presents motion graphics and provides simple lessons on creating text animation using Macromedia Flash. I will provide background information on digital audio editing and optimizing using Adobe Audition. We will cover how to make loops using Adobe Audition and export them for use in Flash. Also included in this chapter, the reader gets specific instructions on how to make an interactive sound on/off switch in Flash.

Information Design

This chapter provides explanation and steps on transforming ideas into information architecture. The main emphasis is on developing a framework of content that focuses on priority, simplicity, and organization. Priority and simplicity are terms that become synonymous with good information design. By priority, I refer to prioritizing the information into a structure that will enable the user to gain access, interaction, entertainment, value, and connection with your Web portfolio. Prioritizing information relies on information design. You have already taken steps to begin the process of information design and organization has occurred. By creating a content outline, you organized the proposed content that will be presented in your Web portfolio. Refinement of the organized content relies upon navigation and usability to be thoughtful to the audience requirements. Simplicity refers to keeping navigation and usability simple and organized so that no mistakes can be made when traveling throughout the Web portfolio. Confusion in the Web portfolio cannot be tolerated by the user. He or she will not stand for not getting what they want, which is content. If the need for content discovery is not met, the connection and the communication have failed. The scary part is that we may never know if the user has had a bad experience. Later on in this book, we talk more deeply about usability from the viewpoint of Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru of the Web. We will also examine usability testing for our own Web portfolios to see how the user might feel when they hit our URL. One thing that we want to keep in the forefront of our navigation and usability design is that users need to get to where they’re going through navigation as simply as possible. This is nonnegotiable. Therefore, creating an easy to navigate, usable site is more difficult and then dumping loads of unorganized materials on the user. Let us examine the components that help insure usability and good design in the Web portfolio. The guidelines in the next sections can help you develop an organized structure that will help you in the rest of the Web portfolio development steps. Remember, the development of the Web portfolio is an individual, subjective experience that provides a structured narrative in Web form.

Server-Side Technologies

When this book went out for review, one of the reviewers was insightful enough to recommend that I include some information on server-side technologies. As I thought about the scholar’s comments, I came to a few conclusions about the importance of server-side technologies and their use within the Web portfolio. For the most part, you can create a simple Web portfolio by using only client-side tools. Client-side tools and technologies include Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe audition, Macromedia Fireworks, HTML, and JavaScript. But the reviewer made a good point in stating that ignoring server-side technologies seemed inappropriate. With this in mind, and with the help and research and writing contributions of my colleague and friend David Power, we provide a basic overview of PHP, ASP, ASP.net, CGI & Perl, and ColdFusion. These backend technologies have database driven components which may or may not be needed in today’s Web portfolio. But as content grows in quantity, quality, and resolution, they need for large-scale database management even on personal Web portfolio levels becomes more evident. In the future, the integration of server-side technologies will surely become a large part of personal Web portfolio activities.

Content, Collection, Development and Management

It’s time to hunt and gather. In a large part, the Web portfolio design process relies upon you as the author to be an investigator. What this means is you have to go back into your own personal history and find all of the assets and artifacts that will help you tell your story in the Web portfolio. Remember, this story is wrapped around the content. The content must be collected, processed, and refined so that it is technically and visually suitable for publishing on the Internet. Content will be scattered all over. To make things easier during the content collection process, refer to your content outline. By doing this, you can cycle through a list and gather all available materials. Some items might be lost or not worthy of the Web portfolio so they should be deleted. You can also leave space for items that will be complete and ready for presentation in the future.

Visual Design

This chapter explores visual design and the methods used to develop Web site storyboards and screen creation. This process is a critical step in the Web portfolio design process because it enables visual persuasion and allows for a cohesive composition throughout the product. Many Web portfolio sites are poorly designed visually. The reasons surrounding this are too many to be discussed fully in this text. However, we will take a proactive approach and explain the qualities that are important in good visual design of Web pages. In addition, we will look at some bad Web portfolio design attributes to get a sense of what is not quite effective when it comes to visual persuasion. The notion of bad design is subjective, but also, design has objective, measurable attributes that lead to visual quality. Many bad designs come from non-art and non-visual disciplines. Technology experts may be poor designers because they focus too much on technology bells and whistles and less on the user. However, design is emergent and eventually everyone can get better with practice and exposure to design. I hope this chapter will act as a catalyst for people who already have a Web portfolio to assess the quality of their design. I would like the new readers to begin to build good habits in their actions as visual and communication designers. Regardless of discipline, when you create a Web portfolio you become a designer. You are developing an information product that serves to solve a communication problem. Therefore, you are playing the role of information designer, communication designer, and graphic designer. These are roles which you must take seriously because they affect persuasion and appearance. Making your Web portfolio site look good is as important as feeling good about it, because if it looks good and you feel good about it, you’ll tell people about it. Remember, the goal of the Web portfolio is to promote you and your accomplishments, so looks count.

Web Portfolios in the Information Society and Future

This chapter offers theories behind why the networked e-portfolio (Web portfolio) will evolve into the post modern identity vehicle for the knowledge worker of the new millennium. Ideas behind how Web portfolios are narratives and can change society are established based on writings from information science theorists and scientists including Jean Francois Lyotard, Dr. Amy Spaulding, Professor Nicolas Negroponte, Alan Kay, and Frank Webster. Additionally, the effects of the e-portfolio as a media and information management tool in postmodern society are approached with reference to the writings of Marshall McLuhan, Margot Lovejoy, and Dr. Stephen Covey. I wrote this chapter to focus on my specialization and fascination with information studies. However, the thoughts and predictions I offer will bedriven by disciplines such as education, humanities, and natural sciences. These disciplines involvement in Web portfolio initiatives within curriculum are a factor in the Web portfolio evolving in professional and academic settings.

Web Page Design

This chapter focuses on digital design for the Web using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks. It’s time to review the storyboards that you created in Chapter IV. Your goal at this point is to use the storyboard designs that you sketched to create Web page screens. You want to utilize the content you gathered and developed while working in the last chapter. After successfully completing this chapter, you will have Web page screen designs that will be output into table- or layer-based HTML files. The files you will generate are going to be HTML files, but will not be functional Web pages. They will not have working links, pop-up windows or multimedia. The pages that are generated in this stage come from Macromedia fireworks or Adobe Photoshop.

Conceptualization

This chapter provides instruction, examples, and steps on how to begin the creative production process. Focus will be on user centered design, conceptualization, and creation of documents that define the scope of your personal Web portfolio project. Topics include understanding the user, brainstorming to determine audience, messages, and supporting images needed as well as development of scope documents for the Web portfolio. The scope documents are the concept statement, content list, and content outline. These documents help you, the author, to gather your thoughts and begin to record the ideas in hardcopy form. The ideas you put down on paper will go through revision and possibly redefinition during the conceptualization process. Don’t worry, this is natural. This initial struggle with ideas is important to establishing solid content and design. Without conceptualization, communication is lost in the translation from the author to the media. This can be deadly in the case of the Web portfolio. Because the goal of the Web portfolio is to persuade, it is vital that all important messages are to the forefront. Without them, it is difficult to establish a personal credibility, identity, and communication channel with the user.