Thirty to 60 hours of work for a single CD paid off whenJennifer Lawson was offered an internship, she said.
She might have taken less time to build a traditional portfolio,but that might not have made the same impression the CD's digitalversion made, she said.
"Having a portfolio sets you apart," Joseph P. Goodwin,assistant director of the Career Center, said. "Having a digitalportfolio sets you apart even more."
Recently, the digital-portfolio trend has emerged across allprofessions, Laura Daul, a digital-portfolio specialist in the Artand Journalism Building, said.
At Ball State, students in three departments are using Web-basedportfolios, and as unemployment rose to just above 6 percent inearly September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thesestudents hoped their digital portfolios would set them apart fromother applicants.
Digital portfolios provide a convenient way to package materialsto mail to potential employers, Sheryl Swingley, journalisminternship coordinator and head of the Digital Portfolio Center,said. They also can be used during an interview or be left behindfor employers, she said.
Beth Crawford, a fifth-year architecture major, sent her digitalportfolio to potential internships with her r�sum�"in order to get her foot in the door."
Crawford said she wanted to intern in Boston, and she used herdigital portfolio to show employers what she could do.
Her high-tech portfolio also saved her money on postage sinceshe had a lot of work samples to send, Crawford said.
Lawson, a senior advertising major, employed her digitalportfolio while interviewing for an internship in Orlando duringFall Break. She said the portfolio not only kept her from payingprinting costs, but it also showcased her technological skills.
Plus, she said, her employer had never seen one before.
"They're going to think of you as on the cutting edge," Lawsonsaid.
Goodwin said that because a student is using new technology, adigital portfolio "makes an impression whether an employer looks atit or not.
"Showing you know the latest technology is good even if youaren't going to be developing Web sites," he said.
Applicants need to make their portfolios accessible toemployers, so advanced computer skills should not be needed to lookat them, Karen Jones, director of Human Resources of MuncieCommunity Schools, said.
Lawson said she used programs like Photoshop, InDesign andGoLive. Crawford said she used Photoshop, PageMaker andPowerPoint.
But the technology used is not important, according to Swingely,and complicated programs like Flash might lower the quality of adigital portfolio. It might remind employers of pop-up ads on theInternet, Swingely said.
"Good design shouldn't call attention to itself," she said.
The Teachers College has a portfolio center on the seventhfloor. The center is designed to help students create and maintaintheir portfolios, Laurie Mullen, associate professor of secondaryeducation and instructional technology, said.
Journalism students can use the Digital Portfolio Center, whichopened this fall. The center is financed by a grant aimed atincreasing retention rates.
Portfolio development sparks the most anxiety in the journalismdepartment, Swingley said, but students might be less likely toleave if they have portfolio specialists "right there at theirelbows."
Allen Sundstrom, a senior journalism-graphics student, works asone of the center's digital-portfolio specialists.
"A digital portfolio can only help your career," Sundstrom said."It can't hurt it."
Jones, however, said the portfolios might hurt students. For along time applicants were supposed to attach their pictures totheir r�sum�s, Jones said, but that practice stoppedbecause of discrimination, she said.
Now, people have pictures of themselves on their digitalportfolios, possibly causing discrimination once again.
Jones also said that most of the time, principals don't look atthe portfolios during the interviews, although they might reviewthem afterward.
Jessica Bowman, a 2003 elementary-education graduate, said herdigital portfolio didn't get her a job.
"In the interviews I've had, the people haven't wanted to seethe hard copy of my portfolio, let alone a digital copy," Bowmansaid. "They are more interested in what you have to say."
Bowman just completed it for a grade, she said.
Laurie Mullen, associate professor of secondary education andinstructional technology, said the education digital portfolio'spurpose is not to just get jobs. Otherwise, she said, studentswould wait four or five years before they saw the results of theirtime and effort.
Instead, Mullen said, digital portfolios are created to documentstudents' education at Ball State.
Licensing requires digital portfolios for all education majors.These portfolios are begun during a student's firstintroduction-to-education course and are added to during classesthroughout the curriculum.
Education portfolios contain "artifacts" that demonstrate astudent's understanding and use of international teachingstandards, Mullen said. Portfolios are formally reviewed four timesduring a student's time at Ball State.
Despite Ball State's push toward digital portfolios, Goodwinsaid there are no plans to create a university-wide portfolioprogram because of the cost.
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