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Introduction to the E-Portfolio

This e-Portfolio is the culmination of the knowledge and experiences accumulated during my graduate work. The e-Portfolio (or thesis) is required of all students before graduating with a Masters of Library and Information Science degree at San Jose State University. I began the program in Spring 2016, and now, three years later, I wonder where the time has gone. Creating this e-Portfolio has served as a reminder for where I began this journey, and how far I’ve come.

 

This e-Portfolio is built using Wix. I chose this program because it was intuitive, with an attractive design that I could customize. Wix is quite user-friendly, and I wanted to be able to concentrate on the content of my e-Portfolio, without having to worry about technical snafus. From the home page, you can access my introduction, a page linking all of the competencies, and my conclusion/affirmation statement. Additionally, you can use the menu across the top to directly visit any of the competency pages.

 

I have a slight tendency toward obsessive organization, particularly with a project of this size. Because of this, in my third semester of the program, I created a folder on my desktop which I named “Competencies.” Inside this folder, I created subfolders with the names A-O. When I completed an assignment or project for a course that I felt fit into one of these competencies, I put it into the corresponding folder, and then changed the name of the folder. For example, folder A would then become A_1, or A_2 as I added more evidence. This process was helpful to me, because it allowed me to clearly see which competencies I had enough evidence for, and which I still needed to fill. Knowing this, I was able to ensure that projects I did for my courses were tailored to fit these competencies.

 

When time came to start writing, I didn’t know where to begin at first. The handbook, along with my advisor, urged students to begin with whichever competency seemed easiest to us (as we all have different strengths). Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t bring myself to skip around erratically, so I started with A. I completed A and B within the first week, and got encouraging feedback from my adviser. I revised these according to her suggestions, and then began working on C and D. This was my process throughout the whole e-Portfolio experience. There were times when I had two drafts pending at the same time, but for the most part, I tried to finish one competency completely before moving on to the next one. This process helped me to focus my energy on one topic at a time, and to revisit topics one at a time. 

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