Zeegen, L. (2008) ‘Design graduate’s survival guide’, Computer Arts 151, 2008, p.37

Zeegen (2008)

Zeegen, L. (2008 ) ‘Design graduate’s survival guide’, Computer Arts 151, 2008, p.37

A section of the article on post-graduate employment for creative arts practitioners focuses on portfolios. The author comments on a the need for students to represent a range of skill dimensions through the portfolio, reflecting its complexity and scope for purpose. Zeegen states, “Anyone viewing your body of work should be able to comprehend your take on design, visualise your aspirations as a designer and get a real flavour of what motivates and interests you.” These three facets alone illustrate the challenge of visually articulating abstract skill types in a tangible form.

Pereira de Eça, M.T.T. (2005) ‘Using Portfolios for External Assessment: An Experiment in Portugal’ International Journal of Art and Design Education

Pereira de Eça, M.T.T. (2005) ‘Using Portfolios for External Assessment: An Experiment in Portugal’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, [online] 24 (2), pp209-218 Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=12&hid=17&sid=777a562f-9e26-4aa2-b4bd-69173d0ad022%40SRCSM2 (accessed 22 October 2007)

The article describes the findings of an initiative to assess single portfolios for secondary level art and design students. Portfolios are described as being any of a folder, exhibition, work-journal, CD, webpage. The assessment criteria used are significant, as they are indicative of the needs of the course, align with the needs of the subject culture, but are also acknowledged as being “subject to common interpretation by users.” (p.211) These were:

• Record personal ideas, intentions, experiences, information and opinions in visual and other forms.
• Critically analyse sources from visual culture showing understanding of purposes, meanings and contexts.
• Develop ideas through purposeful experimentation, exploration and evaluation.
• Present a coherent and organised sample of works and a final product revealing a personal and informed response that realises their intentions.
• Evaluate and justify the qualities of the work.

The findings describe the positive aspects of this experiment; “The assessment instrument integrated a wide range of methods of inquiry, media and domains of art and design,, allowing students o develop personal projects in which they could personalise social issues and reveal important cognitive and metacognitive skills.” (p.213) It is interesting that these themes have emerged in light of activity that did not specify portfolio mode.

What this did surface however was a highly significant observation pertaining to the representation of student work in digital modes: “Digital reproductions of students’ studio art works are not appropriate for fully appreciating and discussing the visual characteristics of portfolios, expect perhaps when the student’s chosen media is itself digital.” (p.214)

Lane, C. (2007) The Power of ‘E’: Using E-Portfolios to Build Online Presentation Skills Innovate: Journal of Online Education

Lane, C. (2007) The Power of ‘E’: Using E-Portfolios to Build Online Presentation Skills Innovate: Journal of Online Education [Online] Avaiable at: http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=369 (accessed December 3 2007)

Lane introduces this paper by describing the tension of comparing paper-based portfolios to e-portfolios suggesting that this comparison alone is an inadequate way of demonstrating the potential of an e-portfolio. She also mentions that, at the other end of the scale, “in contrast to online environments [web 2.0 – social networks], e-portfolios provide academic and professional web spaces.”, and takes time in the article to differentiate the two.

The article also voices some interesting observations that seem to stem largely from attention being paid to the student perspective. It suggests the skills which students think an e-portfolio will help them develop are actually multimedia and web design skills. These presentational facets are acknowledged by the author, “The software employed must offer some level of student control over design.” Lane goes on to say, “If students are able to choices in the development of their e-portfolio – either scaffolded by a tool that provides options or in a freeform authoring environment – they have a valuable opportunity to learn how to best present themselves and their work.”

Gillham, B. & McGilp, H. (2007) ‘Recording the Creative Process: An Empirical Basis for Practice-Integrated Research in the Arts’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (2), pp177-184

Gillham, B. & McGilp, H. (2007) ‘Recording the Creative Process: An Empirical Basis for Practice-Integrated Research in the Arts’ International Journal of Art and Design Education, 26 (2), pp177-184

The article explores the use of ‘creative process journals’ (CPJs) to record the practice-integrated research activity in the creative arts as a formal research tool. Although the emphasis is on how this concept can be used for research purposes, there are clear fundamental parallels between this and creative portfolios in terms of practitioners, and presentation of process. As a caveat to that statement however, the authors state that their discussion is discrete to that of journals “primarily concerned with ‘reflection’ and self-analysis.” (p.178) Instead they talk about the “detailed description to provide the raw data for critical interpretation.”

The authors comment on the differences between research through synthesis and through analysis, suggesting that art and design researchers are inclined to the former. The function of the CPJ therefore would be to provide an account for which analytical interpretation can occur. Within this, there are experiences identified that relate to the need for accurate representation of journal content in order for the analysis to take place in context.

Dillon, S. & Brown, A. (2006) ‘The Art of E-Portfolios: Insights from the Creative Arts Experience’ In Jafari, A. & Kaufman, C. (Eds.) Handbook of Research on E-Portfolios pp420-433 Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference

Dillon, S. & Brown, A. (2006) ‘The Art of E-Portfolios: Insights from the Creative Arts Experience’ In Jafari, A. & Kaufman, C. (Eds.) Handbook of Research on E-Portfolios pp420-433 Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference

The authors aim to examine the creative production context in order to reveal challenges potentially encountered using portfolios in the creative arts through case studies in diverse creative fields. Initially there is an acknowledgement of the “intensive media-rich nature of creative production contexts” being a significant challenge for electronic portfolio use. The article goes on to describe the generic elements of traditional creative arts portfolios to represent the intrinsic creative processes associated:

“When creative product and experience are textualised, the explanation is privileged over a representation of the knowledge itself in its original symbolic form. Artefacts of artistic practice can be organized into a system that documents creative practice in a way that combines both the experience of the work and the explanation of the work to provide a rigorous, accountable, and compelling presentation of the work.” (p.421)

The trend for multimedia richness made possible and driven by technology, is suggested to “level the playing field” for contexts beyond the creative arts (there is a historical and cultural tendency for prioritising text and numerical modes of description). The authors highlight ways in which multimedia can be utilised to extrude metaphors for creative arts, citing music and the performing arts’ temporal nature as being well suited to such outputs.

A key question raised is; “Is the artefact of the production sufficiently representative of the quality of the work?” A focus on understanding subjects and the tools and processes intrinsic to them is provided as a basis for a solution; “Understanding the ways of knowing within a discipline is critical to the effective use of ePortfolios, and understanding within creative arts is tightly bound with the mediums of those practices.” (p.431)

Creative Review (2004) ‘How to get a Job’ Creative Review, Nov 2004, p37

Creative Review (2004) ‘How to get a Job’ Creative Review, Nov 2004, p37

Significantly, the article talks extensively about the use of traditional paper-based portfolios during interviews for jobs in the design sector. This goes against the other emerging idea of digital portfolios being used by graduates and employers aside of the interview period. The implication is that the physical portfolio is still seen as important; “…it is always good to include hard copies for the ‘feel factor’.”

The article also focuses on the need for graduates to tailor their portfolio for the individual company that they are aiming to gain employment with one interviewee stating that they are including information about how to do this on their website. “Candidates themselves can prepare by tailoring their portfolio to suit the job which they are up for.”