I am in the process of updating my portfolio of work. This is exciting because it is a large step towards graduating with my Masters of Arts in Information and Learning Technology from the University of Colorado Denver. It is required just as a thesis or a capstone project are for other masters’ level degrees.
Purpose
The purpose of the portfolio, or Base Camp, is to build a platform for sharing ongoing work and professional development. My goals in producing this portfolio are to show the world and future colleagues what I can do, where I have been, and how far I have come. This is my chance to prove that I have the skills it takes to be an Instructional Designer.
Motivation
My motivation in producing this portfolio is 1) to graduate (of course) and 2) to have an easily accessible location for all of the work of which I am proudest. When someone asks me, “What do you do?”, I can answer with, “Well, here is my portfolio with work examples.” It’s wonderful to be able to show my work with humility and pride.
Plan
The most difficult of this portfolio will be maintenance and management. My plan includes posting weekly or biweekly on this blog, Professional Musings. I will also check the website monthly to ensure the layouts are still up to date, the media is still present, and my web traffic is not unusual. My social media outreach will include references to this blog and website, especially my portfolio project pages. I find I get traffic from Twitter posts using hashtags, such as #NewBlog or #Portfolio.
Spam Management
Of disappointing concern is this – managing spam. I got my first spam email last week asking me to design storyboards and plan content management for a large company in New York City. In the end, it was either fraud or spam. 
The email domain changed in the middle of our email conversation to something fishy. I’m not sure how I will filter these messages in the future, but I feel I handled the situation gracefully and confidently by asking for an official job write-up or posting, time and pay estimations, and demanding more information before sharing my information. I did not receive anything formal or confirmable, so I emailed back and mentioned I noticed the domain changed and they had not provided me with anything official. I blocked the sender after that message.
So, gone are the days of walking around with a binder full of laminated project overviews printed on fancy card stock. Or is it just for the eLearning and Instructional Design field? My hunch is that most industries are headed towards mobile friendly, web hosted portfolios.
My portfolio can be viewed here: https://sophiaburris.com/portfolio-2/. Please pardon the construction and process of updating and redesigning.
