Jennifer Turns

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Jennifer Turns
Technical Communications
University of Washington, Seattle Campus

Portfolios to Demonstrate Professional Skills

Jennifer Turns, Assistant Professor of Technical Communication, incorporated the Portfolio Tool into TC 310 "The Computer and the Technical Communication Profession." Turns explained how electronic portfolios bring together all the assignments in her course, including learning the tools supported by the profession, student assignments, design rationales, and students' reflections on the tools and their skills and abilities. Turns asked students to use the Portfolio tool to make ongoing reflections on their learning. She then had students build culminating portfolios that demonstrate their understanding of the field by highlighting their skills for others in the technical communications profession.

Student Experience with the Assignment

Student Adam Wilson presented his culminating professional portfolio of a fictitious TC department he created for a real corporation. According to Wilson, "the portfolio really exposed me to how audiences, how design issues come together when you create portfolios, when you create any kind of document." Wilson also noted that "no matter whether I forget these individual portfolio assignments and the teacher, I can always come back to this portfolio and recall the design issues I faced when I was creating the portfolio and use them further in my career."

Presentation Video

Wilson and Turns talked about their experiences at a forum entitled "Using Portfolios to Bridge Classroom, Community, and Career," held by the Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology.

You can watch a video of their presentation by selecting one of the connections below.