Using Web-Based Portfolios to Assist Technical Communication Program Development
http://www.cptsc.org/conferences/2000/Sauer.html
  peer-reviewed

Sauer, Geoffrey
CPTSC Proceedings
2000

Abstract:

In 1998, the English Department at Carnegie Mellon built an Internet server (english.cmu.edu) to offer free lifetime accounts to English majors and graduate students. We did this (in part) because we had found that students in our professional programs underused campus facilities for web portfolios. Interviews revealed that many Web-savvy students felt alienated from campus Internet publishing options--which serve students while they remain students, but eliminate accounts (and remove alumni websites) soon after graduation. CMU students in professional programs are exceptionally career-oriented, and interviews revealed that they instead planned to postpone website production until they had graduated, when they could create (more) permanent websites--which often did not happen. By encouraging our students --while students--to create online portfolios which they could maintain even after graduation, we removed one of the obstacles to experimentation by our more enthusiastic students, and offered them options to integrate such work into their studies of genre,audience and accessibility. This experiment has been more successful than originally expected; students' websites are among the most popular locations on the entire server, and have led to continuing communications between alumni and faculty. This has led some of us who advised students in Carnegie Mellon's MAPW (Masters in Professional Writing) and CPAD (Masters in Communication Planning and Design) to rethink issues which arise in the creation of web portfolios.