Enrich Your Experience

Digital Portfolios for Graduate Students

Every graduate student should create and periodically update a digital portfolio that reflects their scholarly and professional growth while at ASU.

What is a digital portfolio?

Simply, it is an electronic collection of your accomplishments and reflective learning over time. Your digital portfolio is a place for you to record, explore, and reflect on your academic-professional journey, and it can serve many different audiences.

Who might be interested in my digital portfolio?

Faculty Advisor / Mentor
Peers and Colleagues
Friends and Family
Potential Employers
General Audience

Whether you create your digital portfolio independently or as part of a course, program, or internship requirement, we recommend that you always consider its purpose and intended audience.

How are digital portfolios used in higher education?

There is a multiplicity of ways that they are used in higher education and just as many reasons why you may want to consider creating one.

For example, digital portfolios can offer:

documentation of evidence-based learning
professional development at practice
collaborative spaces
improved mentor/mentee relationships
opportunities to consider your work in a broader ecosystem
forward-facing platform to present self as a scholar
more than a CV or résumé

They also act as a tool for career management and future employer engagement.

How do I create a digital portfolio?

ASU’s preferred platform for digital portfolios is Digication. There are many benefits to creating your digital portfolio in Digication, such as

it’s free to ASU students;
there is 24/7 technical support and a robust Help Resource guide;
ASU offers several pre-designed and customizable templates
the Graduate College Professional Development Template makes it super easy to get started.

Here are a few other popular, free options for developing a digital portfolio:

Whatever option you choose, we strongly encourage you to curate a digital portfolio during your time to degree.

What should I include in my digital portfolio?

We suggest that a digital portfolio contain pages about academic development, professional development, and teaching (when applicable) with yearly reflections related to skills and knowledge gained, goals achieved, and plans for reaching future milestones.

You want to always provide an introduction for any uploaded evidence, demonstrate professionalism and growth, and reflect on what you learned and why it’s of value.

Some things to include:

self-introduction or “about me” page
well thought out research statement
samples of your best writing
up-to-date curriculum vitae and/or résumé
examples of projects
recorded presentations

Are there any examples?

Once you are logged in to Digication at ASU, you can view ASU’s ePortfolio Directory. Here you’ll find a list of portfolios that have been made accessible by the owners (some public, some only to ASU users).

There is a section for featured portfolios, or you can search by filters, such as name, number of views, title, etc.

Examples:

Public Examples Beyond ASU:

Doyel Pal (CUNY)
Demetrios V. Kapetanakos (CUNY)
Jordi Getman-Eraso (CUNY)
G. Alex Ambrose (Notre Dame)
Beverly McGuire (University North Carolina, Wilmington)

What if I have more questions?

ASU has robust resources dedicated to helping you with digital portfolios.

The Graduate College offers 10 Tips for curating your digital portfolio.

Other suggested resources include: