Introduction
Last week, I facilitated a portfolio workshop with Learning Rebels. In today’s post, I’m sharing some of what I discussed during that workshop, focusing on six steps for crafting a compelling instructional design portfolio to help you stand out from the crowd.
Don’t miss the Instructional Design Portfolio Toolkit linked at the end of the post. It’s chock full of resources to guide you every step of the way.
Step 1: Visualize Your Dream Job
As instructional designers, we “design with the end in mind.” Our portfolios should be no different. The first step in creating your instructional design portfolio is to visualize your dream job.
Ask yourself:
- What type of organization do I want to work for?
- What kind of work do I want to do?
Then, review job descriptions that match your dream job (at least in part). What tools, tasks, and skills are mentioned?
Start thinking about how you can demonstrate that you can use those tools and perform those tasks, and that you have those skills.
Step 2: Select Your Projects
The next step is to select the projects you want to highlight. Your portfolio doesn’t need to include everything you’ve ever done. It should focus on the type of work you’re best at and that you enjoy most.
Review your past projects, asking yourself:
- What am I most proud of?
- What would I like to do more of?
- Which projects have I done that most closely match my dream job’s requirements?
- If I don’t have work samples that match my dream job, what will I need to create?
If you don’t have previous experience, think about the type of work you’d like to do. What kind of work gets you excited?
Choose three to five samples to include. You can include more, but think “quality over quantity.” Also keep in mind that you don’t have to include the entire course for each sample. You can choose certain portions to highlight, either in a demo video or a truncated version of the course.
Don’t limit your portfolio to eLearning links unless you are solely an eLearning developer. Consider showing analysis and design documents, storyboards, instructor-led projects, and other samples for a more well-rounded look at your skills.
But What If...?
You might be thinking, “But I can’t develop a portfolio because I’m not allowed to share my projects.” Or, “I’m just starting out and don’t have samples.”
I get it. Those are valid challenges. But I’m here to tell you that you absolutely can develop a portfolio even if these things are true. Remember, you only really need about three to five samples, and you can create them.
Here are some ideas:
- Find out if you could share the work if you remove the company’s branding and anything else that might identify them.
- Create something similar using different content.
- Create new samples based on your own expertise or a hobby.
- Complete challenges.
- Volunteer.
You can find out more about creating samples when you don’t have experience in this post. And there are additional resources in the Toolkit.
Step 3: Plan Your Design
After you’ve selected your samples, it’s time to plan your design. It’s helpful to review other portfolios for design inspiration. Take notes about what you like and might want to include in yours. (But obviously don’t copy from others’ portfolios!)
Consider how you’ll organize your portfolio, not only the visual layout but also the writeup to go with your samples that will give potential employers or clients important context about the projects.
Describe the challenge and the approach you took to solve it. The Toolkit linked at the end of this post contains design worksheets to help with this.
When you’re ready, create a sketch or storyboard of what you want your portfolio to look like.
Step 4: Choose a Tool
Next, you’ll choose a tool to create your portfolio. This might be a website builder, but it doesn’t have to be. Ask yourself, “Do I really need a website?”
A portfolio is simply a collection of work samples, so any tool that lets you compile your samples and share them with a potential employer or client could work.
For example, you could put together a PDF or PowerPoint presentation that includes links to your samples. If you’re already using Articulate 360, you could put together a page using Rise.
If you’re not sure whether you need a website, consider these questions:
- What skills are valued in your dream job? (Web development? Adobe Acrobat? Office? Articulate?)
- Are you a freelancer, or do you plan to be one? Freelancers generally need websites.
- If you choose an alternative tool, how will you share the portfolio? Will you be able to email it or put it on a Google Drive or Dropbox?
Website Builder Comparison
If you’ve decided you do need a website, and you’ve never built one before, it can be daunting to consider all the options available.
In general, you’ll need to consider your budget, your tech skills, and the capabilities that you need from the website. What do you need the website to do for you? Do you only need a portfolio? Or will you need other pages and features, like a blog or a shop for selling courses or other products?
The chart below is loosely based on one that Tim Slade shared in a helpful video called How to Pick the Right Website Tool to Build Your eLearning Portfolio. It compares some of the most popular website builder tools in terms of ease of use and the features they offer.
To create this chart, I looked at the features listed on each tool’s product page, and I read many consumer reviews and comparisons. However, I have not used all of these tools personally, and I encourage you to do your own research to find the tool that works best for you.
The Toolkit linked at the end of this post includes a table that compares the prices and features of these tools.
Step 5: Build It
After you’ve created your design plan and chosen a tool, it’s time to build your portfolio.
There’s varying advice out there about what to include, but at a minimum, you need:
- Work samples with a narrative that provides context
- Information about you
- How to get in touch with you
To help you decide what components to include, there’s a checklist in the Toolkit linked at the end of this post.
Don't Forget Accessibility
Also remember to consider accessibility when you’re developing your portfolio. When we ignore accessibility, we’re limiting access to our work, and we’re also potentially limiting the opportunities that might be open to us. You never know who will be reviewing your portfolio and what their access needs are.
Some things to consider are:
- Alternative text for images
- Captions for videos
- Sufficient contrast
- Headings (H1, H2, etc.)
- Ways to pause media
Step 6: Test It
After you build your portfolio, be sure to test it, trying it out as a user.
- Do all the links work as expected?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Is it free of typos and other errors? (Be sure to proofread your work samples too!)
- Are the images high quality, not stretched or pixelated?
- Do the images load quickly?
- Will the narrative make sense to someone who wasn’t involved with the project? Is it clear how you used sound instructional design theory and processes to solve a problem?
- Does the portfolio display properly on a mobile phone and tablet?
After you test it yourself, share it with others and ask for honest feedback. The Toolkit includes some learning communities whose members are generally willing to provide this kind of feedback.
Summary
After you’ve built your instructional design portfolio, remember to update it periodically. It’s a good idea to set some sort of schedule for updating yours—whether that’s quarterly, annually, or whenever you finish a cool project that you want to add to it.
I hope the six steps I’ve shared here will be helpful to you as you build (or update) your instructional design portfolio. Here are a couple of resources to help even more:
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Comments
I love how the post mentions ‘Instructional Design Portfolio Toolkit’ at the end-it’s like a treasure trove waiting to be explored