IDT 603 Portfolio Guidelines
Each MS degree candidate must select and complete a capstone (culminating) project. The Graduate Advising and Degree Planning section of the Graduate Manual provides an overview of the three available options (portfolio, applied project, and thesis). This document describes in detail the portfolio option.
The purpose of the portfolio is to serve as a capstone project allowing the student to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills gained through the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT)
M.S. program. The graduate portfolio is intended for those students interested in creating and assembling instructional materials that demonstrate professional quality skills beyond entry-level areas of expertise. Students who choose this option may wish to create a showcase of their skills for career advancement or to demonstrate their skills for a career change. Some choose this option because they envision the need for a variety of products that they can use in their present career, or would prefer taking more courses and developing instructional products rather than doing a research, evaluation, or an applied project. The portfolio option does not require collection of student data.
The learning outcomes for the portfolio are:
Students will engage in and share their reflections on procedures, concepts, facts, applied skills, and professional practices that they acquired throughout their progress in the IDT graduate program;
Students will share their transformative journey as IDT professionals, both before and after admission into the graduate program, including how their past experiences and training shaped that transformation;
Students will demonstrate mastery of skills and knowledge in instructional design and development;
Students will show a range of instructional products that clearly 1) demonstrate the wide range of competencies in instructional design and technology gained during the program, and 2) demonstrate that they can clearly and accurately explain the instructional design process they followed, such as the ADDIE model, in developing each project;
Students will display a range of skills and achievements through portfolio projects that demonstrate professional mastery in several areas. The demonstrated mastery within the portfolio should demonstrate concepts and skills drawn from at least four IDT courses in their degree plan, and the relationship of the project to the courses should be noted in the project annotation; and
Students will, through the defense, clearly and accurately present their projects, field questions about how the projects were developed, clearly discuss their own professional development in the program, and share suggestions for the IDT Program.
The portfolio committee consists of a committee chair from IDT and at least one committee member from the IDT Program. The chair of this committee will also be the portfolio advisor.
A student’s Request for a Graduate Advising Committee form must be approved and then the IDT 603 Enrollment form must be approved by the committee chair and the IDT Program Coordinator. Permission to proceed with the production, assembling, and defense of the portfolio is dependent upon the completion of all requirements for the IDT degree. In general, this means that all incomplete coursework that appears on the student’s graduate degree plan should be finished, and that the student has completed 30 hours of coursework with a GPA of at least a 3.0. If necessary, a student may take one or two classes along with IDT 603 during the last semester or the following semester.
All portfolios must include a reflection paper, one or more portfolio projects that build on skills from a minimum of four classes in the student’s graduate degree plan, and annotations of the design and development process for each project. The portfolio projects may be:
• Items begun by the student in an IDT class and later polished to professional quality,
• Professional quality items created on the student’s job, while that student was an IDT graduate student, that demonstrate skills learned in IDT classes.
• New items created from scratch that demonstrate skills learned in IDT classes.
• Items that use any delivery system, e.g., print, video, electronic, etc. The purpose of the portfolio is to showcase the student’s acquired skills, not to report on work done in the program.
A student’s Request for a Graduate Advising Committee form must be approved by the IDT Program. Permission to proceed with the production, submission, and defense of the portfolio is dependent upon the completion of all requirements for the IDT degree. In general, this means that all incomplete coursework that appears on the student's graduate degree plan must be finished, the student must complete 30 hours of coursework with the required GPA, and a completed Request for a Graduate Advising Committee Form must be submitted to the IDT Program.
The steps are described below:
1. After completing 15 to 18 hours of coursework, the student initiates a discussion of ideas for the portfolio with the IDT Program Coordinator. For example, options may be explored about the student’s purpose in doing a portfolio, its focus, possible audiences for its content, a potential time frame, and some beginning ideas of what project annotations might be included. Final determination of the projects to be used will be made by the portfolio committee chair.
2. The student submits a completed Request for a Graduate Advising Committee Form to the IDT Program Coordinator. The form must be submitted the semester before the student plans to register for IDT 603. The form must be submitted at least four weeks before the last day of the semester. The student will be notified when a portfolio committee chair and a committee member have been assigned.
3. The student contacts the assigned portfolio committee chair to identify a more detailed plan for the portfolio such as types of projects, major tasks, time lines, and completion dates.
4. The student submits a completed IDT 603 Portfolio Form to the committee chair the semester before the student plans to register for IDT 603.
5. The committee chair will then submit the form to the IDT Program Coordinator who will review the form and contact you that the material is approved. At that time, you can register for IDT 603.
6. The student and committee chair should next establish a specific action plan and timeline for completion of the portfolio. It is the student’s responsibility to maintain dialogue, written and/or oral, with the committee chair while the work is in progress. The committee chair will share the plan with the other committee member for approval. If a student does not complete the defense by the end of the planned semester, the student must register for the one-credit hour course, UNIV 695. See the Continuous Enrollment in Thesis, Dissertation or Exit Option section at http://www.wiu.edu/graduate_studies/catalog/academic_guidelines/.
7. The portfolio option does not require collection of data. However, if the student is planning to collect data that involves human subjects, the student must work with the committee chair to obtain approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to collecting data from any human subjects.
9. The student should work directly with the portfolio committee chair in
developing the final completed portfolio (which may require several drafts) to submit to the portfolio committee member. The final draft must be ready for the committee chair to submit to the second committee member at least four weeks before the last day of the class of the semester. The second committee member has at least two weeks to review the portfolio before the portfolio defense. Any recommendations or communication regarding the portfolio from the committee member will be communicated to the student by the committee chair. The student or the committee member should not communicate about the portfolio unless it goes through the committee chair.
9. The student should schedule the portfolio defense through the committee chair. Defenses must be scheduled at least one week before the last day of classes for the semester. Online defenses must be approved by the portfolio committee.
10. The student will defend his/her portfolio in a formal defense meeting with the portfolio committee. The presentation should focus on the portfolio projects. The presentation should last approximately 10 to 20 minutes. Allow about 10 minutes for the committee’s questions. Questions may cover your projects and/or the information you learned in your M.S. program. After the defense and committee questioning, the student will be asked to leave the room while the committee makes a decision: pass without changes, pass with changes, or do not pass. The committee will then call in the student to hear the decision and discuss any needed revisions.
A student cannot pass the portfolio until his/her committee approves it. If revisions are requested at the time of the oral defense, such revisions must be completed and approved by the portfolio committee chair. Other faculty members, students, and family may attend the presentation but will be asked to leave before the portfolio committee meets to make a decision.
11. The finalized portfolio report and accompanying electronic files must be submitted to the designated Google drive area. The committee chair will provide the student a link to their designated submission area. This task must be accomplished by the designated date determined by the Graduate Office following graduation each semester in order for a student’s graduation date to reflect that semester. If this date is missed, the student’s graduation date will reflect the following semester.
The portfolio report must be written in APA format, be logically organized, and be grammatically correct. There must be an orderly presentation of ideas and smoothness of expression. The report must show evidence of proficiency in written communication skills. The portfolio report must be submitted as a Microsoft Word or PDF file unless an alternative format is approved by the committee chair.
The following sections must be contained in the report, unless it is stated as optional. (Check with your committee chair on which of the optional sections are needed.)
1. Title Page – same for all portfolio reports
2. Approval Page – same for all portfolio reports
3. Table of Contents – same for all portfolio reports
4. Acknowledgments [optional] – same for all portfolio reports
5. Oral Defense Outline [One page - optional]
6. Personal Reflections
• Goals for entering the program.
• Prior technology experience (if applicable).
• Your perception of IDT at the beginning of the program and to what degree your perception has changed and how it has changed.
• Four or five IDT courses that were especially meaningful in the development of the knowledge and skills learned in the program. A rationale for why the courses were beneficial should be included.
• Self assessment of skills acquired during the program.
• How you plan to use the IDT skills you developed in your professional and/or personal life.
• Closing reflections (e.g., Were your goals met?).
7. Project Items Annotations
8. References, as needed
9. Appendices, as needed. Includes additional information such as surveys and needs assessments.
10. Read Me page that contains the names of all the uploaded electronic files, description of the software programs required to view/run the electronic items, which filename should be opened first, etc.
11. Defense Presentation [optional].
12. Resume [optional]
Project Annotation Item components and their order may be changed but your work must demonstrate use of sound instructional systems design. Check with your Portfolio Chair for what categories need to be included for your annotations.
Project Description (What was done? Under what conditions (class assignment, independent study project, internship project, work assignment, etc.)? What was the student’s contribution, especially if it was a group project? How was the project developed (chronicle the development)?)
Intended Audience Intended Purpose Date Completed
Deliverables or Completed Conditions
Improvements or Changes Made
Areas of Instructional Technology That Influenced the Project Learner Analysis
Environment Analysis
Design and Development Process Achieved Outcomes
Printed Project Material
Description of how the committee can access the project for review
Project Description (What was done? Under what conditions (class assignment, independent study project, internship project, work assignment, etc.)? What was the student’s contribution, especially if it was a group project? How was the project developed (chronicle the development)?)
Intended Audience Intended Purpose Date Completed
Completion Conditions or Requirements Development or Design Process Assessment
Achieved Outcomes or Technology Integration Printed Project Material
Description of how the committee can access the project for review
Project Description (What was done? Under what conditions (class assignment, independent study project, internship project, work assignment, etc.)? What was the student’s contribution, especially if it was a group project? How was the project developed (chronicle the development)?)
Intended Audience Intended Purpose Dates
Objectives Conditions
Student’s Role and Contribution ADDIE Process (where appropriate) Printed Project Material
Description of how the committee can access the project for review
Project Description (What was done? Under what conditions (class assignment, independent study project, internship project, work assignment, etc.)? What was the student’s contribution, especially if it was a group project? How was the project developed (chronicle the development)?)
Intended Audience Intended Purpose
Date Started and Date Ended Completion Conditions or Requirements
Personal Contributions to the Project Data Collection and Results
Needs Assessment Learner Analysis
Learner Environment Analysis Task Analysis Learning Objectives Development or Design Process Assessments Printed Project Material
Description of how the committee can access the project for review
Project Description ((What was done? Under what conditions (class assignment, independent study project, internship project, work assignment, etc.)? What was the student’s contribution, especially if it was a group project? How was the project developed (chronicle the development)?)
Purpose and Need Intended Audience Conceptualization Criteria
Application of Skills to this Project Learned During the Master’s Program Stakeholders: Contributions and Benefits
The Development Process Technologies Used Software Used
What was Learned Printed Project Material
Description of how the committee can access the project for review
Students need to submit the following files to their designated Google drive area. The committee chair will provide the student a link to the area.
• Portfolio report file including the appendices and additional required documentation.
• All portfolio project annotation item files. Items must be saved in runtime versions or with the appropriate players to run the items.