What are the rubrics used in this course?

The overall design of your webpages is also assessed according to the following. For each of the following five design criteria, your instructors will rate your design as “best” (fully meeting the criteria), “needs work” (partially meeting the criteria), or “poor” (not meeting the criteria):

• Readability: Is the text on your website consistent and easy to read?
• Color and Contrast: Does your choice of colors make the website easy to read?
• Navigation: Are your links logical, consistent, and effective?
• Multimedia: Do you appropriately integrate the images, sound, and video you use with the rest of your website?
• Attribution: Do you provide correct attribution for the images, videos, and other resources you use?

Common issues

• The titles of drop-down menus are often also links and should lead somewhere, not just to a blank page!
• Make sure that you’ve carefully considered the privacy implications of including pictures of your children or students.
• Linking back to the original source is necessary but not sufficient for a proper attribution.

As you design your Goal Reflection Essay, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will be looking for and giving you feedback throughout the semester. For each of the following five design criteria, your instructors will rate your design as “best” (fully meeting the criteria), “needs work” (partially meeting the criteria), or “poor” (not meeting the criteria):

• Title – Does your essay have an expressive title?
• Quality of Multimedia – Do you use text accurately and effectively? If you use images and other media, do you also use them accurately and effectively?
• Identification of Original Goals – Does your essay identify and describe the goals you included in your program application?
• Reflection on Changes in Original Goals – Does your essay clearly explain how and why your original goals have changed or stayed the same?
• Word Length – Is your essay about 500 words? Remember, this is both an upper and lower limit!

Common issues

• Watch your Focus – Do not write a revised goal statement.
• Jargon & Acronyms – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym (like MAET or MAED) the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Stick to Goals – We have no doubt that you’ve made a lot of changes over the course of your program, and we’d love to hear about all of them, but we’re specifically interested in your goals and how they have changed.
• Add a Link to a PDF – Think about adding a link to a PDF copy on this page so that viewers have the opportunity to read your essay in an alternative format (and this makes for easier printing if someone wanted to print your essay).
• Avoid Google Doc and/or PDF-only access – An additional link to a google doc or a PDF is great, but it cannot replace a web-page version of your essay. If you’re going to do one format, put your essay on a webpage. If you want to go that extra step, add an additional option for a PDF (but don’t replace your webpage with it).

As you design your resumé, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will use to evaluate your portfolio.

• Adaptation to Web – Is your resumé concise, and does it take advantages of the affordances of the Internet? Remember, you can have more detail and keep traditional formatting on a PDF version. Make sure you are using the opportunities afforded by presenting it online, too.
• Formatting consistency – Do you use bullet points, headers, language, and other features effectively and consistently?
• Text consistency – Do you use spelling, grammar, word choice (including acronyms), and punctuation correctly?
• Resumé organization – Is your resumé effectively organized and in a logical order?
• Availability and accessibility – Is your resumé available and accessible? Please add a downloadable version (such as a PDF) that is integrated nicely with your design, and usable by readers.

Common issues

• Acronyms – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Placement of link to downloadable PDF – Consider having the link to your downloadable resumé at the top of the page. It’s more likely to be noticed that way.
• Just the highlights – Please also note that our intent is not to have you duplicate your full, downloadable resumé on your portfolio page. Avoid complete replication by focusing on the highlights.
• Personal Information – Consider not including personal information like phone numbers or addresses (for you or your references).
• No Word Documents – Please do not distribute the printable version of your resumé as a Word doc; a PDF is much more accessible (and less likely to have virus-related problems!).
• More than an Embedded Document – We are looking for more than an embedded document (like Scribd or Google Docs) for your resumé. There are many affordance of the web (links, colors, design options) that aren’t available if you only embed a document. Please take advantage of those affordances by allowing your resumé to have its own page.

As you design your Showcase, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will use to evaluate your portfolio.

• Compelling Introduction – Does the introduction to your showcase explain its purpose and organization?
• Compelling Mastery – Do the categories and artifact descriptions in your showcase emphasize your professional skills outside the master’s program? (E.g., no reference to course numbers or titles, assignments, etc.)
• Organization – Are the elements of your showcase in a logical order, and are they effectively organized on the page?
• Multimedia – Do you effectively use text, images, links, and other webpage elements to make an argument with your showcase?
• Completeness – Does your showcase include at least completed 8 artifacts?

Common issues

• Introduction – Make sure you introduce two or three categories, AND explain why those categories are important to you
• Removing Course-Specific References – We know that all of these artifacts came from class assignments, and perhaps that is how you think of them. Using language like “Our professor required us to” or “For this assignment, we had to” makes you look like a dutiful student but doesn’t enhance your professional credibility. Consider using phrases like “In this slideshow, I…” and “I created this video in order to…” to help emphasize the high quality work you created.
• Skills not Assignments – Make sure your descriptions highlight the skills you want to show off, and not describe the assignment. That video artifact about children’s math reasoning could be showing off your tech skills, your math educator skills, your skills in assessment, or your communication skills. Be clear about the skills you are highlighting with sentences like “In this artifact I demonstrate my ability to ____, ____ , and ____”.
• Acronyms – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Use Categories – We have found that one effective way to organize artifacts in the showcase is to use a number of categories that represent the areas of specific focus.
• Separate Artifacts – Remember that the emphasis of the showcase is on individual artifacts, not on individual courses. Please do your best to make it easy for your visitors to see where one artifact stops, both conceptually and on the page, and another one starts!

As you design your Future Goals Essay, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will use to evaluate your essay.

• Title – Does your essay have an expressive title?
• Introductory Paragraph – Do the introductory paragraphs outline future goals and plans as well as the criteria, guidelines, or strategies used to determine the three areas of focus for the essay?
• Compelling Narrative – Does the essay tell a coherent and compelling story about the knowledge you need to excel in the future? Does it effectively use text (and possibly other media) to do so?
• Topics and Resources – Do you include three distinct topics with fully-functioning links to corresponding resources?
• Word Count Word Count – Is your essay about 750 words? Remember, this is both an upper and lower limit (try to be within 10% of the goal)

Common issues

• Pick Helpful Resources – Please remember that the resources you link to shouldn’t just be about your goal—they should be resources that you can use to accomplish your goal.
• Avoid Jargon – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Advance Organizers – Think about adding an “advance organizer”— a sentence or two to introduce and summarize these goals—before writing about them in more detail.
• Add Context – Your goals are your own, but they fit into a larger context—try to relate these goals to the school where you teach or the world that you live in.
• Add a Link to a PDF – Think about adding a link to a PDF copy on this page so that viewers have the opportunity to read your essay in an alternative format (this also makes for easier printing if someone wanted to print your essay).
• Avoid PDF-only Access – An additional link to a PDF is great, but it cannot replace a webpage version of your essay. If you’re going to do one format, put your essay on a webpage. If you want to go that extra step, add an additional option for a PDF.

As you design your Annotated Transcript, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will use to evaluate your transcript.

• Layout and Organization: Are the layout, organization, and (if included) multimedia of your transcript page engaging and effective?
• Semesters and Years: Does your transcript include the semester and year that each course was taken?
• Course Titles and Numbers: Does your transcript include course titles in all entries? (e.g. CEP807 – Capstone Portfolio Course)
• Course Instructors: Does your transcript include (correct) names for instructors in all classes? (e.g., Dr. Matthew Koehler or Matthew Koehler, instead of M. Koehler)
• Course Descriptions: Does your transcript include course descriptions that are of the appropriate length (4-6 sentences) and quality?

Common issues

• Use of acronyms – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Point of View – Make sure there is consistent use of pronouns (we/I) in the course descriptions.
• Use of Titles – Ideally, you’ll know who’s a “Dr.” and who isn’t and what everyone’s first name is. However, while it’s less ideal, simply being consistent (e.g. no “Dr.’s” or first names altogether) is better than being incorrect.
• Links to Sample Work – Because of the focus of this page, we strongly recommended not adding any work samples or links to work samples on this page. We suggest that you add these and other work samples to your showcase.

As you design your Synthesis Essay, please use the following standards to guide your work. These represent the particular criteria that your instructors will use to evaluate your portfolio.

• Title – Does your essay have an expressive title?
• Quality of Text (or Other Multimedia) – Do you use text accurately and effectively? If you use images and other media, do you also use them accurately and effectively?
• Discussion of Individual Courses – Does your essay discuss in detail how three courses affected your thinking and practice?
• Synthesis of Master’s Program Experience – Does your essay discuss how the master’s program as a whole affected your thinking and practice?
• Word Length – Is your essay about 2000 words? As with the other written assignments, try to be within 10% of the goal

Common issues

• Jargon and Acronyms – Remember that people outside your program or workplace might not understand all the terms and acronyms you use. It’s always a good idea to “spell out” an acronym (like MAET or MAED) the first time you use it, and you should also consider defining terms that aren’t commonly used.
• Balance of the General and the Specific – Make sure to include some insights from both your individual classes and the program as a whole.
• Add a Link to a PDF – Think about adding a link to a PDF copy on this page so that viewers have the opportunity to read your essay in an alternative format (and this makes for easier printing if someone wanted to print your essay).
• Avoid PDF-only access – An additional link to a PDF is great, but it cannot replace a web-page version of your essay. If you’re going to do one format, put your essay on a webpage. If you want to go that extra step, add an additional option for a PDF (not a replacement for a webpage).

When you post and reply in this course, please pay attention to the following guidelines. These guidelines also form the basis for the rubric used to grade your discussion contribution.

What makes for a good post?

It depends on the specific assignment, but the following generally apply:

• Pay attention to the prompts.
• Use a good portion of the 3 minutes allotted to you.
• Show us what you’re thinking and why you’re thinking it.
• When sharing your own work, point to some places where people who respond to you might be most helpful in giving you feedback.

What makes for a good feedback?

Good feedback is important in all design activities, including the design of portfolios. It is especially important in this class. When giving feedback, keep in mind that good feedback is:

• Thorough – Use a good portion of the 3 minutes allotted to you. Try to cover as many aspects of the assignment that you can—do not focus on only one thing. However, don’t try to cover too much, because each point you make should have some details (see next point).
• Specific – Avoid generalities like “you had a good design,” and instead be more specific, like “your headers are easy to read, clear, and helpful in breaking up text into more manageable pieces.”
• Critical – Point out what needs improving. Even if you’re looking at the best piece of work, you can give the author something to think about working towards or thinking about differently.
• Supportive – Point out what is working well. Even the earliest of drafts is the start of something good that can be highlighted as a success.