Leadership Skills

Create Your Professional Development Plan

Now it is time to put everything together and create your professional development plan. Remember that this is YOUR plan an no one else's plan. Other people may offer suggestions, but it is your decision what you do and how you will do it. Before we get into the plan, let's begin by documenting your success thus far; to do that, you will create a portfolio.

Your Portfolio

You are probably having images of artwork or modeling poses compiled for a job interview, but portfolios are much more than that. A portfolio is a collection of items that best showcase you! This portfolio may be something that you show other people, or you may keep it just to remind yourself of your projects and accomplishments.

What should you include?

Anything you want. Here are some suggestions, but this will be your portfolio:

• Resume or curriculum vitae
• Samples of work
• Awards and certificates
• Educational attainments
• Professional memberships
• Conference attendances
• List of projects including goals, budgets, supervision, and outcomes
• Volunteer services
• Letters of recommendation
• Major professional accomplishments
• Presentations and feedback

Some items that former students have included are printouts of homework (such as an Excel worksheet with complicated formulas), essays, involvement with student organizations, officer positions held (along with accomplishments), mission statements, values, career objectives, and profesional development plans.

Recently I pulled out my first portfolio, which was created in about 2005. In it I also included my philosophy of education; brochures I created; the course syllabus, test, and projects for the first online course I taught; employer evaluations; college transcripts; a picture of the best gingerbread house I made; and my 4th grade class photo. The last two are rather silly, but they represent things that make me proud and unique.

How should you display everything?

If most of your items are paper, then a notebook would be appropriate. If the portfolio is for your own personal use, then it may be more casual; however, if you intend to show this prospective employers, admissions' counselors, or scholarship funders, you will want to go with a more formal presentation. For a formal portfolio, use:

• Attractive 3-ring binder
• Cover page
• Table of contents
• Division pages
• Page protectors (do not 3-hole punch your documents)
• Quality paper
• Consistent layout

If you want to use technology, you could always scan documents and create an electronic portfolio. There are free and paid portfolio software programs, and you could use free resources such as Google documents or Dropbox to create folders and subfolders to hold your items. The main advantages of e-Portfolios are that they are less bulky to transport, and you can easily send a link to the information. The main downside is that you will need to maintain the information because when it is on the Internet, it will be viewable.

Your Professional Development Plan

Here is a document that you can use for your plan.