Academics:  Master of Library and Information Science

No. Just because something is new to you does not make it significant—unless you articulate in the portfolio how a particular experience, expression, or participation was a real challenge or stretch for you.

No. While the majority of students submit their portfolios in some electronic form (website, CD, etc.), we routinely receive several portfolios each year done in paper. We do not prescribe the form of the portfolio.

Yes. You certainly may, so long as they meet the significance criteria. You should plan in advance if you intend to use a specific classroom experience so that you stretch that extra bit beyond simply completing the experience.

Yes. In many ways, group experiences are a great way of demonstrating both that you can manage the substance of the experience and group work.

Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned; sometimes, they even fail. However, a well-documented failure is not necessarily a bad thing for a portfolio. In your portfolio, document your examination of the reasons why the experience was less than you had hoped.

Unfortunately, this situation happens! Plan in advance. If you think you may want to use the experience in your portfolio, discuss it with the group in advance. Think carefully about the reason for the refusal. Is it because he or she does not think the work was that good and does not want his or her name publicly associated with the work? Would that person agree to your using the work in your portfolio if his or her name was removed? Is the work of the sort that it might be problematic for the person if made public? For example, think about a group project looking (unfavorably) at some information processes at the place the refusing person works. Not cool.

As is true of all of the other experiences required for the portfolio, the meaning of significant will vary from person to person. However, one of the best ways to discover the meaning of the word is to look it up in a dictionary. We suggest that you look up the wordslead and leadership in a variety of dictionaries. In the Encarta FactFinder, definitions such as to influence, to direct, to guide, to have a principle part in, to control, to command others, and to be at the beginning or front of something help make the terms to lead and leadership understandable.

No, simply being a good team member isn't a leadership experience—unless you played a significant role in influencing, guiding, commanding, or controlling the directions taken by the group.