Emergency Management Professional Practice Portfolio

Introduction

The use of work portfolios as a means of demonstrating capability and accomplishment has been an essential part of some industries for many years. The emergency management industry is becoming more professional in the delivery of its business activities and there has been an increase in the number of associated professional institutions and bodies within the emergency management industry. Professionals in industries such as risk and emergency management are required to maintain records of their professional development for re-accreditation and membership of institutions and professional bodies. Communities have an increased expectation of emergency managers, and emergency managers are being held more accountable for decisions they make.

Today the use of professional portfolios is expanding throughout many industries. There are a number of different approaches to assembling a portfolio, based on purpose:

• There are creative portfolios are used by artists, photographers, models, architects, to demonstrate their range of accomplishments in their field, exemplary work and history of achievement.
• There are professional portfolios used by professionals such as teachers and academics in order to gain promotion and also attract increased educational funding.
• There are learning portfolios used by students in courses that require independent study for the collection of resources used in their study and to demonstrate their industry relevance.

In courses such as Emergency Management there is an overlap between Professional and Learning portfolios. You may like to create your Learning Portfolio as part of your Professional Portfolio, or keep each completely separate.

Either way, we want you to start with developing your professional portfolio. This portfolio can then be used to support applications for positions within the industry, promotion, membership of professional bodies, consultative work and continued professional practice.

Learning portfolio

Within your studies during this course you will undertake a range of activities that we highly recommend you collect and add to your Learning Portfolio. We will point these out to you as you progress from subject to subject. Amongst these activities, we would particularly recommend that you keep copies of your various assignments, as they will demonstrate your practical application of key concepts, principles and practices.

We will provide more information on how you might develop your portfolios and what methods you might use to collect, store and present information within your portfolios later in this section. Again, we will highlight those activities within each Subject and Topic that we feel would benefit from inclusion within your Learning or Professional Portfolio.

Professional practice portfolio -

What is the "Emergency Management Professional Practice Portfolio"?

So now that we have sparked your interest in maintaining a Professional Practice Portfolio, "exactly what is it?" I hear you ask. Models, photographers and architects maintain portfolios in the form of a folder containing examples of their best work (photographs, drawings, designs, plans, and so on). We see your professional practice portfolio as a means of demonstrating of your professional practice through a variety of systems for collecting, storing and presenting information.

Your portfolio may be kept as a hard copy of papers and documents in format that demonstrates your capabilities in specific areas of Emergency Management, or in a computerised/ digital collection of information. Your portfolio might contain copies of documents relating to your own personal development and emergency management practices that you have been personally responsible for or that demonstrate your capabilities, including:

Professional/educational

• personal resume/curriculum vitae,
• conference papers/presentations,
• professional certificates,
• membership documents,
• educational and training certificates/qualifications etc.
• journal articles,

Professional publications

• training/educational packages,
• public awareness materials,
• project management plans,
• budget submissions,
• capability statements,
• consultancy reports,
• project reports,
• briefing documents,
• risk assessments,

Professional activities

• emergency management plans,
• procedures/protocols,
• exercises,
• training analyses,

Other professional achievements

• examples of innovative practice, research and development in the field of emergency management,
• personal evaluation documents and testimonials/references

At the end of the day, your portfolio is your personal marketing department, providing you with a method or system of demonstrating your effectiveness and professionalism as an emergency manager.

Collection and storage -

So how do I collect, store and present information within my portfolio?

Identifying the types of material and information required to be included in your portfolio is your first task. However, running concurrently with this task is the need to identify the appropriate means of collecting, storing and presenting your portfolio to others. Given that your portfolio is likely to include a range of collection and storage methods, the techniques available, especially in this day of electronic and digital media are many and varied.

Determining the methods you will use to collect, store and present information within your portfolio is going to depend on a number of factors, including:

• Breadth and depth of information collection required
• Your information management knowledge, skills and capabilities
• Technical capabilities
• Availability of electronic/computer systems
• Your technical/computer skills
• Your ability to be innovative

Suggested structure

Some of the methods and types of information that you might consider collecting are:

Papers/articles/documents/certificates of achievement

These can be collected, catalogued and stored in a library format using folders, display books, filing systems etc. It is always worth while keeping a back-up copy of important documents that are considered essential and hard to obtain. If documents are "only copies" I would strongly suggest making a copy or two just in case!

Folders/display books/scrapbooks

Loose-leaf folders, ring binders, plastic sleeved display books, lever arch files, scrap-books etc. can be used to store hard copy papers, articles and documents. The use of plastic sleeves can prevent deterioration of some types of documentation.

Files/filing systems

Files and filing systems can be used to store hard copies of papers, articles and documents in a catalogue type system. The use of filing cabinets to secure sensitive documentation might also be considered.

Examples of electronic/digital information

Databases

Electronic presentations (powerpoint, mediashow, multi-media etc.)

Spreadsheets

HTML pages (webpages)

Text documents

With the increased use of computers and text/ word processors, we are amassing many documents as a result of our work and studies that demonstrate our emergency management capabilities and practices. These documents may be basic text documents or more complicate word processor documents, containing graphics, tables, specialised formatting etc. These might include letters, brochures, flyers, reports, forms, plans, analyses, project proposals etc. that you have developed in your emergency management work.

PDF files

Graphics files

As stated above, there are many methods available for collecting, storing and presenting information. In many of these methods, graphics may be included. Eg. Photographs may be included in databases, spreadsheets, multi-media presentations, text documents, HTML and PDF documents. Such graphics might also be individually stored

Storage of electronic/digital Information

There are numerous methods available today for collecting, storing and presenting/ displaying electronic/ digital information. These include the use of computer hard disk drives, floppy disks, Compact Disks (CDs), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), flash memory devices ( USB drives, thumb drives, memory sticks, memory cards etc.), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs eg. Pocket PCs, Palm Pilots etc.), video and audio tape, internet web sites, digital projectors etc. As technology improves and advances, so the availability of collection, storage and presentation systems and methods will expand.

Your portfolios could contain information stored and available in many formats through many and varied storage systems. Don't limit yourself when deciding on how you will amass the information you wish to include in your portfolio. Consider all the systems and methods available to you.

Presenting my information -

How do you ensure the information in your portfolio is readily available?

Collecting, storing and presenting information within your portfolios is all well and good, but how do you know where certain pieces of information are located? The answer is fairly simple - you will need to keep a record of what is where. This might mean maintaining a simple catalogue of your portfolio contents which lists each item of information, the format it is presented/ stored in and where it is actually located. Of course as you continue to amass information and perhaps dispose of redundant or out of date information, your catalogue will change. Therefore see your catalogue as a living, dynamic document.

The database application that we provided as an example earlier is an example of one method you can use to maintain a catalogue of information. There are many shareware and freeware cataloguing applications available for those who wish to store this information on their computer. Of course for those not technically oriented, a hard copy catalogue using a ring binder and sheets of paper may be equally as effective or as in libraries, the use of a card catalogue system may be another method you might like to try.

As with all catalogues, the information contained is only as accurate as the last time the catalogue was updated. Therefore, to ensure your collection is up-to-date, you must continually monitor and manage your catalogue to ensure all information is recorded accurately and thus portrays accurately the contents of your professional practice portfolio.

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