12 Creating an Inclusive and Ethical Portfolio: Ethics and Universal Design
Lynn Meade
In this chapter, we delve into the crucial topics of ethics and the integration of universal design principles. By addressing these essential elements, you will have a way to showcase your achievements while showing respect for others by upholding ethical values and embracing the concept of universal design.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical Use of Media
- Consider all photos, videos, and music that you find on the internet as being protected by copyright laws even if it does not have a copyright symbol.
- You should always ask permission to use a photo that shows anyone other than yourself. If you do teaching, coaching, or medical training, be aware that there are very tight rules about when you can and when you cannot share photos.
- There is a debate about the appropriateness of sharing charity-related photos. For example, a photo of you feeding a homeless person makes you look good, but it is questionable whether it is ethical to share photos of someone’s misfortune for your self-promotion. Consider ways to tell your story that is not at the expense of others.
- You should protect the personal preferences and safety of others and get their permission before including an image of them on your portfolio. This most often comes up when thinking about study abroad photos, photos involving minors, Greek photos, volunteer activities, and class projects.
- Some businesses will not consider you as a job candidate if you include photos because it might bias the process, therefore it is important that you research your audience about their policy on this. You would never want to be excluded from a job search because of a photo.
- If you use a photo from a website or social media post (for example pulling photos from your sorority or your faith group’s site), make sure you get permission to use it and that you give credit to the photographer.
Using Free Stock Photos
If you need stock photos, you can use photos from these sites. They are professional and free to use.
It is good etiquette to credit the artist even if not required to do so.
Check out the portfolio of Kristin Morgan and see how she uses stock photos.
Ethics of Personal Data: Protect the Privacy of Others
Always consider privacy and confidentiality when putting information in your portfolio. “The networked and public nature of the internet requires the capacity for thinking more abstractly about the effect of one’s actions on unknown others or at the level of community,” according to Flores and James. If you decide to open up your portfolio for public viewing, you should consider all the possible audiences and all the potential impacts. For example, the writing sample you included might be of a controversial topic could set you up for possible scrutiny and make you a target for online bullies.
Privacy is important not just for you, but for others that you may include. For example, you may have had an assignment where you visited a school, assessed a patient, or interviewed a person. If you include information about that experience, you may inadvertently disclose information that the other person does not want openly disclosed. Privacy, confidentially, and protection of personal data must always be considered. This is especially true with health care education, counseling, and teacher education portfolios. If you describe situations, you need to anonymize the situation. If you show student work or work from a group assignment, you must get permission.
Ethical Use of Sources: Cite Your Sources
When you use material that you did not create, provide a citation. If you include your favorite quote, be sure to include the author and put a small reference for the quote at the bottom of the page.
Making Sure that Everyone Can Access Your Information: Universal Design Principles
Let’s start with an example from Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios created by the Digital Ethics Task Force:
You are a student participating in an internship as part of your work-integrated learning requirement in your Hospitality Management program. Your position as sous-chef in your favorite restaurant in town gives you rich learning opportunities, and you want to document these experiences not just in text but also in multimedia content. Your internship mentor is okay with you taking photos and video of the kitchen and your work to share in your portfolio.
During one of the introductory sessions to the ePortfolio work for your internship, you learned about creating accessible content so that people with differing abilities can read your portfolio and comment on it. Therefore, when you upload photos of the dishes you created, you provide appropriate alternative text descriptions that screen readers can access. When you use video to take viewers through the process of creating a dish or reflecting on a task, you make captions, a transcript, or summary available as text that you place next to the video. While this adds work to your portfolio creation process, it also helps you think about your audience, how your portfolio is viewed, and how you can express your ideas and reflections in an effective and concise manner.
The idea of universal design is that you should create online materials thinking of those who might have challenges reading your materials and you should adjust your design to be accessible for as many people as possible. How would someone who is blind access your portfolio? How would someone who is colorblind see your headings?
For your portfolio, this will likely mean doing things so it can be read by a screen reader and being aware of the challenges of colors. The good news is that it is not hard to do. Knowing what it is and how to do it will give you an edge in the workplace. Adapting to those with differences and using effective communication with those with differences are key items sought in professional realms.
These are the most common things that you can do to use universal design for your portfolio.
- Use the formatting feature that allows you to designate things as paragraphs, headings, subheadings, etc.
- Be consistent. Heading 1 should never be followed by Heading 3.
- Do not use color alone to signify sections. For example, don’t make the text blue to let the reader know it is a header. Instead, use the header feature.
- Do not put things in all capitals for emphasis.
- The only things that should be underlined are links to web pages.
- Give a description of a hyperlink rather than writing out the address (except in citations). Do not use (“h–t–t–p–s–colon–slash–slash–w–w–w…”) or “click here” but rather say, for more information look at the Accessibility and Inclusion Guide.
- When possible, avoid tables. They can pose issues for screen readers. If you do use tables, only do so for content purposes and not formatting purposes.
- When possible, avoid text boxes, they can be difficult for screen readers to interpret.
- Since someone with visual impairment can’t see your image, you need to describe it for them. This is done by using the alternative text (alt-text) feature to describe your images.
- Here is a link to an Accessibility and Inclusion Guide which provides more details.
Watch this quick video to understand how alternative text works.
Closing
To help you make sure your portfolio is using the best practices, use the portfolio checklist. By embracing ethical practices and universal design principles, you can help your portfolio to be a tool for personal and professional development and maximize the potential that others will hear your story and want to know more about you.
Portfolio Checklist
Text
☐ The heading format is used for the headings, and they follow the appropriate order (H1, H2, H3, paragraph).
☐ Text has a minimum size of 14 points.
☐ A Sans Serif (plain) font style is used.
☐ Words are not capitalized for emphasis (use bold or italics instead).
☐ PDF files should be accessible or multiple formats should be included if PDF is used.
☐ Font size and type are used consistently across pages.
☐ Color alone is not used to signify meaning. For example, a heading is coded as “heading” and not just a different color. A word that you want to be emphasized in a sentence is italicized and bolded in addition to being a different color.
☐ Whitespace is used to break up large sections of text.
☐ The page is without spelling errors.
☐ The page is without grammar errors.
Hyperlinks
☐ The only time underlining is used is to indicate a hyperlink.
☐ Links have a descriptive name that could stand alone to describe the linked resource to the reader (e.g., instead of “click here,” “Access a PDF version of my resume”).
☐ If pictures or objects are used as buttons to move from page to page, it is clear that these are navigational hyperlinks and not just decoration.
Language
☐ Language is inclusive towards different groups of people.
☐ Readers outside or your field can easily understand what you are saying.
☐ Specialty language (jargon or technical terms) is explained or excluded.
☐ Tone is friendly and professional.
Media and Graphics
☐ Images have been tested on different-sized screens to see if they are comfortably viewable.
☐ Images have “alt text,” or descriptions that tell someone who cannot see your image what they’re missing. Images that are just for decoration are marked as “decorative.”
☐ Videos include closed captioning or a transcript.
☐ If your photos include other people, you have permission from each person to use the photo.
☐ Photos do not violate the privacy of another individual.
☐ If you use stock photos, you have credited the source.
☐ Viewers should have to push play manually to make the video work. It is not on auto-play.
Navigation
☐ The average person could easily navigate to all pages of my portfolio.
☐ It is obvious how you move from one page to the next.
☐ Links to other pages are clearly marked.
☐ Users can navigate back to the home page easily.
☐ If the user accidentally starts reading, on page two or three, it is clear how they find page one.
☐ Hyperlinks have been tested and they go to the correct page.
☐ Navigation works on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Key Takeaways
- Be ethical in how you use pictures and text in your portfolio.
- Use universal design principles when creating your portfolio.
Ideas for Teachers
- Have your students complete the portfolio checklist or put them in groups and have them use the checklist to do a peer review of a classmate’s materials.
- Have students listen to a portfolio using a screen reader.
- Have students watch the Ted Talk, Accessible Tech Makes Better Tech for Everyone and discuss how this influences the choices they make in their portfolio.
Dig Deeper
Digital Ethics Principles in EPortfolios
The Digital Ethics Task Force created Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios, to provide 10 principles to guide in the creation of ePortfolios.
References
Brown, I. (2021). University Writing. auburn.edu/writing
Cicchino, A., Haskins, M., Gresham, M., Kelly, K., Slade, C., & Zurhellen, S. (2021). Digital ethics in ePortfolios: Developing principles, strategies, and scenarios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 11(1), 67–82.
Cicchini, A. and Miron, L. (2022). Accessibility and Inclusivity Guide from University Writing. auburn.edu/writing. copyright: Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike CC License
Digital Ethics Task Force. Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios.
Flores, A., & James, C. (2012). Morality and ethics behind the screen: Young people’s perspectives on digital life. New Media & Society, 15(6), 834-852. doi:10.1177/1461444812462842
Hegde, P. (2017). Importance of white space in design. https://blog.prototypr.io/importance-of-white-space-in-design-5a40c0e65bfd
Holcombe, J. (2022). 15 Web Design Principles for a Customer-Friendly Website. https://kinsta.com/blog/web-design-principles/
Kelly, K., Gresham, M., & Zurhellen, S. (2021). An analysis of digital ethics principles in action. AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, 4(2), 34–42.
National Universal Authority. What is Universal Design? https://universaldesign.ie/what-is-universal-design/
Nuessler, S. (2012). EDUC8011—Action research project. Unpublished manuscript, Teaching and Learning Centre, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.`
Oswal, S. K. (2013). Accessible ePortfolios for visually-impaired users: Interfaces, designs, and infrastructures. In K. V. Wills & R. Rice (Eds.), EPortfolio Performance Support Systems: Constructing, Presenting, and Assessing Portfolios (pp. 135–153). WAC Clearinghouse.
Peachpit Press. University Writing Copyright: Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC License https://auburn.app.box.com/s/kr7qycnu86o3doge21mvi1w73sw4ctaf
Reynolds, N. & Davis, E. (2014). Portfolio Keeping: A Guide for Students. Bedford St. Martin.
Slade, C., Kelly, K., Mize, M. K., & Stuart, H. (2020). In-depth consideration of digital ethics in using ePortfolios: Resource development by the AAEEBL Digital Ethics ePortfolio Task Force. 2020 Eportfolio Forum eBook of Shortened Peer Reviewed Papers, 26–31.
Stuart, H & Wade, Pl. (2019). Adapted from Megan Haskins & Ryan Laysaght Adapted from Williams, R. (2014). The non–designers design book: Design and typographic principles for the visual novice (4th ed.).
Vaughan, M. (2021). There’s No Alternative to Good ALT Text. Dubbat. https://dubbot.com/dubblog/2021/theres-no-alternative-to-good-alt-text.html
Williams, R. (2014). The non-designers design book: Design and typographic principles for the visual novice (4th ed.).
Zurhellen, S., Haskins, M., Mize, M. K., & Kelly, K. (2021). AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles. AAEEBL Annual Meeting 2021, online.
Portfolios Referenced
Universal Design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability, according to the National Disability Authority.
