Should you take the class "Exploring your Digital Portfolio"?
As our semester comes to a close, I have had the opportunity to revisit my blogs and review all that we have learned this semester with Professor Kyle Calderwood. In this final blog post I will attempt to summarize the course's content week by week. I will say that this course could easily be extended over more that one semester. The amount of information we learned and tools that we are leaving with is invaluable. For more detailed information on each week, please refer to previous blog posts.
Our first week of class we created a blog using Blogger and learned about a PLN (professional learning network). We also created professional Twitter accounts and had to follow at least 5 professionals that work in our field of study. Each week our assignments are summarized in blog post such as this and we had to tweet out the link to our blog. It gave us a foundation for our PLN that we can grow for our professional careers.
During week 2 of class we explored Google, Google+, Google Docs, Google Voice and many more capabilities of Google. This section alone could be extended over several classes. I really didn't know a fraction of Google's capabilities. This section was eye opening for me.
Week 3 of class helped us with growing our PLN conent. We learned about FlipBoard and Paper Li. These two sites gave us additional sources of information and content to share with our network. We also had our first guest speaker via Skype who taught us about Microsoft OneNote. OneNote functions as an online or virtual binder to help you organize information from many different sources. We also covered IFTTT (It This Then That) briefly through blogs and You Tube videos.
Week 4 taught us about our digital footprint. Webopedia defines digital footprint as the trail, traces or footprints that people leave online. We learned that what we put online is permanent. Sharing too much information can leave you vulnerable to identity theft, burglary, stalking and cyberbullying. It can also lead to negative consequences at work and in personal relationships. We also created LinkedIn pages to further our professional networks. Professor Calderwood described it as Facebook for professionals.
Week 5 we covered how to write an APA style paper. Our midterm project and the major source of the writing component of the course was writing a 5-7 page APA style paper about someone who suffered negative consequences due to an online activity. My subject was a former deputy mayor of Mendham Township, NJ named Rick Blood. He was asked to resign over a Facebook post comparing undocumented immigrants to rabid raccoons. We also had to prepare a visual presentation and covered a few sites to use such as Prezi, Haiku Deck and Sway.
Week 6 introduced us to tips for creating and growing your brand. Our presenter for this section was Jamie Sinclair. She is an Olympic curler. Jamie has been successful at growing her brand through her You Tube channel and other social media outlets.
During Week 7 we covered more about managing your online reputation. Matt Ivester covers this topic extensively in the book LOL...OMG What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying. I would highly recommend this book. I believe it should be required reading for all children with any kind of social media account.
The other book that we used throughout the semester was Untangling the Web 20 Tools to Power Up Your Teaching by Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow. This book was very informative about content curation tools, artistic tools, presentation tools and social networking tools.
We also discussed the increased use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality during this section and were able to experience them hands on through several apps. My favorite app was ZooKazam
Our final weeks of class were used to help us prepare for the job market. We learned about resumes, the interview process and how to build a personal website. We had 3 professionals from different fields share their knowledge and expertise about the interview process and how to prepare.
Two fun activities that we did during the semester were our "App Smackdowns" and creating a minute commercial for "why your major is the best". The "app smackdown" required us to research an app related to our major and then present and explain it in class for two minutes. For my 2 minute major commercial I had the opportunity to try the website Go Animate.
Our final class will be used to present our personal websites. You can view my personal site here.
I would highly recommend this class. As technology grows and changes, we as future professionals need to be able to comprehend and navigate it well. It is in many instances our primary form communicating and conducting business. The information and tools covered will serve you well in your academic and future professional career. It will help you with public speaking and presenting, networking, organization, writing and online reputation management. I would give "Exploring your Digital Portfolio" five stars. If you have the opportunity to take this course, you should.
Our first week of class we created a blog using Blogger and learned about a PLN (professional learning network). We also created professional Twitter accounts and had to follow at least 5 professionals that work in our field of study. Each week our assignments are summarized in blog post such as this and we had to tweet out the link to our blog. It gave us a foundation for our PLN that we can grow for our professional careers.
During week 2 of class we explored Google, Google+, Google Docs, Google Voice and many more capabilities of Google. This section alone could be extended over several classes. I really didn't know a fraction of Google's capabilities. This section was eye opening for me.Week 3 of class helped us with growing our PLN conent. We learned about FlipBoard and Paper Li. These two sites gave us additional sources of information and content to share with our network. We also had our first guest speaker via Skype who taught us about Microsoft OneNote. OneNote functions as an online or virtual binder to help you organize information from many different sources. We also covered IFTTT (It This Then That) briefly through blogs and You Tube videos.
Week 4 taught us about our digital footprint. Webopedia defines digital footprint as the trail, traces or footprints that people leave online. We learned that what we put online is permanent. Sharing too much information can leave you vulnerable to identity theft, burglary, stalking and cyberbullying. It can also lead to negative consequences at work and in personal relationships. We also created LinkedIn pages to further our professional networks. Professor Calderwood described it as Facebook for professionals.
Week 5 we covered how to write an APA style paper. Our midterm project and the major source of the writing component of the course was writing a 5-7 page APA style paper about someone who suffered negative consequences due to an online activity. My subject was a former deputy mayor of Mendham Township, NJ named Rick Blood. He was asked to resign over a Facebook post comparing undocumented immigrants to rabid raccoons. We also had to prepare a visual presentation and covered a few sites to use such as Prezi, Haiku Deck and Sway.
Week 6 introduced us to tips for creating and growing your brand. Our presenter for this section was Jamie Sinclair. She is an Olympic curler. Jamie has been successful at growing her brand through her You Tube channel and other social media outlets.
During Week 7 we covered more about managing your online reputation. Matt Ivester covers this topic extensively in the book LOL...OMG What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying. I would highly recommend this book. I believe it should be required reading for all children with any kind of social media account.
The other book that we used throughout the semester was Untangling the Web 20 Tools to Power Up Your Teaching by Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow. This book was very informative about content curation tools, artistic tools, presentation tools and social networking tools.
We also discussed the increased use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality during this section and were able to experience them hands on through several apps. My favorite app was ZooKazam
Our final weeks of class were used to help us prepare for the job market. We learned about resumes, the interview process and how to build a personal website. We had 3 professionals from different fields share their knowledge and expertise about the interview process and how to prepare.
Two fun activities that we did during the semester were our "App Smackdowns" and creating a minute commercial for "why your major is the best". The "app smackdown" required us to research an app related to our major and then present and explain it in class for two minutes. For my 2 minute major commercial I had the opportunity to try the website Go Animate.
Our final class will be used to present our personal websites. You can view my personal site here.
I would highly recommend this class. As technology grows and changes, we as future professionals need to be able to comprehend and navigate it well. It is in many instances our primary form communicating and conducting business. The information and tools covered will serve you well in your academic and future professional career. It will help you with public speaking and presenting, networking, organization, writing and online reputation management. I would give "Exploring your Digital Portfolio" five stars. If you have the opportunity to take this course, you should.
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