BUS 2504 Individual Professional Digital Portfolio (Winter 2023)

Professional Digital Portfolio

Collect, Select, Reflect, Connect

“We do not learn from experiences; we learn from reflecting on our experiences.”

 John Dewey, 1933
  • This assignment is to be completed individually, it is your mid-term assessment, worth 25% of your final grade
  • Your task is to create an individual professional portfolio website using WordPress.com (ref: Chapter 1: Types of Websites: Personal Websites, Web Templates and Content Management Systems)
  • Since your portfolio will be posted online, please do not include any personal information such as phone number, home address …etc. If you are concerned about posting your actual name, please speak with me
  • Think of your portfolio as an extension to your LinkedIn profile: it must reflect your professional skills and expertise, for example: education, work experience, skills (technical, transferable), volunteer experience, community involvement, extra-curricular activities, conferences, workshops, seminars you’ve attended, awards, samples of projects (post screen captures only and a short description), interesting articles related to your field…etc
  • You may choose to “Allow search engines to index this site” or “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” through the Dashboard –> Settings –> Reading (do not keep it private while I need access to it during the semester)

Static Content: Pages & Navigation

Start with the following portfolio planner to plan your website, feel free to share this with me for feedback to make sure you’re on the right track (refer to the Critical Path for deadline)

Create your free WordPress.com account (e.g. hanadi.wordpress.com) and include the following:

  • Home page: must be setup as a static page (not blog) and must include a short welcome paragraph about yourself
  • Multimedia: your own content or suitable royalty free images (Unsplash or Pexels) with photo credits
  • Video Business Card: This is a short video where you would introduce yourself, summarize your experience and tell us what you’d like us to know about you. The video can be created using Adobe Express, or a tool of your choice. The easiest way to include the video is to upload the file to your YouTube channel (through your Gmail account and choose unlisted or public) then embed it into your WordPress page. More on creating videos here (Humber library), access Erin Walker’s presentation here. Your video must:
    • Must be 50-60 seconds
    • Must include multimedia (not just a recording of you speaking)
    • Must include appropriate content only
    • Must be embedded on your homepage using the embed YouTube block type
  • Widgets:
    • Social Media widget with your LinkedIn profile (external link must open in new window)
    • Text widget in the footer explaining that this portfolio is a class project created using XXX theme, include a link to the WordPress.com free demo theme used for this website, e.g. :
      • “This portfolio is a class project, created using the Sketch theme”
    • Any other widgets as you see fit
  • Navigation menu: must include “Home”, and at least 3 other pages of your choice
  • Optional: Some themes such as Sketch (free) Snaps (free) support “portfolio projects”. Talk to me if you’d like to use a portfolio theme to make sure your content aligns well with that option
  • If your “theme” comes with default blog posts, you must delete them to avoid confusion

Dynamic Content: Blog & Instagram Post

Topic: choose ONE of the following topics, my preference is Mentoring Conversations. The second option is available as a back-up plan in case of technical difficulties or last min cancellations with your mentor due to unforeseen circumstances.

  1. Mentoring Conversations: Write a blog post about an information interview with a grad from our program. Check this link for details on Mentoring Conversations and a list of grads who offered to help us with this assignment, and read the following blog post for examples and snippets of advice from previous classes
  2. Digital Conference: Write a blog post about your experience attending (and/or planning and producing) one of the Digital Conference sessions

Submit two pieces: a blog post, and an Instagram post, see below for more details on each. The best blog and Instagram posts will be published on the Digital Business Student Association’s website and our Instagram accounts.

Dynamic Content: Blog Post & Instagram Post
  • Start with the following blog planner template to plan your blog post
  • Do your own research on the ideal length of a blog post
  • Write an amazing blog post that is informative, includes multimedia, and well-optimized for search engines
  • Repurpose SOME of your blog post content and create an Instagram post (see examples below). You can use Adobe Express, Canva, or any other tool of your choice. Make sure you choose the correct dimensions for your post, be creative and create something much better than the examples below!

Instagram Post “A Day in the Life Of” if you choose Mentoring Conversations as your blog post topic

Your Instagram post must highlight what your mentor does at their job during a typical day. Since you will be repurposing some of your blog post content, make sure you ask your mentor for permission during your meeting. See link to the sample post: Day in a Life of Michallia Marks.

Instagram Post “Conference Takeaways” if you choose the Digital Conference as your blog post topic

Your Instagram post must highlight key takeaways from the Digital Conference. Since you be repurposing some of your blog post content, make sure your social media post content is aligned with your blog post. See link to the sample post: Takeaways from our Winter 2023 Digital Business Conference

Submission through BB:

You will need to submit the following through BB:

  1. Your website URL in the “Submission” text field, make sure your website is “public” so I can view it
  2. Screencaps of your dashboard (details below). Make sure you use PPT, then save as PDF before you submit on BB
  3. Portfolio Planner (PDF)
  4. Blog Post Planner (PDF)
  5. Instagram Post (single photo post, carousel photo post, or reel):
    • Attach the post files(s)
      • Rename your social media posts using descriptive words as follows, include your name as well. For example:
      • “StudentName-MentorName-X.jpeg” (X is the number if you have a carousel)
      • “Hanadi-Jessica-mentor-1.jpeg”
      • “Hanadi-Wix-conference-highlights-1.jpeg”
    • Include the following in a PDF:
      • Caption
      • Hashtags
      • Would you like me to post it on Instagram? (Yes/No)
      • Would you like me to mention your full name? (Yes/No)
      • Would you like to be tagged? (Yes/No)
      • If applicable: do you have your mentor’s approval to post on Instagram? (Yes/No)
      • If applicable: can we tag your mentor? (Yes/No) provide handle if yes
      • Other credits if applicable

Since I do not have access to your dashboard, I will need to see screen captures of some of your dashboard items (listed below). Create a PPT file with a title slide that includes your full name, student number and link to your portfolio, include the following items, then save it as PDF before you upload it on BB. Make sure ALL screencaps are high quality images that can be viewed so I can see the details:

  1. Blog Posts
    1. Posts –> All Posts (view example)
    2. Choose one post to show categories and tags (view example)
    3. Posts –> Categories (view example)
    4. Posts –> Tags (view example)
  2. Portfolio Projects (only if used):
    1. Projects –> All Projects (view example)
    2. Projects –> Project Types (view example)
    3. Projects –> Project Tags (view example)
  3. Media –> Library (view example)
  4. Media –> Library; one image showing details (view example)
  5. Appearance –> Themes; showing the active theme (view example)