Reflection
2/1/2018
By having an ePortfolio, my goal is for this to portray more than just my resume; I want it to show who I am. My resume definitely tends to show a great amount of educational and professional experience, but it does not show myself and my personality. I would like for this ePortfolio to show my creativity, personality, writing skills, style, and everything that makes me who I am aside from my resume and degree I am working on. I would like for my portfolio to be accessible to my LinkedIn (which has my complete resume uploaded), as well as my Facebook if anyone would like to see my professional and personal forms of networking. This ePortfolio will hopefully show who I really am, aside from my resume, and allow others to understand me on a professional and personal level.
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Creating my Wix account was fairly simple and easy for me to complete, but considering I have never used this site, there were some difficulties that occurred for me. Wix was very self-explanatory when choosing a template/background for my portfolio which was nice, and there were many options to choose from. I also found it simple how the template I chose had most sections set up for me including the "About Me," my resume portion, and my contact information. The difficulty began when I had to create different tabs within my portfolio for the blog posts, Short Film Analysis, and the Popular Press Analysis. After I figured out how to add those tabs, and understood how Wix worked as a whole, setting up my Wix was quite simple.
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I believe that my online professional presence is displayed fairly well at the moment. In my opinion, there is always room for improvements no matter the situation, so I definitely believe I will be improving my presence as time goes on. It is helpful that my ePortfolio includes my contact information, as well as my brief resume. I believe my ePortfolio will be helpful in my professional life considering other professionals will be able to view me as who a really am, as well as how my resume describes me. Like I stated previously, my goal is to have my ePortfolio show who I really am in a professional manner.
Final Reflection
4/14/2018
By completing the e-Portfolio, it definitely improved my professional presence. This project allowed me to create a professional blog about myself with a simplistic resume style layout, and a portion where I could incorporate information about myself. When applying to jobs online and submitting applications, I am just another applicant and another resume being submitted. This e-Portfolio has given me the opportunity to display more information regarding who I am in a professional, yet fun manner. I believe that this e-Portfolio has allowed me to create a foundation of stories/blog posts regarding my success, in which I will be able to share with colleges and future employers.
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I felt as though my e-Portfolio was simple, chic, and straight forward which I really enjoyed. I believe my color contrast is appealing to the eye, and displays my personality. I also really like how my writing skills are displayed on my e-Portfolio, showing that I am a strong writer. The writing samples I have on my page are from this class, but I believe the assignments were meant to bring out my writing abilities, and I believe they show mine. The way my e-Portfolio flows is also something that I find appealing and makes it easy to read through.
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The most challenging aspect of creating my e-Portfolio was probably formatting everything, and choosing the layout. I am a perfectionist when it comes to positioning, so choosing a layout was definitely a tough decision due to the various options. Formatting everything was also a difficult challenge for me considering I had never had an e-Portfolio via Wix. I had to watch various tutorials, in which they were thankfully very helpful, and once I watched the tutorials I understood how to do certain things like uploading and posting a PDF file and linking my media accounts.
Some advice to future students when creating an e-Portfolio is to be professional but express yourself. I believe that if professionals are to view one’s e-portfolio, it should not be color clashing, collaged with random photos, or have too much going on, but something that expresses oneself. Simplistic and professional qualities with a personal twist is something I recommend, especially if the e-Portfolio will be used for professional purposes. This e-Portfolio should definitely show one’s strengths and information that will attract other professionals and potential future employers.
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Nonverbal Communication was such an interesting class to take. When communicating on a daily basis, or even walking through places where others are communicating, I am able to point out certain things. Communication amongst individuals I am close to is quite interesting now, considering I can point things out to them about nonverbal cues they are making unintentionally. This class really made me think a lot, and taught me things about myself and how I communicate as well. Such simple things like eye gazes or body movements can send such powerful messages whether it is intentional or not. I know for a fact that what I learned in this class will be extremely beneficial to me as I leave college this May.
The Short Film Analysis was my favorite assignment from this class, and it taught me more skills on how to analyze things, and write from an analytical point of view. I am typically used to writing research papers or reflection papers, but not analysis papers. This paper especially allowed me to strengthen my writing in this form, and taught me how to analyze things properly and write about it properly. I met with Professor Morgan a few times to review my writing which also helped a lot. The Short Film Analysis was really interesting considering I analyzed Inseparable which is a nonverbal film. Watching a nonverbal film and being able to analyze it proved to me that I was taking what I learned from the classroom, and incorporating it to life by watching every movement made in the film.
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As I graduate in May, I believe this class will have a large impact and benefit my future career. Understanding nonverbal communication and behavior is so crucial especially in the workplace, and have taken a class on it, I am able to notice many things I did not before. I prefer to work in a field regarding my major (Communication Studies), but no matter what career I end up with, nonverbal behavior will always be prominent. Now that I have a better understanding of gestures, movements, facial and eye behavior, proximity, etc., I am able to use my knowledge and pick up on certain cues of others even the cues I make myself.