CAPSTONE REFLECTION

1) In what ways have you developed skills and/or changed your view of your the web and technology while building your ePortfolio? 

Building my ePortfolio has been a great way for me to build my career "tool belt" so to say.  Companies today want employees (especially recent college grads) to be proficient and competent in many areas and technology seems to be the most important, followed closely or perhaps tied with healthy communication skills. Many universities equip their students with multimedia know-how and I am glad to see that Saint Mary's is recognizing the need for tech skills by graduation. My opinion of the web has not changed, as I have tried to keep myself up-to-date in terms of the internet and new opportunities present with the ever-changing web.
 

2) How has working on the ePortfolio helped you to think about and demonstrate your strengths and skills and become a more self-directed technology learner?

The nature of the course was very independent and that independence allowed for us to explore the different applications that we were assigned to use in projects. The ePortfolio is a good example of the creative freedom that we were given as students. Google does an excellent job of laying everything out and ensuring that their products are very "user-friendly".  Becoming acquainted with blogger is a good first step into the world of google sites.   I believe that much of the internet is designed to be user-friendly, you just have to be open to learning! I have to admit, for so long I was intimidated by Youtube and the whole ordeal of making an account and uploading video - I learned through this course that it is incredibly easy and designed to be quick and painless.

3) What themes and patterns emerged from your ePortfolio?

My ePortfolio really turned out to be an interesting project for me to complete. Beyond becoming acquainted with the technology, creating the ePortfolio challenged me in a personal way. I was challenged to create the web 2.0 version of my professional myself. I put a great deal of thought into what the site should look and feel like to reflect who I am and what I am like. I chose a simple background with simple text. Though I am not by any means "simple" in reality, the clean format allowed me to express myself in my text and projects. The added dimension of voice in my screencast and webware tutorial helps my online audience to get to know me better. 

4) What impact has making an ePortfolio made on you academically, professionally, and/or personally?

My ePortfolio is the web 2.0 professional version of myself.  I anticipate that my ePortfolio will be viewed by individuals that I would consider "professional" connections. While my personal and professional identity really do not differ very much at all, I have reserved the social details of myself for a venue such as Facebook. I hope to use the ePortfolio to advance myself and my career. It is a good tool and while I do have an HTML website; www.nd.edu/~mmcdouga, the ePortfolio is easier to edit and change depending on the purpose I choose for it. It is a great tool that I hope will help me in my career opportunities.

Reflection: Movie

Well this assignment was a pretty good experience but one that came with a good deal of frustration, to be honest. The folder that held my Networking 101 PPT file was deleted because the computer automatically cleared space for a big download for another class (it was more involved and complicated than that but thats basically what happened, combined with a bit of sheer stupidity on my part) so after a number of failed attempts to screencast the entire production and play the video at a certain point, I have to post the video separately.

The video, however, was a very fun experience! I used a great site called xtranormal.com and I was able to make a video depicting a good networking conversation between a professional and a college student. The tool is wonderful and I have already shared it with the kids I babysit. It is a great product and I am pleased that it is available for free online right now. I recall some programs like this one that were available when I was younger but they were software and therefore, not available for free.

I had a wonderful time creating the script and storyboard, it really allowed me to flex my creative muscle and I absolutely enjoyed that aspect. Further, this has been a hard, but very good lesson in file maintenance and backing up files to save in different places incase something happens to a file you will be working on in the future. I have since been uploading my documents to dropbox.com- a great tool for saving and accessing work anywhere.

All in all, this has been a good experience! I hope my video is entertaining, informative and persuasive!

Movie Script

Jennifer: Hi Mrs. Clayton. Thank you for inviting me here today!
Mrs. Clayton: Absolutely, Jennifer. Your aunt tells me you are looking for a job after graduation. What is your area of study?
Jennifer: Yes, I am looking for a job by May. I am studying Marketing and Spanish.
Mrs. Clayton: I have a friend with a multicultural marketing agency in new york. Would you be interested in a job with her?
Jennifer: Yes! I would! Thank you.
Mrs. Clayton: Great, I will pass along your resume.
Jennifer: Thank you!
Mrs. Clayton: My pleasure. You have a lot of ambition and will do great!

Movie for Networking

Flowchart for movie

FATP and Storyboard for movie

Form:  Movie within slidecast (How: Slideshow, Video, Essay, Letter, Video, etc.)

Audience: individuals interested in networking after college to find employment

Topic: Networking skills for college graduates, how to have a good networking conversation, connecting with professionals

Purpose: To entertain, inform, persuade people to consider networking as a great way to find a job

Good Imovie tutorial

Slidecast

Networking 101

View more presentations from mmcdou027.

Podcast Outline

The following is an outline for my podcast. I intend on following this structure and adding in details as I go so that the podcast is a natural progression, kind of like a conversation. I am comfortable with the material and think that by choosing a conversational format, my audience will enjoy listening!

-Intro/greeting: My name is Mary, college student, South Bend, Indiana

-What is Networking? (CC image worked on by me) Any activity designed to utilize interpersonal relationships

-Why network? 72% of jobs attained through networking. Tough job market, need to stand out

-Who to contact? (CC image, worked on by me) family, friends, professional connections

-Good impression – (CC image, worked on by me) be outgoing and excited, show interest, appreciate wisdom

Follow up- after the event, follow up with a thank you and show your appreciation

Give Back- offer to help the person helping you in any way possible

Know your goals- know what you want out of this contact so that you do not waste the persons time

Thank You!

Image credits slide

Review: Slidecast

Well, it would be great if I were able to get slideshare to work to upload my masterpiece! All this hard work and every time I try to sync my audio with the slideshow, it comes back as an error on behalf of Slideshare. As soon as it works itself out, I will post the final product.

Producing the podcast, along with remixing music was much easier than I had imagined it would be. With Mac's Garageband and a good apple lap top, anything is possible. Garageband is extremely intuitive and user friendly. I enjoyed the process of finding free music samples to remix and used some of my own recorded music as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Garageband laid out the tracks for me to play with, edit and cut. After trying audacity and comparing it to my experience with Garageband, I am definitely a fan of the latter!

The whole process of creating the slidecast (though I have not been able to sync the two) has been a very good one. In my future career, I am certain that I will be engaging in public information sharing in one way or another. This tool is definitely one that I will use in my career. It is really applicable to any area of life too. For example, a slidecast would be a great way to share information about life changes (wedding, baby, retirement) in a storybook form. My fiancee recently suggested doing an e-announcement of our engagement (not sure if we will end up doing that) but this would be a great way to spread the news! These are just a few fun applications that this skill could be used for. I am pleased that we were given this assignment and I look forward to adding my audio to my slideshow!