Arts Student ePortfolio of the Year 2017/18

Have you created a website that showcases examples of your academic and non-academic work? Are you using the website to make connections across courses and disciplines, or between coursework, employment, volunteer work, travel, or learning contexts? 

If so, you should enter the Arts Student ePortfolio of the Year competition for 2017/18. The winner will receive a $150 gift card and will be featured in a short promotional video for the ePortfolio initiative. One runner-up will receive a $100 gift card. 

The judges will be looking for original, well-organized sites with strong, clear writing, and diverse samples of work from a variety of contexts. They’re especially interested in students who have adapted, personalized, or transformed the ePortfolio template (http://eportfolios.arts.ubc.ca/getting-started/the-eportfolio-template/) and students who have made a portfolio on the Arts Student Web Space (SWS). See below for specific eligibility criteria. 

Top Prize: $150 gift card to your choice of Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, the Apple Store, Amazon.ca, UBC Bookstore, or UBC Food Services
Runner-up: $100 gift card to your choice of Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, the Apple Store, Amazon.ca, UBC Bookstore, or UBC Food Services

Eligibility: 
1. Your ePortfolio must be publicly viewable. If you’re using UBC Blogs, your privacy setting should be level 1 or 2. 
2. You must either: 
a)    have been registered in one of the following courses: 

  • CLST/PHIL211 (Fall 2016 or 2017)
  • CLST/PHIL212 (Winter 2017 or 2018)
  • FNIS100 (Fall 2016 or Winter 2017)
  • FNIS454 (Fall 2017)
  • GEOG211 (Fall 2016)
  • GEOB270 (Fall 2015, Winter 2016, Fall 2016 or Winter 2017)
  • GEOG310 (Fall 2015 or Winter 2016)
  • GEOG352 (Winter 2017)
  • GEOG379b (Winter 2015)
  • GEOG472 (Fall 2017
  • ITAL301 (Fall 2017 or Winter 2018)
  • VISA110 227 (Winter 2017 or 2018)

b)    or, have been a regular participant in the UBC Sociology career development workshop series 

3. Your ePortfolio must include at least eight artifacts (e.g. samples of academic or non-academic work, accomplishments, learning activities, awards, description and photo or video from an event, etc) from at least four of the following areas. Note that you are not expected to use these labels in your menu or categories for your artifacts. 
a)    an academic artifact completed in lower-level (1st or 2nd year) UBC Arts courses
b)    an academic artifact completed in upper-level (3rd or 4th year) UBC Arts courses
c)    a co-curricular artifact completed as a part of your UBC degree (e.g. Co-op, internship, Go Global, Centre for Community-Engaged Learning)
d)    an artistic artifact completed in highschool or in your own time
e)    an artifact completed as a part of training or education that you’ve done outside of a college or university course or program
f)    an artifact related to a volunteer activity
g)    an artifact related to a leadership activity
h)    an artifact related to a sport
i)    an artifact related to an event
j)    an artifact related to a club
k)    an artifact related to your employment (see note* below)
l)    a resume with links to artifacts

Email your name, course, and ePortfolio URL to arts.eportfolios@ubc.ca by noon on Friday April 6th

Strategies for the Job Market: Informational Interviews and Networking (Jan)

To view the video recording of this session:

If you already viewed past videos for this workshop series, just log in to CLAS and click on the Session 4 video. If you have not already viewed a session video, just enrol in the ‘course’ here and in the future you can log in at the above link.

1) Informational Interviews and Networking

facilitated by Shagufta Pasta

Presentation and discussion with Shagufta Pasta from the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers. Shagufta discussed how to set up informational interviews, the value of these kinds of meetings and how they can help you expand your network.

Note: Shagufta regularly offers Drop-In Advising Sessions each Tuesday from 11 am – 1 pm, in the front foyer of the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers (Brock Hall, 1874 East Mall).


2) How to Write for your Portfolio

facilitated by Letitia Henville

1 – How to write about your learning activities

I suggest that you think about the impact that your work had—either on how you have learning and developed, or on a group of people you worked with or helped. Two ways to think about writing about your impact are to use the accomplishment statement formula or the STARR formula for behavioural interview questions:

If the only job you’ve had is something like working retail or serving in a restaurant, you can still include that in your portfolio! Talk about why and how you were great at your job, and the impact that your work had on yourself or on others. Here are two posts from the great blog “Ask a Manager” – in these posts, Allison Green is talking about how to write about what you’ve accomplished on a resume, but her advice also stands for a portfolio:

2 – How to edit your learning activities for the web
3 – Send me your URL!

I’d love to see how you’re progressing and am happy to provide individualized advice. You can reach me at arts.eportfolios@ubc.ca.

Building the Life You Want: Identifying Meaningful Career Options (Nov)

To view the video recording of this session:

If you already viewed the video for Session 2, log in at http://clas.ubc.ca/prod and click on the Session 3 video. If you have not already viewed a session video, just enrol in the ‘course’ here and in the future you can log in at the above link.

1) Identifying meaningful career options


2) Designing your own portfolio

If you are testing out the new eportfolio platform, please email arts.eportfolios@ubc.ca to share your URL with Letitia. She will send you additional details about setting up your portfolio on the new platform, but she needs to keep track of how many of you are trying it out.

Letitia mentioned the videos of employers speaking about their experience networking & hiring using online portfolios. Here they are:

Writing and Communicating your Career Goals (Oct)

 

Click here to view the video recording of this session.

* Enrol in the ‘course’ at the above link and in the future you can log in at http://clas.ubc.ca/prod

1) How to identify potential career paths
2) Using UBC Blogs
3) Applying what you have learned


1 – How to identify potential career paths

What can you do with a Sociology degree?

  • Your career is happening right now!
    • search out opportunities here at UBC (work study, etc.) to build up your experience
  • Using LinkedIn as a tool to help you explore your career:
    • search UBC on LinkedIn to see where alumni are (go to “linkedin.com/edu/alumni”)
    • search Sociology on LinkedIn to view profiles from UBC Sociology
    • search Vancouver on LinkedIn to see where people with Sociology degrees are working
    • Examples discussed: Marianne Wu and Elisabeth van Assum

Activity:
Complete this Sociology Career Goals Worksheet

Homework:

1. Maintain an ongoing list for yourself of UBC grads on LinkedIn — Write down their names and then you can go back to contact them later when you have time

2. Update your resume — Write some accomplishment statements, which are detailed points of what you have done (see Marianne Wu’s LinkedIn profile for examples).

 


2 – Using UBC Blogs (WordPress)

Please review these 3 key sections from the ‘Getting Started’ ePortfolio resources :

  • Understanding Posts and Pages
    – What is the difference?
    – What should you use on your portfolio?
    – If you are unsure, design your portfolio using pages (and subpages) until you learn more about how posts (and categorizing posts) might be useful for you

  • Create and Organize Pages
    – Consider the information from the “career paths” component of this workshop and determine how you want to approach your portfolio.
    – Between now and the November workshop you should decide what the pages of your portfolio will be, set them up on your site, and have content added. You can edit and refine this content over the duration of the next several months. Remember that a portfolio is an ongoing process.
    – By the end of today’s session you should have multiple pages set up so you can see how your menu will appear with your chosen theme. You can always adjust the names of our pages later, as well as your theme. This is something you will work on during the last half hour of today’s session.

  • Add an Image or Media (using Copyright Guide)
    – “In essence, you should treat your ePortfolio like you would any other academic work by only including your own content: your own photographs or artwork, your own videos, your own music, and so on. Do not assume that a work is in the Public Domain simply because you found it online!” (source)
    – “There are three ways to use an image legally: (1) use your own images, (2) receive permission in writing from the copyright holder, or (3) use an image that comes either from the public domain or under a Creative Commons license.” (source)

    How it Works with UBC WordPress Blogs

    When you upload a media file to WordPress Blogs, you are prompted with three options to choose from for copyright authorization: (1) With the permission of the copyright holder(s), (2) Public Domain, and (3) Other. There are three scenarios that would cause you to choose the first option: you hold the copyright to the material (i.e. you are the creator of the work); you have permission in writing from the copyright holder; or, a Creative Commons license permits your use of the material. For the last scenario, you have to be certain that you understand what this license entails.

    Optional homework > Learn more about Creative Commons


SCAVENGER HUNT!

Directions Working in small groups of 2-3, edit your ePortfolio to complete the following tasks. Use the resources on the Arts ePortfolio website at http://eportfolios.arts.ubc.ca to help you. You can also ask one of the Arts ISIT Tech Rovers for assistance.

The first group to successfully complete all tasks will receive a mystery prize!!!

Tasks:

  1. Create a parent page called “Academics” (you can change the name later once you decide on your pages) and add an image that does not violate Copyright law.
    *Hint: Review “Add an Image or Media” and “Copyright Guide”
  2. Create a child page (subpage) called “Sociology” under the parent page “Academics”.
  3. Create a parent page called “Skills”. Edit the page so that you identify and describe the same number of skills as Danielle Juneau highlights in her ePortfolio.
    *Hint: Look under “Example ePortfolios.”
  4. Add a widget of your choice to your ePortfolio
    *Hint: Look under “Customize Your ePortfolio” > “Editing Widgets.”
  5. Change the theme of your ePortfolio to something that will work on a desktop computer as well as on a tablet or cell phone.
    *Hint: Review “Customize Your ePortfolio: Themes and More.”

Optional homework > Review the differences between pages and posts. Add some example/text Posts to your site in order for you to assign Categories to them so the Categories will appear on your portfolio (if at first they don’t appear, your theme may require you to add the Categories widget)

Additional tasks to try:

  • Create a post with an image that does not violate Copyright law.
    *Hint: Review “Add an Image or Media” and “Copyright Guide” under “Getting Started”
  • Create a parent category called “Skills”. Create a child category called “Teamwork” under the parent category “Skills”. Assign your post from above to this category.
  • Create a parent page called “Personal Initiatives”. Add a brief description of something extracurricular that you’ve done. Include an image that does not violate Copyright law.
  • Add a second child category of your choosing to “Skills” parent category and link to this category from your “Skills” page.

3 – Applying what you have learned

To really get the most benefit out of these workshops and to help you determine your personal career path, you should complete the following before the next workshop on November 9th:

  1. Update your resume. Write some accomplishment statements, which are detailed points of what you have done. Consider including volunteer experience and interests that apply to your future career. Bring your resume (hard copy or digital) to the remaining workshops.
  2. Read and review the information listed above for the ‘Getting Started’ ePortfolio resources (focus on these sections: Understanding Posts and Pages, Create and Organize Pages, Add an Image or Media and Copyright Guide; if possible: info on Categories)
  3. Catch up by:  1) Looking at the ePortfolio Examples from Workshop 1; 2) Complete some of the Scavenger Hunt tasks above if you did not do so in the workshop.
  4. After looking over the portfolio examples, determine what you want your portfolio pages to be (you can always change them later). Set up your blog with about 4 or 5 pages. Referring to your resume and reflecting on your school career, add some content to each of your pages. They don’t have to be complete… this is an ongoing editing process.

Overview & Getting Started (Sept)

ePortfolios Resources for Students

All of the tutorials and resources you need can be found  on the Faculty of Arts ePortfolios website at http://eportfolios.arts.ubc.ca
Please bookmark that page on your web browser so it’s a handy reference for you! During this Workshop Series, you will be directed towards specific resources on the Arts ePortfolios website.

What is an ePortfolio?

Information on Privacy

You can choose how private you want your portfolio to be when you set it up. It is suggested that you keep it completely private, and not accessible by Google, while you are creating it. Please see the following video for more details: http://eportfolios.arts.ubc.ca/getting-started/understanding-your-sites-privacy-options/

ePortfolio Examples

The following page contains student and professional portfolios in a range of disciplines within the Faculty of Arts: http://eportfolios.arts.ubc.ca/example-eportfolios/

Here are a few selected examples of portfolios from UBC and elsewhere:

  • Bachelor of Arts in Sociology student Hugh Knapp, class of 2018, UBC – portfolio
    * This example focuses on choosing six projects that connect to the person’s career goals and individual identity as a learner. The basic structure consists of an About area (description of person and interests) and a Work area that consists of 6 pages describing the chosen projects. Using a different theme layout, the About and Work could exist as WordPress ‘Pages’ and the 6 projects might appear as ‘Subpages’underneath the Work heading.
    .
  • Professional from discipline of Anthropology –  portfolio
    * This example focuses on representing the different areas that make up a professor’s career, which include research, teaching, writing, among other things. Each of these areas has their own ‘Page’ that is clearly seen in the site’s menu.
    .
  • Bachelor of Arts in Knowledge Integration student, Univ. of Waterloo –  portfolio
    * This example takes a different approach to the site layout, when compared to the examples shown above. The first thing one sees when entering the portfolio is the title “Skills Spotlight” with the following sub-headings and short descriptive summaries: Leadership, Design Thinking, Teamwork, Communication. Within each summary, certain phrases appear as links that when clicked, take the reader to example projects illustrating those specific skills. If one scrolls down the page, you can see the three chosen projects the student has chosen to include in their portfolio. This kind of ‘skills’ approach to the site structure, could be used to draw clear connections between a portfolio and a Cover Letter that perhaps lists these skills. The portfolio can be seen as a place to provide strong evidence for what is written in the Cover Letter and listed on a Resume.
    .
  • Master of Architecture student, Univ. of Oregon – portfolio
    * On the About/Home page for this example, the person listed highlights from their resume below the introduction to who they are, in a resume format with headings. The project examples on the Pages are all images with just captions including title, date and basic information because of the visual nature of the person’s discipline.

How to Get Started?

It takes less than 5 minutes to set up your site at UBC Blogs and all you need is your CWL login. Follow the instructions here. You do not have to use the ePortfolio template in the Getting Started instructions unless you want to. Just set up your site and then once logged in, go into your Dashboard > Appearance > Themes to view the options for how you want your portfolio to look. I suggest you start with something simple and you can always change it later once you know more of what you want to do.

Workshop Series Schedule

I. Informational Session
Tues. Sept 19th 2-2:45 or Fri Sept 22 10–10:45 in ANSO 2107
 .
II. Writing and Communicating your Career Goals
Thursday Oct 12 12:30-2 in ANSO 2107
 .
III. Building the Life You Want: Identifying Meaningful Career Options
Thursday November 9 12:30-2 in ANSO 2107
 .
IV. Strategies for the Job Market: Informational Interviews and Networking
Thursday, January 11 12:30-2 in ANSO 2107
 .
V. Framing your Skills and Degree for the Job you Want
Thursday, February 8 12:30-2 in ANSO 2107
 .
VI. Putting it all together: Curating your Professional Presence
Thursday, March 8 12:30-2 in ANSO 2107
.
*If you plan on attending any or all of the above sessions, please let us know by signing up here
poster to download/print:
SOCI Workshop Poster

About the Workshop Series

Student voices have been heard. We know that it is really hard to transition from university to a job, that there is not a lot of support to be had, and that you would like some help forging a path forward. This year UBC Sociology is trying something new. It is a pilot study – an experiment – and we are looking for a few people (Sociology Majors) who want to participate.

Beyond Linked-In offers students a way of showcasing your talents, abilities, interests, and capabilities to the world and especially to people who have the power to hire you. Kerry Greer is working with people from across the university to design and implement a year-long workshop series for Sociology majors, so when they graduate from UBC they have clarity around their next steps, and have a thoughtful, curated site with examples of the kind of work that they are capable of producing.  Students will construct an “e-portfolio” or a digital resume, with solid evidence of their ability.

We are looking for students who are interested in exploring this further. We will have an information session in September, where students can learn more about the Beyond Linked-In workshop series, and students who are interested in pursuing this will be expected to participate in a series of five additional workshops where they will build the technical skills to create an e-portfolio while clarifying their career goals.

Some students have asked whether this is appropriate for people who are planning on going to grad school or a professional program. The answer is YES. Learning how to present yourself to the world in a strategic way is an essential skill. You already do this on social media, but this workshop will help you refocus these skills and develop a professional persona to present to future employers AND graduate school committees.

Students in their 3rd and 4th year will be given priority, students in their 2nd year are welcome to participate if room is available.

Information sessions will be held on Tuesday, September 19 at 2pm and September 22nd at 10am in ANSO 2107.