Worth 15% of your course grade

Important Dates

Official due dates:

• 10:10 course: Due by 9:45 AM on Wednesday, 12/16
• 11:15 course: Due by 5:25 PM on Monday, 12/14

End of Grace Period: If you need additional time, submit your final by noon on Wednesday, 12/16. If your work is not in by noon, you will receive a zero. Because I have to turn in course grades, I cannot extend the grace period beyond noon on the 12/16 unless you have a letter from the Dean of Students indicating extenuating circumstances.

Overview

Your exam is a take-home, and it will consist of creating a revision and sustainability/maintenance plan for your online portfolio site. Find information on revision plans on pp. 116–118 of Writer/Designer. Details on sustainability are on pp. 122–126 of Writer/Designer.

If you have never written a report before or want more help with design choices, read "Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom" from Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, for some general advice.

The Assignment

You will review your online portfolio site on WordPress and write a short report that outlines the following information:

• what you have revised.
• what you plan to revise soon (by the beginning of February).
• what you will do to maintain the site each term.

For your discussion of maintenance, start with the changes and upkeep you will do after your course grade is recorded, and then work through key point from that point on until your graduation term. Your goal is to establish a to-do list and timeline so that you have an up-to-date portfolio throughout your time at Virginia Tech.

Report Format and Design

Use what you know about designing content to be read online to create a report that is clear and easy to read. If it’s also fun and interesting, that’s great too.

Pay attention to your design choices and use of the modes of communication. Consider how using layout, headings, and visual elements can help communicate your plan.

You can write a traditional technical report, or you can chose a different format, like a web essay, an infographic, a Prezi, or a timeline. The format of the report is open. You can check with me if you are worried about your choice.

Report Structure

At a minimum, your report should include the following sections:

• an overview that includes the link to your portfolio and discusses your goals and audience for the portfolio over your career in the English Department.
• a section on the revision you have done or are doing.
• a section on your long-term plans to maintain the portfolio.
• a section that explains what steps you will take to ensure you will stay on schedule with your maintenance.
• a conclusion that draws the report together.

Submission

Choose the option below that fits your project. When you click on the option, the submission instructions will appear. Just follow them to submit your work:

• Website URL only
  1. Go to our course in Canvas.
  2. Choose Assignments from the left sidebar.
  3. Choose the "Project 5: Final Exam" assignment.
  4. Click the big Submit Assignment button on the upper right.
  5. Click the Website URL tab, and you will see the form below on the page:
     
  6. Paste the link to your final exam in the Website URL field.
  7. Type your reflection comments in the Comments… box (indicated by the orange arrow). I read your comments before I read your project. These comments are worth 10 points of your grade. Don’t forget them! Include this information:
     • Tell me what you are linking to.
     • Explain what grade you aimed for (e.g., I aimed for a B+ by including headings and icons).
     • Share anything else you want me to know before I grade your project.
  8. Click the Submit Assignment button, and your work will be uploaded and turned in.
• File upload only
  1. Go to our course in Canvas.
  2. Choose Assignments from the left sidebar.
  3. Choose the "Project 5: Final Exam" assignment.
  4. Click the big Submit Assignment button on the upper right. You’ll see this File Upload form:
     
  5. Click the Choose File button, and navigate to your file. It must be a *.doc, *.docx, or *.pdf file.
  6. Type your reflection comments in the Comments… box (indicated by the orange arrow). I read your comments before I read your project. These comments are worth 10 points of your grade. Don’t forget them! Include this information:
     • Tell me what you are linking to.
     • Explain what grade you aimed for (e.g., I aimed for a B+ by including headings and icons).
     • Share anything else you want me to know before I grade your project.
  7. Click the Submit Assignment button, and your work will be uploaded and turned in.
• Both website URL and file upload only

  Canvas does not allow you to use both options at the same time, so you will have to write an extra document. Follow these instructions:

  1. Write a short memo to me in your word processor that gives me the URL. It can be very short. Just give me the link and tell me what it goes to.
  2. Go to our course in Canvas.
  3. Choose Assignments from the left sidebar.
  4. Choose the "Project 5: Final Exam" assignment.
  5. Click the big Submit Assignment button on the upper right. You’ll see this File Upload form:
     
  6. Click the Choose File button, and navigate to your files. They must be *.doc, *.docx, or *.pdf files. You can upload as many as you need. Be sure to upload the memo with the link to your website in addition to any other files.
  7. Type your reflection comments in the Comments… box (indicated by the orange arrow). I read your comments before I read your project. These comments are worth 10 points of your grade. Don’t forget them! Include this information:
     • Tell me what you are linking to.
     • Explain what grade you aimed for (e.g., I aimed for a B+ by including headings and icons).
     • Share anything else you want me to know before I grade your project.
  8. Click the Submit Assignment button, and your work will be uploaded and turned in.

Worth 10% of your course grade

Important Dates

• September 23: Portfolio Peer Review
• September 25: Portfolio Due Date
• October 2: Portfolio Deadline (end of grace period, no work accepted after 11:59 PM)

Goals

write and design web content, use digital images (and if desired, video and audio), and recognize basic HTML and CSS syntax.

explore how linguistic text (words), images, and layout combine to communicate with an audience.

create something you can use as you enter the job market or pursue additional educational opportunities.

The Project Assignment

You will design and create an academic (or professional) portfolio where you will publish the work that you do for this course and other course you have and will take at Virginia Tech. You will write and design text for online presentation, use digital images (and if desired, video and audio), and use basic HTML and CSS syntax.

You’ll create your web portfolio using WordPress, which will provide the basic tools you need so that you can focus on your multimodal design and learning the basics of HTML and CSS coding.

Step-by-Step Details

Step 1: Create a WordPress blog and a backup plan
Setup a Blogs@VT (recommended) site, a WordPress.com blog, or a self-hosted WordPress blog for your Web Portfolio. Realize that your blog will be a public site, so anyone on the Internet can read it. Make wise, professional choices about naming your site and the information you will display.

Decide on a backup plan for yourself. The easiest option is to copy and paste things out into files on your Google Drive, a flash drive, or your own computer. Dropbox works too. You can also go to Tools on the left and then Export to download your content as an XML file.

Step 2: Set your goals for the project.
You have the opportunity to aim for the grade you want to earn for the projects in this class. The options below outline what you need to do for the grade you want to receive. No one aims for a D or an F, so I have not included any details for below-average work. If you really want a D, just put in minimal effort and do sloppy work.

Complete the B-level project and then use unique strategies and details that increase the effectiveness and impact of the site, such as posting additional, relevant resources, using multiple modes of communication effectively, and/or demonstrating excellent design decisions. Your site should have no errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, or formatting.

Complete the C-level project and then use design elements (like menus, widgets, headings, layout, etc.) to make your project visually appealing and easy to read and navigate. Your site should have no more than two or three minor errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, and/or formatting.

Create a WordPress portfolio site, appropriate for an academic and/or professional audience, including the required posts and pages listed below. Include reflection comments when you submit your project. Your site should be complete, well-written, and include no more than five errors in image editing, grammar, spelling, style, punctuation, mechanics, linking, and/or formatting.

Warning! No grade is guaranteed.
Make sure your project is error-free, fully-developed, and ready to share with the intended audiences. Any work that is incomplete or that contains multiple errors will not earn an A or an A-.

For instance, say the writer aimed for a B and used design elements to make the project visually appealing, but the finished text was full of typos and the image was blurry. The project earns a C rather than a B.

Step 3: Customize your blog
Use the tools within WordPress to customize your site so that it represents you. You need to complete the following tasks: 

1. Choose a Theme for your blog (under the Appearance tab on the left).
2. Use the Widgets (also under the Appearance tab on the left) to customize your sidebar(s), header, and footer (as applicable). 
3. Use Menus (again under the Appearance tab on the left) to set up the menus for your site.

If you need help, try the WordPress Documentation and FAQs. Try contacting 4Help if you need additional help outside of class. Also remember that you can use the step-by-step WordPress Tutorials & Training at Lynda.com.

Step 4: Set-up your content
You will write outline the sections required for your site, after looking at example sites and thinking about your goals. At a minimum, you will include the following content for your site:

• Posts: You will write at least two posts on topics related to your career goals and portfolio topic. Much in-class writing going forward will be done in blog posts. By the end of the term you should have a robust blog as part of your site. By the due date, however, you only need two.
• Pages: You will write the following:
  • an about page, where you tell visitors about yourself. You can revise your identity statement for this page.
  • a site information page (like a colophon in a book), where you tell us about the tools you used and the design decisions you made. Be sure that you give credit for any resources (like an image) that you use.
  • pages necessary for your portfolio, such as pages for your creative works or essays you have written.

Step 5: Submit your project.
When you are finished with the project, you will upload your project file in the Assignment tool on Canvas. Details on how to submit your work will be included in the post for the due date (September 25).

You will use the Comment section for reflection on your project. In this section you will tell me the following:

• your intended audience and purpose.
• the grade that you have aimed for.
• how well you reached your goals.
• any other information I need to know to understand the work you did on your project.

Be sure that you follow the instructions, include the relevant information, and proofread your memo. If you skip adding the Comment, you lower your grade on the project. Remember that there are no rewrites or revisions after work is graded.

Examples for Inspiration

• eP@VT Gallery
• Secondary English Education
• English Department
• Additional Electronic Portfolios