Tag Archives: portfolio

Embed Any Document Plugin Example

I embedded this file using the “Embed Any Document” plugin, which you can access by going to your site dashboard, clicking on “Plugins” on the lefthand side, scrolling down until you reach Embed Any Document (it’s alphabetized) and clicking “activate.”

Once you’ve clicked activate, go to your post or page editor.  If you are in Classic Editor mode, a new button will appear underneath the title of the post/page that says “Add Document.” Once you upload your file, you will see some HTML code appear in your post/page editor. Don’t worry! Click the Preview button (or the Publish button) and see how it looks once it’s on your site– your document should appear, as you see below.

Download

How to Add Pages, Adjust Menu Items, and Edit Portfolio Appearance

Someone requested more step-by-step instructions on how to design/edit the portfolios, so here we go!

Adjusting Portfolio Appearance

On the lefthand side of your Site Dashboard, you will see a tab that says “Appearance.” Under that tab, there is a submenu with many more options to click on.

To change the overall design of your Portfolio, click on “Themes.” There are a variety of free themes that you can choose from. Then, once you choose a theme, you can click on “Customize” to change particular elements of the theme design like the site title, site tagline, menus, etc. The remaining items under “Appearance” are also things you can change under “Customize,” so it just depends on which editor you like better.

“Widgets” are pre-designed items that you can add to the sidebar of your portfolio. Or, you can delete the ones that your theme came with! For example, the widgets on our course site are Recent Posts, Categories, and Tags. You can add whatever you want here.

Under “Menus,” you can change which pages appear in the top menu on your portfolio site, add things, rearrange their order, and create submenus. Just by clicking and dragging! On my Sample Portfolio here (which is very incomplete!!!), you can see that I chose to put the “This I No Longer Believe” paper as its own menu item and then have all of the assignments related to the Final Paper as subitems under the Final Paper tab. However, notice that when you click on those items, I still need to edit the pages they take you to to make them match the menu.

Adding and Editing Pages and Posts

On the Dashboard, you will see a tab on the lefthand side that says “Pages.” This is where you can edit existing pages to make them say what you want, and also add new ones.

“Posts” are a lot like pages, except they will go into the blog/news/posts tab of your site. You may choose to use posts for all of your portfolio materials, but you may also choose not to use posts at all and just do pages for everything. It’s up to you!

Within posts, you can assign both tags and categories. This helps people find related material on your site.

Doing More Complicated Things

Feel free to get adventurous as you want with your web design! When I created our course site, I went to the “Plugins” tab (lefthand sidebar on the Dashboard) and just looked through all of the available plugins. If you see something you want to try, click on “Activate.” Depending on the plugin, you may see a new menu option on the lefthand side, or a new button when you are editing a post or a page. Plugins all come with their own Help pages.

If you do any web design experiments, feel free to write about them in your portfolio reflections.

Need More Help?

The Open Lab at City Tech has some helpful documentation that explains (with screenshots!) how to do different things on your course site. Click here and look through the options under the “Building Your Site” heading. The Open Lab looks different from the Commons on the main page/profiles, but the portfolio/course site/Wordpress aspects are the same.

How to Insert Your Assignments Into Your Portfolios

Somebody requested a post with instructions on how to insert your assignments into your portfolios, so here it is! There are several different ways to do so, and you should choose whichever one you prefer.

Method 1: Paste Directly Into WordPress

You can just paste your paper/other assignment directly into the Post or Page editor in WordPress. Then, use the Preview function to make sure all of your formatting still looks good, and fix anything that doesn’t look right. The advantage of this method is that it is very easy! The disadvantage is that you will necessarily lose some formatting, and formatting a blog post or web page like an academic essay usually looks bad.

Method 2: Include a Link to Your Word Doc or PDF

This is the method I recommend as a balance between ease and looking nice on the web.

If you choose this method, I might write your reflection on a given assignment as a blog post or web page on your portfolio, but include a link in the post/page to the assignment itself.

For example, take a look at most of my Assignment blog posts this semester– I reformatted the rubric and assignment sheet to look nice for WordPress, but most of the posts also have a link where you can download a Word Doc version of the assignment.

For assignments that don’t also require a reflection, just write enough on the page/post so that it doesn’t look weirdly blank.

Instructions

  1. If you are in the Classic Editor, click on “Add Media” (it appears as the first button below the post/page title). If you are in the Block Editor, look for the button in the formatting bar that has a music note and camera– when you mouse over it, that will say Add Media too.
  2. Clicking on Add Media will take you to the Media Library for your portfolio. Click over to the tab that says “Upload Files.”
  3. Upload your file.
  4. Once your file is uploaded, you will be automatically redirected to the Media Library page for that file. On the right hand side of your screen, you will see some spaces to fill in information about your file– change any of these that you wish.
  5. Click the blue “Insert Into Post” button.
  6. Whatever you had as the File Title will automatically appear as the text in your post/page. Once you’ve inserted the link, you can change the text if you want.

Method 3: Use a PDF Embedder Plugin

This method is the most complicated, but also the nicest-looking.

On the Resources Page on our website, I’ve included a link to a site that explains different plugins you could install to your portfolio site (using the Plugin tab in the lefthand sidebar) to embed files directly– that will make them display in a special window while retaining all of your formatting.

 

Portfolio Reminder and Practical Guide

In case you were absent one or both of the days we went to the computer lab to work on our portfolios, I wanted to write a post with instructions and recommendations.

How to Create Your Portfolio

  1. Log in to the CUNY Academic Commons home page. Click on “Sites.”
  2. You should see a button that says “Create a Site.” Click on that.
  3. You will see 3 options: Group, Site, and Group + Site. Choose the one that is just “Site.”
  4. Fill out the info and choose your settings however you like. The “site domain” is the URL you type in to get to your site. Choose “Portfolio” under the “Primary Purpose” option.
  5. For the privacy settings, choose whatever you want, but know you will need to give me access to your portfolio at the end of the semester in order for me to grade it.
  6. For the template, choose either “default” or “academic portfolio.” The portfolio template is designed for professors, not students, so you will still need to make changes.

How to Edit Your Portfolio

Once you create your site, you will see the same black CUNY Commons menu at the top of your screen just like you see when you’re on our course site.

  1. Click on the name of your site in that menu to access your dashboard. Or, click “edit” on any page on your site.
  2. The dashboard will look like the editing dashboard you used to write your “Analysis of an Ad” and “Data Collection” posts for our site, but with a lot more options in the sidebar. That’s because you’re the owner of your site!
  3. In the lefthand sidebar, go to “Appearance” and then “Customize.”
  4. Make whatever changes to your site that you want!
  5. To add pages or posts, use the “pages” and “posts” options in the dashboard lefthand sidebar instead of Appearance.

How Do You Know What To Do?

Instructions and a rubric for what to include in your portfolio are here.

Links to examples of other students’ English 101 portfolios are here. 

You can design and organize your portfolio however you want– your assignments don’t need to be in a specific order. It should be what you think looks good, makes sense, and is easy for a user of your website to understand.

For WordPress Help

Just Googling your questions will likely yield a lot of helpful instructions, since WordPress works the same no matter what website is using the software. However, for WordPress help explicitly geared toward students, the Open Lab at City Tech (similar to CUNY Commons) has a lot of Help documentation specifically geared toward students and faculty. Click here for instructions on how to do many common tasks on your site! 

You will see my face in the sidebar there– working on the Open Lab is my other job! Feel free to also ask me or your classmates if you continue running into trouble.

Scripted Interview Instructions (11/18)

Today (11/18) we will be working on the “Scripted Interview,” one of the 8 assignments the English department requires from all 101 students. If you are unable to finish this during class, please complete it for homework (Due Monday 11/25 by 8:00am).

Instructions

  1. Review the sources in your annotated bibliography (by re-reading your annotations and reminding yourself of what each one says!)
  2. Choose two or three sources to work with for this activity
  3. Write an imaginary conversation where you interview the authors of your sources about the topic of your final project.
      • You should ask at least three open-ended questions that allow the authors to give complex, interesting answers (3 points)
      • Each of the authors should respond to each of your questions, giving a complex, interesting answer (6 points)
      • One of the authors should respond directly to the other author’s comment at least once (1 point)
      • The assignment should be turned in on time (2 points)

Total: 12 points

For people who conducted their own interviews: Don’t rewrite your actual interviews with the people, but ask new questions in this assignment and imagine what your interviewee might have said based on their responses to your real questions.

To complete this assignment, you must think seriously and carefully about each author’s point of view (based on what they wrote/said in your source) in order to imagine (as accurately as possible) what they would think/say about your questions.

It also might help to consider, if you were actually interviewing those two people, what would be interesting to hear both of them talk about?

Format the interview like a script. For example:

Scripted Interview Formatting Example

Olivia: What is the most important thing you have learned in college so far, and why?

Student 1: I learned that I have to be really careful about planning my time, because it’s easy to get behind, and if you’re behind, you don’t have time to do a very good job on your assignments or think about them a lot. So you learn less, even if the material is easy.

Olivia: I agree, that’s super important!

Some Examples of Final Portfolios (in Progress)

While we will talk about this more on Wednesday during our computer lab session, I wanted to share with you some examples I found of final portfolios (in progress) by John Jay students in other English 101 classes.

Many classes use Digication for their portfolios, and you can search the John Jay Digication page for way, way more examples of current and past student portfolios!

John Jay Digication Database: https://johnjay.digication.com/portfolio/directory.digi

Some examples of current English 101 portfolios in progress.

https://johnjay.digication.com/jesus-robles-eng-101-fy02/home-1

https://johnjay.digication.com/leslie-pelchor-eng-1014/home-1

https://johnjay.digication.com/asadbek-alijonov-eng101-fy19/welcome

We will not be using Digication, but CUNY Commons/Wordpress instead. This is because while Digication is specifically designed for ePortfolios (and therefore probably easier), it’s also really only designed for use in schools. WordPress is the platform behind about 30% of the entire internet (the CUNY Commons is just one network of websites that uses WordPress), so more practice using WordPress will give you a much more marketable and personally useful skill.

(Personally, I’ve used WordPress in 3 different jobs so far, including teaching at John Jay, and I used to use WordPress for my personal website until I rebuilt it.)

Portfolio Assignment and Rubric

ENG 101 Final Portfolio Assignment Sheet

Due: Monday, December 16 at 9:30 am

For a Word Doc version of this assignment sheet, click here: Final Portfolio Assignment Sheet

Your final portfolio, worth 20% of your grade, is your chance to showcase your learning this semester. There are several components to the portfolio, listed below. All page guidelines are minimum requirements.

  1. The first draft of your research paper (required by English department)
  2. Final (or even further revised) drafts of the following:
    1. Paper 1: This I No Longer Believe
    2. Proposal for Final Paper
    3. Annotated Bibliography
    4. Outline for Final Paper
    5. Imaginary Interview
    6. Final Paper
  3. A reflection statement (at least 1 page) on Paper 1 (your writing process, what you learned, what you think you could have done better, “How does this paper showcase your learning?” etc.)
  4. A reflection statement (at least 1 page) on your research paper (the Final Paper)
  5. A reflective letter, addressed either to me or to the class as a whole, analyzing your work this semester. Think of it as a fresh “Yourself as Reader and Writer” essay now that the semester is over. What did you learn from ENG 101? What do you want to learn more about? What skills do you want to further develop? Look back at the learning objectives on the syllabus. How have you achieved these objectives? What evidence (from your work this semester) shows that achievement? This letter should be as long as it needs to be, but I expect it will need to be at least 3 or 4 pages.
  6. Answer this question (however long it takes to answer in whatever form you choose): If you had the freedom to write about whatever you wanted, in whatever form you wanted, what would you do? (Or, you can think of it this way: if you had to change one of our assignments and its requirements to let you write EXACTLY the thing you want to write, what changes would you make?) Why is this your dream piece of writing?
  7. (Optional) Any additional assignments you want to showcase or commentary you wish to include about your work this semester.

You should present your portfolio as a digital portfolio (site) on the CUNY Commons or using WordPress.com. You may organize the required components however you wish on your site, but you should make these choices with rhetorical awareness. What looks professional and aesthetically pleasing? What organization makes logical sense for how you want the reader to navigate through the site? Is your site easy to read?

Portfolio Rubric

  1. Portfolio contains all required components and was turned in on time. (15 points)
  2. All components meet the length requirement. (10 points)
  3. Reflection statements on major essays display critical thinking and serious self-reflection, referring to specific aspects of the essays or parts of the writing process (10 points per paper)
  4. The final reflective essay offers compelling and persuasive insight into the student’s learning and growth (and/or lack thereof, and/or future goals for learning and growth) over the course of the semester. The final reflective essay uses specific examples from the student’s writing, actions, or life experiences to support the student’s claims. (20 points)
  5. All components exhibit the appropriate structural and stylistic conventions for personal reflective writing in the student’s dialect of choice. (10 points)
  6. The Portfolio utilizes WordPress/CUNY Commons in a rhetorically effective way, exhibiting design and organization choices that make the portfolio professional, easy to read/navigate, and reflective of the individual student. (25 points)