Monday, November 11, 2013

Everything's a Resume?


Our students will be working to craft a resume for their "About Me/Bio" page of their website. They will use a variety of resources such as:
BUT... there is more to a resume in the digital age than typing on a piece of paper.
Rhetoric Soup Blog
Students will visit RhetoricSoup' Blog to explore the larger issues of resumes in a digital age:
http://rhetoricsoup.blogspot.com/2013/06/resumes-digital-footprints-and-ethos.html

PLUS - check this weekend's NY Times article, "They Loved Your GPA Then They Saw Your Tweets!"

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Working on Websites

Students are involved in "Digital Composition" by building a website! This composition involves writing, of course, but it is so much more: selecting and arranging materials, graphic design, visual rhetoric, addressing an audience, presenting a persona, creating a mood, providing a path of navigation, etc. Here is a general breakdown of the students' web project:

Planning!

  • Students familiarized themselves with the tools and medium through tutorials and experiments using our class tool, Weebly
  • They described what their website would be like, and storyboarded the web pages. 
  • They investigated TIME's Top Websites and identified best practices for web design - PLUS they will use the list of Web Design Elements & Best Practices at Smashing Magazine to make a list of best practices for their own site-building.

Creating Content!

  • Students will incorporate in their site a broad selection from the following elements: photo galleries, slide shows, prose writing, links to external content, blog integration, resume, video links, social media connections,etc.
  • Students will create the following "pages" in their sites:
    • Welcome/Home/Landing Page
    • Feature Page (focus on a topic of interest selected by the student)
    • Bio/Resume/About Me Page
    • Blog Page (or link)
    • Portfolio Page
Links and discussions will appear on their blogs throughout the construction process.