End of the semester reflection post
This past fall when I was looking for a free elective to fulfill my final requirements for graduation is when I came across Communications 305 for the spring semester. It was the one I chose to take because it was online and the course material fit well into my major of Business Management as it related to effective communications in the workplace. In completing each assignment for the ePortfolio it encouraged me to think objectively & critically about professional communication as I had to think about what a potential employer would think about items I posted and what message it conveys about me as a professional. When posting these assignments it really encouraged a lot thought and consideration because if something was just thrown together on the page it would look sloppy and reflect on me in a negative light.
Before this course I had never thought before of having a professional presence online although I had a minimal LinkedIn account its importance was never realized. With completing this course it has brought the importance of creating a professional presence online to the forefront and I have made big improvements from the start of the semester. Throughout this semester I have improved my LinkedIn account with more professional information and skills, created a Monster.com account in which I have gotten a lot of good feedback from with the assistance of this course, improved my current resume profiles, and created a nice WIX page. In culmination of all these improvements I now have a stronger professional presence online and more appealing to potential employers.
At the start of the semester the ePortfolio project was intimidating as I had never built a website and was not sure as to how it was going to turn out but overall it was a success. Although this success did not come with its challenges as the most challenging was posting items directly to the page and making the link workable for viewing. This time and time again became difficult as I could not remember how it was done before but near the end of the semester it became like second nature as I now was use to adding documents through each portfolio assignment we had to complete. With challenges comes the greatest feeling of success and completing an eportfolio showed me the importance of having a professional presence online and to always be aware of the professional message being sent to future employers. This is what I liked most about my ePortfolio is that it now gives me another platform to promote myself and allows business professionals to view my accomplishments through the years and what I am capable of accomplishing in the future.
Although I like what I have created there is always room for improvement as nothing is ever perfect the first time and this is true with my ePortfolio. There are some small things I will change such as the font and page colors as I don’t think it looks very professional and in the future I will play with that to achieve the look I want. Another area that will need to be improved is my professional presentation as I need to shoot a different camera angle and background to create a more professional presentation feel when watching it which will present me in a more positive manner. Just as anything we do in life there will always be things we are not completely satisfied with but all we can do is continuously improve and such is the case with my ePortfolio.
For future students who will complete this ePortfolio they should always take the time, plan out and think about what professional image they want to portray to past, present, and future employers and business partners.