Assignment Prompt
Purpose
Creating a digital portfolio gives you a way to document your experiences throughout your internship and integrate what you are learning with your career and academic goals. By the end of your internship, you will be better prepared to discuss not only what you did but also why you did it and how it connects with your other academic and work experiences. Spend some time reflecting on your professional goals when you began your internship and whether your goals and interests have changed during the semester. What new skills have you learned since beginning your internship?
The time spent reflecting in your portfolio is good preparation for job and graduate/professional school interviews. Your digital portfolio can be shared with anyone writing recommendation letters to give a detailed and thorough view of who you are as a student and professional.
In this assignment, you will create a portfolio using Adobe Creative Cloud that will be easily accessible online. You may choose Adobe Express (formerly Spark) or Adobe Portfolio depending on what best suits your work samples. Include work that highlights your skills and which will help you land a job.
Task
Things to include:
Introduction/Bio section:
Introduce yourself, discuss your goals and interests. Summarize who you want to become as a professional.
Include a photo of yourself and links to your social media accounts including LinkedIn.
Include your class standing and major in a brief (1-2 paragraph) bio and add it to the "About" section near the top of the portfolio. Demonstrate your personality through your writing.
Your Resume:
Include your contact information, education and work experience. Update any new skills you acquired since you created your resume at the beginning of the semester. Be sure to include your internship role in your work experience section.
Internship Experience:
Highlight any projects that you worked on during your internship. Don’t include everything, curate your best work. Tell the viewer why you’re including specific work samples and what makes them significant. If it was a group project, explain your role.
What were your greatest strengths as an intern?
What you learned/gained from this internship.
The most challenging part of your internship.
How were you able to grow your professional network?
A digital portfolio is stronger when you have images, links, documents, and other types of evidence to support your story. Review your current evidence and consider adding/editing to include one or more of the following:
One or more photos related to your internship site IF your site allows it. If you are unsure check with your internship site supervisor.
Work products or reports you have permission to share, preferably with some visuals.
You don’t need to have a separate page for every type of work. Scrolling through one long page is easier for the viewer than clicking through a bunch of different tabs.
Link to relevant social media accounts, but only ones you’d want your future boss to see. If you don’t use Instagram professionally, it doesn’t need to be on your site.
Respond to the prompts below to guide you. Incorporate your answers into a reflective story of your internship experience.
An explanation of why you have chosen your major and how your interest in this field developed
The qualities and skills you bring to a team to be a good team member and which make you stand out
A summary of your professional experiences (work, volunteer, academic) and how they helped you understand your goals, skills, and strengths
Things that have surprised you about your internship and how the experience has been different than what you expected
How your work has contributed to the goals of your internship site
Write a summary of your internship site so someone with no background in the work you are doing will understand the purpose of the organization and your role
Has your internship given you a deeper understanding of the elements of your coursework?
How sure are you of your career goals? What are you doing to finalize your decisions if you are still trying to explore careers?
What will your next steps be after this internship to achieve your goals?
Presenting your portfolio to judges
The professionals who will be watching your portfolio presentation will be looking for and scoring you on the following elements:
Your introduction page that includes a Bio/About Me
Inclusion of your resume in your portfolio
Your discussion of the unique circumstances of your internship this semester
Your detailed explanation of what you did and learned at your internship along with samples of your work
The professionalism of your oral presentation
The quality of your e-portfolio's design, layout and content
Ready to submit your assignment?
Copy the URL (web address) of your digital portfolio from your browser, and paste it into the submission box.
Criteria
This assignment is worth 25 points, which are distributed as follows:
2 points: Professional bio is included in the "About" section at the top
2 points: Resume is updated and included in the portfolio
2 points: Internship Experience reflection addresses all the prompts
3 point: Professional Goals reflection addresses all the prompts
3 points: Additional evidence is embedded in the showcase (e.g. image(s), file(s), hyperlink(s), other media)
3 point: Use of standard writing conventions, free of spelling, grammatical, and/or structural errors
10 points: Presenting your portfolio to a panel of professionals who will evaluate you on the elements listed above under "presenting your portfolio to judges"
Student Examples
Christie Ritter is the JMS Internship Coordinator and a Lecturer in the School of Journalism and Media Studies. Her job has two parts: she connects students with organizations which can provide valuable experiential learning opportunities in the fields of journalism, public relations, advertising and media. She is also the instructor of the internship class, JMS 490. This class prepares students to enter the job market by helping them prepare professional resumes, practice job interviewing skills and create a portfolio of their work that they can use to showcase their skills and projects when they apply for jobs.
Professor Ritter is a strong believer in the benefit of internships. As an alumna of SDSU’s Mass Communications program, she credits her internship at the San Diego Union-Tribune while finishing her master’s degree with launching her career in print journalism. As an undergraduate at UCLA, Prof. Ritter interned at A&M Records and Entertainment Tonight. Her bachelor’s degree is in Political Science.
Professor Ritter is a freelance journalist and was a staff writer at the Escondido Times-Advocate, North County Times and San Diego Union-Tribune. Her writing has received awards from the San Diego Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is the author of four books. She previously taught news writing at both SDSU and San Diego City College. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. She is the proud mother of two children and the foster parent of dozens of kittens as a volunteer with the San Diego Humane Society.
