Tag Archives: Professional

Project Progress- Take 2

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Since our last check in, I have made some progress on my social media account LinkedIn. My focus has been on generating content of the best practices and uses an individual should make in order to successfully present themselves online. This is just some of what I plan to feature in my e-magazine. Although, my project is moving at a slow pace, I am confident I will have all I need to produce a successful e-magazine whether or not my LinkedIn profile takes off.

I have written a small draft of some of the essentials needed in order to present oneself successfully online using LinkedIn that I will include in my e-magazine:

  1. Profile picture- a profile picture must come off as friendly and approachable or professional or however an individual chooses to brand (present) themselves on their personal account. It should look more professional than casual as one may portray on Facebook.
  2. Groups on LinkedIn- this is important because people are joining an abundance of groups but may not necessarily be active in those groups. A user should choose groups that they know they will post content to, answer questions or respond to content, share their perspective and that will also align with the industry they want to be in some day. Users should join groups that they are passionate about.
  3. Posts- It doesn’t hurt to write a post (update) on LinkedIn. It could be about anything as long as it is authentic and true.

I worked on my summary and I know I will probably edit it a dozen more times but while I was thinking of what I should share, there were specific questions I had in mind such as:

  • What am I passionate about? What motivates me? I can answer bother questions in one simple word, children. What about children? I haven’t quite figured out yet.
  • What assets do I feel I can best bring into my field of study/ career goal? What have I done or what are my skills?
  • What are one or two fun facts about me? What makes me unique?

Some of these questions will remain unanswered as there is still a lot to learn about myself and I hope by the time I graduate I will know the answer.

Looking forward, I finally have found a site called LucidPress where I can successfully create my e-magazine and I have been working on producing my e-magazine. It started off rough because I had to go through 24 different layouts to choose one that would be suitable for my project but I think I finally found the right one. I also found a theme for my e-portfolio that I am pleased with and began posting documentation of my academic work on my. I have yet to meet with someone from the professional development team but I’ve decided I will not include my resume into my LinkedIn profile because my work experience in the past does not reflect my summary and where I plan on going in my career aspirations. Although, I hope to utilize the professional development team later in the future.

Samantha suggested that I have people evaluate myself in reality and online. As soon as I feel my LinkedIn account is good enough to be looked at by others who are familiar with myself, I will have them compare my two selves: online and in reality.

Project Progress Reflection

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I must admit, I was hesitant about creating a LinkedIn account after I was more than encouraged to do so by everyone in the class. Once I finally created my account, I was a bit surprised and pleased to see its resemblance to a Facebook newsfeed. I didn’t know what to expect after I created my account but it wasn’t how I imagined it at all.

Screenshot_2015-11-24-12-03-44[1]

My current profile

Like any other social media platform, the first order of business was to make connections and unfortunately, I only had two that the database could automatically find. Once inside the realm of the platform, I found a number of interesting things that were purposely pointed out to me. These things include:

  1. A link that said “Are you sure nothing is hiding about you online? Search yourself before they start digging”, which I found to be quite interesting because it reiterates the notion of self-presentation and practicing honesty online which I fully intend to do.
  2. Just like Facebook, conversations can take place on the platform.
  3. My profile strength is at the beginners stage as it should be. I am fairly new to the social platform and I have lots to learn to get it to at least an intermediate level by the time my project comes to a close.
  4. I can view my profile in the eyes of my viewers. Essentially, LinkedIn encourages me to look my best which then will generate an increasing number of people who have stopped to view my profile. Currently I have zero viewers but again, I am fairly new and need to strategize if I intend to increase my number of viewers.
  5. While in the process of getting my profile up and running, it said, ” Folayemi, profile views matter”. If it was any other social media platform such as my Facebook and Pinterest account, I  could care less about my following because I own those platforms for my own personal enjoyment. However, LinkedIn differs in that it is used to build an individuals professional identity. Therefore, it is important if an individual wishes to seek employment or gain entrepreneurship in their industry or field.

 

Moving forward with my project, I intend to update my resume so that I can add it to my profile as well as use other individuals’ profiles as an example/guide to perfect my profile and present myself in a manner that LinkedIn encourages. Screenshot_2015-11-24-12-04-30[1]For instance, I happened to find Jake Counselbaum LinkedIn profile and it was as professional and up to date as it could get. I thought to myself, this is what my profile should look like but then I remembered I am only an unemployed 21 year old college student and that should reflect in my profile. Jake Counselbaum without a doubt has more experience than I do but that doesn’t mean I am less professional, I am merely professional in the experiences I’ve had and currently have. So looking toward the future, my profile can definitely look like his one day if I choose to continue to participate in the platform after my project.

Something else I noticed when beginning my profile was profile pictures. Most of them were not selfie-oriented profile pictures, but clean, crisp headshots. I immediately thought to myself that I could not just put up any photo I like from my gallery of photos but, my profile photo needs to:

  1. Look like me: up-to-date, that reflects how I look on a daily basis.
  2. Depict my face (not the scenery in the background or my chest to distract people from what I look like if they were to meet me face-to-face).
  3. Have at least a smile, not a serious face that depicts to a potential employer that I cannot have a pleasant conversation with them.

I am slowly taking in my new found social platform and all it has to offer. With time and knowledge, it will definitely look different from how it began. I intend to take notes over the course of managing, and editing my profile. I also want to utilize the news feed of topics that I’ve followed such as Social Impact, Professional Women, and Healthcare to see where they will take me in my journey of using my new social platform.

How do YOU present yourself on LinkedIn? (Proposal Revision)

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We live in a society with very public platforms for the distribution and preservation of our personal image online. Social media affords us the opportunity to be front and center in our very own curated editorial spread. The way we interact with our families, our work persona and the various discourse communities we are associated with, all contribute different aspects of our personalities. However, we may question whether we should project our real personality online.

With ePortfolios, students can give employers and undergraduate/graduate schools a fuller, richer picture of themselves. They can include their essays from their courses; they can include course syllabi to explain the course content; they can add pictures and sounds to enlarge their audience’s picture beyond the written word. An ePortfolio can essentially be used as a learning tool for self-presentation. One may ask, why have an ePortfolio and there are a number of reasons which may include:

  1. Group work
  2. Project Outcomes
  3. Reflections
  4. Personal Development
  5. Work Experience
  6. Skill acquisition

Therefore, I propose that my project serves as a guide to effectively produce a successful or good-looking ePortfolio by presenting oneself accurately and whole-heartedly both on a LinkedIn profile.

My project will address the following:

  1. How to properly present yourself online with detailed instructions and reasoning for the method of procedure.
  2. Students gaining valuable computer skills while developing and editing their ePortfolios
  3. ePortfolios exhibiting wider dimensions of learning than just the traditional methods (paper-pencil reports)
  4. Students can add digital audio, video, and graphics to document evidence of learning
  5. ePortfolios can provide an assessment based on evidence of growth over time and effort rather than test scores

The goal of the project is to inform others on the advantages of using an ePortfolio and LinkedIn profile whether they choose to participate in the platform or not. This project is also for myself in understanding how useful having an ePortfolio and LinkedIn can be influential to my future. I hope to:

  1. learn to evaluate my own performance over time
  2. increase critical thinking skills by developing evaluative criteria and using it to select work to include
  3. improve or demonstrate mastery of specific academic skills

Deliverables:

I hope to deliver in my project an e-book/e-magazine that provides a “E-Portfolio/LinkedIn for Beginners” for students such as myself who have little to know experience with working with them and how to effectively present oneself on their personal profiles and the steps taken to produce a functional profile to curate content.

Guidelines:

In order for this project to be a success:

  1. Student will use  their LinkedIn account to the best of their knowledge without prior knowledge of utilizing the platform successfully
  2. Frequently post/update content to see if it’ll generate “connections”  that will be able to view the student’s profiles
  3. Update any information in hopes that the profile will become better and cleaner over time; presenting oneself professionally rather than personally
  4. Ask people who know the user well if there are similarities/differences in student’s presentation in reality compared to online

Projected Timeline:  

  • Week of the 15th – document and share all content student has to date
  • After initial steps are taken next step will be to begin editing profile to make it better as to begin developing an e-magazine
  • Use the profile to capture the essence and purpose of the profile in the e-magazine that an audience can use to decide whether having a LinkedIn account is a suitable for them

Sources so far include:

Bret Eynon, Laura M. Gambino, Judit Torok. “What Difference Can ePortfolio Make? A Field Report from the Connect to Learning Project.” 2014. Print.

Knight, William E. The Relationship Between Electronic Portfolio Participation and Student Success. Bowling Green, Ohio, n.d. Print.

Nelson, Sharleen. 3 Keys for a Successful E-Portfolio Implementation. Oregon: The Journal, 2011. Print.

Is Your Social Media Presence an Accurate Portrayal of Who You Are?

The Social Media Effect: Are You Really Who You Portray Online

The Presentation of Self in the Age Social Media

Self-presentation and belonging on Facebook

Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction- Jones & Hafner

Producing New and Digital Media: Your Guide to Savvy Use of the Web- Cohen & Kenny

LinkedIn: Can You Recommend Me?

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LinkedIn: Can You Recommend Me?

LinkedIn is considered to be one of the most important platform for being an professional with over 1,000,000 active users. For many professionals who seek credibility often times ask past co-workers, mentors or professors for recommendations.  Many users who have recommendations stand out to recruiters. It is very significant because professionals seek validation from past/current employers. Another community within the LinkedIn community is the group capability. Groups allow liked-minded professionals to join in on important discourse related to their fields or wherever their interests lie. In the presentation I pose the question do groups play a role in exclusion of certain users?  But at the same time recommendations and groups play an essential role in how you represent yourself.

 

Prezzi

To my surprise, I found Prezi to be difficult. The presentation software same seemed easy when I first set up the account even the introductory how it works presentation to be exhausting. It was very interesting trying out Prezi for the first time. I had no idea idea what template to choose so I chose the most basic one. While using the basis template of Prezi, it still went over my head. For one thing, the zoom feature is my least favorite, it goes up and down and I’m still getting used to the set up of the software. In a way, I can understand the popularity with Prezi, it does allow certain features that Powerpoint does not like the movability of it, the cool storytelling of it, redirecting of the arrows. I say this not to discount Powerpoint because of its simplistic, organic features. Most traditional businesses tend to use Powerpoint, I think several start-up companies would love Prezi.

It was a great experience to try a new software— pretty cool! I’d be very impressed if someone takes the capabilities of Powerpoint and Prezi and create a super presentation software but in the mean time I’ll stick to Powerpoint for now.