Ladies and Gentlemen, Drumroll Please!!!

Creating online portfolio has been a learning experience on many levels, to say the least. First of all, I was forced to bring my stone-age technological skills up to speed into the 21st century. I'm very thankful for that, mainly because I have learned the skills to stay linked into an ever-changing job market. There is a whole new world of networking yourself to employers that I didn't realize existed until I took ALES204 and began exploring other people who were creating online portfolios. I think that creating an online portfolio of my writing has made me as a potential employee much more accessible. Additionally, it has opened my writing and work up to the world, essentially. My best friend is visiting Australia for 4 months, and she is able to stay connected with my school life and work at the click of a button. I find it very valuable to share my work with my peers, and an online vector such as an ePortfolio is an absolutely splendid way of accomplishing this. For example http://ales-jamie.blogspot.com/ shared his work on Sustainability Awareness Week on his blog ("Liver Lover"). If it wasn't for blogging, I would have never come across this information! In addition to computer skills such as how to create, write and maintain a blog, I have learned how to use other social media mediums such as Twitter, Delicious, and I even learned how to use Facebook in a different way (to create a page to market yourself). I found the concept of "folksonomy" to be such a creative and revolutionary way of organizing information that I search information using it routinely. I think its success lies in the personalization of the search, and also the feedback it provides to the authors, websites, or other persons or producers the public is searching. It's like a double-edged sword of success! By adding tags to my blog and photos, I have effectively connected myself via my ePortfolio into this exciting search world of folksonomy.

One final thought I have takes me back to the first week of class, where I rolled my eyes at the thought of joining Twitter and creating a blog. I remember thinking, "I will not be one of those people chained to the technological world". I was tentative to create a Twitter account, for worry of forgetting to live in the real world. I still think that to some degree, my worries were legitimate. I think there are some people who must, must, MUST have their smart phones out at all times, and need to participate in meaningless online chats to feel satisfied and good about themselves. This may seem like a harsh statement, but it has merit. However, more importantly, what ALES 204 has taught me is how to use social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and Blogger responsibly and to my academic and professional advantage. I do not need to be glued to Twitter reading what my room mate put on his toast just because I joined. Rather, I use Twitter to follow Canola Council of Canada and @AlbertaCanola for important updates, for example.




I use it for academic discussions with other students to further my learning and to reflect on my thoughts. In research, I can connect with the Delicious feeds and blogs of top researchers to reference their articles. For my own research, I see my online portfolio as an awesome and effective way of sharing my findings, and receiving feedback from other researchers! My ePortfolio and all the skills that came along with creating it have been invaluable, and I will continue to expand and maintain these skills after the completion of the course!!



Here are a few examples of recent dialogue I've had with other students on their ALES204 blogs:

1."Thanks for the photos, they are great! What did you find to be the most valuable part of Sustainability Week?"
http://ales-jamie.blogspot.com/2011/10/photos.html?showComment=1319769828228#c485544234097141752

2."You have a great layout, and awesome pictures! It really flows and your title is bar-none!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67724640@N04/6174593080/


3."Hello! I like how you were able to create an eResume while still protecting your privacy (with your profile picture, ect). That was one worry of my own when I first started creating my own eResume. Awesome job!!"
http://ales204erinl.blogspot.com/2011/09/facebook-business-card.html?showComment=1319770952384#c4718976586840227609


4."Hey I really like how you formatted your blog, especially the background and photos! Check mine out at http://laurel-p.blogspot.com/"
http://rradams18.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-business-facebook-page.html?showComment=1317851980980#c4139787294839747616