DigitallyU™ - The Emergence of Self-Marketing

DigitallyU Overview

Who you are and what you can do is more important to colleges and employers than what you know. Showing people who you are is a challenge with only paper-based resources at application time.

The use of digital portfolios for college applicants and professionals to show evidence of capability is nothing new in American education or corporate America. Even K-12 schools are rapidly adopting e-portfolios for graduation and college placement. Portfolios are also a graduation requirement at many colleges, and seeking employment without one is virtually unheard of in today?'s job market.

DigitallyU generates a digital broadcast portfolio using digitized versions of the same personal history found in a hard copy portfolio or resume but with dynamic features geared to help candidates tell their story. DigitallyU is easy to update and distribute electronically using the Web, CD, or flash drive thereby trumping the usefulness of hardcopy portfolios and online Web services.

Online education and employment e-portfolio Web services provide effective Web space for digital text resumes without rich media. Alternatively, DigitallyU can incorporate personal mp3 audio, video broadcasts, multimedia slide-show broadcasts, or even documents for portfolio viewers. DigitallyU includes 20 Web site designs and face-to-face presentation templates. DigitallyU users design their Web sites by clicking one button. We provide e-portfolio users the digital broadcast capability of an online news organization.

DigitallyU gives users complete control of their portfolio software. When online Web services shut down or break down, your portfolio vanishes because you do not have software on your desktop to rebuild it. Your time investment and e-portfolio is gone. With DigitallyU the software is on your desktop, not on a Web server. You can also create multiple portfolios with different designs for different audiences. Not so with Web services.

The DigitallyU response is to provide users a means to Web broadcast or display accomplishments and experiences using rich media so decision makers know who you are and what you can do in the marketplace of self-marketing.

Types of Digital Portfolios

Portfolios are used for many purposes. The working portfolio contains projects and samples of recently completed projects and works. The display portfolio showcases the best work of a student or professional. And the assessment portfolio presents work that demonstrates competency of specific achievements and requirements.

Most portfolio programs begin with the working portfolio. Over time, a student or professional selects items from the working portfolio and uses them to create a display portfolio. Finally, the professional or student develops an assessment portfolio, containing examples of his or her best work, as well as an explanation of why each work is significant. The explanation, or reflection, discusses how the particular work illustrates mastery of specific experiences and learning goals or work performance achievements. This becomes a valuable self-marketing tool for both student and career professional.

DigitallyU takes advantage of the convergence of analog media to digital media. Analog media requires an assortment of storage and playback methods. It's cumbersome to organize, showcase, and reflect on projects using analog media such as photos, drawings, film, or animations (i.e. video tapes, film projectors, slide projectors). Digital media can be captured, stored, and displayed centrally, either on the Web or a CD-ROM, facilitating distribution.

Moreover, DigitallyU provides the tools, such as video, mp3 audio, and multimedia slideshows for students and professionals to reflect on and discuss their projects and develop effective multimedia portfolios:

1. Selection: the developmentof criteria for choosing items to include in the portfolio based on established objectives.
2. Collection: the gathering of items based on the portfolio's purpose, audience, and future use.
3. Reflection: statements about the significance of each item and of the collection as a whole.
4. Direction: a review of the reflections that looks ahead and sets future goals.

Users insert their digital performance artifacts called “media events.” The student or professional decides what media event goes where versus a static text template design seen by other methods and services. Then, portfolio builders choose from Web-delivery templates the look-and-feel of their Web site.

Ownership

Professionals and students take ownership and pride in the portfolio process. They develop particular aspects of their portfolios based on what is important to them, their unique knowledge, and their unique skills. Demonstrations or displays in the portfolio include an explanation of the context of the material, where the demonstration was done, why it was done, and what learning or capacities are demonstrated through its inclusion.

Multimedia portfolios can be seen as a natural extension of the technology that today's students are growing up with. This is an exciting time for multimedia technologies and digital tools and today's professionals and students are tuned into this environment. Multimedia portfolios are a natural fit.

Critical Thinking Skills

An electronic portfolio is not a haphazard collection of artifacts but rather a reflective tool that demonstrates growth over time.

Multimedia portfolio development usually reinforces critical thinking skills that a typical written document or resume cannot. These critical thinking skills involve:

1. Assessment and decision skills
2. Planning and designing
3. Development and organizational skills
4. Implementation skills
5. Evaluation and metacognition
6. What you can do versus what you know

Assessment and decision-making skills. The focus is on needs assessment of the audience, the presentation goals, and the appropriate tools for the final portfolio presentation.

Planning and designing. In the second stage, focus on organizing or designing the presentation. Determine audience-appropriate content, software, storage medium, and presentation sequence. Construct flow charts and write storyboards.

Development and organizational skills. Gather materials to include in the presentation and organize them into a sequence (or use hyperlinks) for the best presentation of the material, using an appropriate multimedia-authoring program.

Implementation skills. The DigitallyU portfolio producer presents the portfolio to the intended audience.

Evaluation and metacognition. In this final stage of multimedia development, the focus is on evaluating presentation effectiveness in light of its purpose.

Our Products

DigitallyU Scholarship

DigitallyU Scholarship is for high school students. It provides college bound teens a simple way of assembling a digital portfolio of achievements, extra-curricular activities, and academic projects for college decision-makers. Students can launch their e-portfolios to the Web or deliver a face-to-face presentation. Students may include documents, video testimonials from teachers or mentors, slideshows with captions, mp3 audio, or any digital artifact that illustrates achievement. DigitallyU Scholarship also has places for students to enter information on academic performance for college decision-makers.

DigitallyU Professional

DigitallyU Professional is for working professionals, college students, executives, entrepreneurs, consultants, and gurus who wants to assemble and produce a digital portfolio of their experiences and achievements to show potential employers, grad schools, recruiters, and colleagues. Portfolio producers can launch a Web site or deliver a face-to-face presentation. Users may include documents, video testimonials from colleagues, slideshows with captions, mp3 audio with projects, or any digital artifact that illustrates applicable experience or achievement.