Description
In this capstone project, students will choose a web hosting program on which to begin building their digital portfolio. They will select a theme, build the site, justify their approach, and reflect on how they will use this digital portfolio throughout their journalism career.
Objectives
- Students will explore different approaches for a digital portfolio.
- Students will determine which approach best fits their needs.
- Students will justify the choices related to their online portfolio development.
- Students will reflect on how the web project should be used throughout their journalism career.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.6 | Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.8 | Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.5 | Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). |
| CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2b | Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. |
Length
Ten 50-minute classes (or approximately two weeks)
Resources
Computer access
Internet access
Class set: Capstone Instructions
Lesson step-by-step
1. Instructions — 20 minutes
Inform students that they will be creating a website using WordPress to showcase their ongoing journalism portfolio. For this final project, they will be brainstorming and building the website, but not necessarily filling it with content just yet (unless they already have clips to use, in which case, they should feel free to start moving these online). They will use dummy text/images instead (please make sure they don’t use copyrighted images, since these sites will be live at some point).
This project will require students to carefully consider what kind of website —both in form and function— will work best to showcase their work, and they will then have to execute and justify those decisions.
Pass out the Capstone Instructions handout, and allow students to read through the instructions silently as you highlight each part of the project. Depending on your classroom resources and time restrictions, students can complete all or some of this work during class time.
Once the instructions have been read, take a few minutes to answer any questions, and then allow the students to start brainstorming.
Throughout the 10 days of this project, start each class with a debrief and Q&A to see how students are progress and what questions or concerns they might have.
During that last two days of this project, allow students time to present their websites to the class. What are they most proud of? What might they have done differently?