DD
Task 3: Designing
REFLECTION
HOW TO HYPERLINK, EMBED, AND SHOW YOUR WORK
Dear Reader,
One of the most important tasks of the e-portfolio is to REFLECT on your writing completed in the course. Some instructors will ask you to write a letter, some will ask you to write an essay, some will have you create a video diary, and some will leave it open-ended. While there is no perfect way to reflect on your writing, there are some general rules that will help set you up for success in the reflection realm.
One of the most important things to remember when writing a reflection is to not only write about WHAT happened in your writing, but also WHY and HOW. Give specific examples of what you mean by using screenshots, quotes, or pictures of your work throughout the semester. If you are claiming that your thinking has changed from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester, then find evidence of that thinking in your daybook or in your writing--don't just say it, but show it to your reader.
USE VIDEOS TO SHOW WHAT YOU MEAN OR CONNECT THEM TO WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT. DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU ARE MAKING CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM TO WHAT GOES ON INSIDE THE CLASSROOM.
The purpose of a portfolio is to allow you to gain some critical distance from your own work and reflect on your growth as a writer. Although the portfolio may serve to showcase your best writing in this class, its greater function is to provide you with a forum to defend the purposeful choices that you make as a writer and consequently, your development as a writer.
You should be as creative as possible—embed videos, use images, create hyperlinks, and make connections for your reader.
When you begin thinking about writing your reflections, you should think of your collected writings as “data” or “evidence” that will support your “defense” of your development as a writer. You will look at everything you have produced, read, and discussed in this course and consider where you are as a writer and a critical thinker about literacy and learning.
Hyperlinks
One of the most important (and yet often overlooked) aspects of the digital essay is the ability to use hyperlinks within the text itself. Hyperlinks offer the reader a more holistic understanding of what the writer was thinking when she composed the piece. We think in messy, complicated, and connected ways, and by hyperlinking your text, you are able to show those connected ways of knowing to her reader. It is a great tool to use and reflect on your own writing and progress as a writer.
These links can lead the reader to other websites, pages within the digital composition, or even to openable documents. It is also important to note that the composer can hyperlink images, graphics, and buttons as well.
Hyperlinks can be used to provide further information, to give a specific example, to show a concept's transferability, and to let the reader see what you are thinking. For example, as I am writing this section, I cannot help but think of all that hyper-- means to me. I think about Hypercolor shirts from the 80s, about going into hyperdrive, and about creating Hypercard presentations on my family's Apple II...if I wanted my audience to know my train of thought, then I could simply set up a hyperlink to take them to that moment in my thought process. It provides a more holistic context for your readers and mimics how writing is read and linked online.
Be Specific.
Avoid Being Vague.
Point to specific things in your writing. Think of specific rhetorical techniques that you used. Use specific vocabulary from class and the readings. Once you have figured out what we have discussed and accomplished in our class, then use those lessons and those narratives to guide your reflection.
What have you learned as a writer, how have you grown, and what can you point to specifically to show that growth?
Use the vocabulary and ideas that we discussed or generated in class. Go back through Moodle, your journal, your notes, your writing and the readings. Try to figure out what we talked about and how we talked about it, become a part of the conversation.
Have something real to say about your writing.