Portfolio Requirements for Web and App Emphasis

Overview

When students in the Web and App emphasis complete their Sophomore year, they will have articles from their design classes published on Medium, projects from the scripting classes hosted on GitHub, and assignments from production classes on a web host (like Bluehost). The best of these items will be linked to the portfolio.

To successfully pass the Portfolio Review and enter the Web and App development concentration within the Web Design and Development Degree, candidates must complete:

All required courses, or be in the process of finishing core courses, each with a grade of B- (2.5) or better on a 4.0 scale (see conditional acceptance below).
Submit an on-line portfolio using a Medium Publication OR build a website containing with all required items as outlined below.

Portfolio Requirements Outline

Unofficial Transcript

In order to verify that you have completed all required lower division courses, you need to provide an unofficial transcript with the following courses showing as complete or in progress.

DGM2740
DGM2760
DGM2780
DGM221R
DGM2240
DGM2341

Education and Career Article

The education and career article should include a professionally written personal introduction; an outline of present educational goals; an entry-level career goal statement; a long-range career statement; each being one paragraph in length, to set the focus for your consideration. This article should be considered a ‘Letter of Intent’ that faculty can use to assess the level of seriousness for the submission. Be concise!

Practical Knowledge and Skills Articles

Create a case study article on Medium for each DGM class taken. This should not sound like a term paper but be written for the web development community. Demonstrate you ability to precisely describe and share your unique perspective on something you learned in each class. These should be professionally written articles that a community of professionals might find valuable.

For example, writing about a topic formed around a class assignment, a student might focus on specific tools or technologies, use of processes, media integration methods, or emerging technologies, in an effort to showcase knowledge. Students should provide visuals that support and validate specific points on design or development.

Provide a link to each functional project so faculty, or even a potential employer, can interact and experience the final product.

Here is an example article > Responsive Images for Retina Displays

IMPORTANT: Use only creative names for Medium article titles. Do not use course numbers in the title! Moreover, write each case study for a broad audience meaning, articles should be a valuable reading experience, not a rehash of what was done on the project specifically, but an educational read meant to help others learn something of importance. Lastly, take the time to review current jobs posting on AuthenticJobs.com and focus on key terms, processes, and technologies that are being sought in the industry. Here are some possible article title influencers to help students devise a strategy.

Using JSON-LD to Assist Search Engines
Interactive Data Visualization Charts That Scream 'Use Me!'
How wire-framing saved my job
Preparing for an Internship as a new Junior Level Web Developer
Why use I use em for media queries
Why I use 'VS Code' text editor for my work

At the end of each article, use the following statement, using your own information, to ensure faculty can identify the course and project affiliation.

John Doe is a student in the Digital Media program at Utah Valley University, Orem Utah, studying Web & App Development. The following article relates to (X Project) in the (DGM XXXX Course) and representative of the skills learned.

Resume Article

A separate Medium article should be written to showcase a personal resume and placed in the Publication according to site structure. We recommend that students work with the Student Career Center to organize a resume structure. The resume should be updated frequently and reflect Interaction & Design experiences. A link to a PDF version should be provided for potential employers to download.

Extra Curricular Work

Students must demonstrate a sufficient quantity and quality of extra-curricular activities in the Web Design field through work related experience or volunteer development activities.

Conditional Acceptance

Conditional acceptance into upper division classes can be requested if there are only one or two lower division DGM core classes left for completion, but any acceptance is contingent upon students coordinating with an advisor and final approval of a faculty member in the Interaction & Design concentration.

Examples

Example Portfolio