Building Your Public Portfolio

Your Public Portfolio is a public website that you develop to further your post-graduation goals. It should be directed at a specific audience (e.g., employer or grad school admissions officer)—NOT your CxC Representative or your Faculty Advisor. It must showcase your knowledge of the field you are pursuing and your exceptional communication skills. Think of it as your online résumé and presentation of work samples and relevant experience, but communicated in a multisensory narrative. Distinguished Communicator candidates are also required to attend at least one Portfolio Workshop to ensure they are accessing and reviewing helpful resources. 

Identified in consultation with their DC faculty advisor, DC candidates will be asked to include the following materials in their public portfolio in addition to any other materials the DC advisor identifies as important for the student’s professional trajectory:

  • Demonstration of exemplary multimodal communication skills within the discipline
  • Inclusion and articulation of experiences beyond the classroom that enable you to practice effective communication skills and prepare for your future field, including one which enables you to serve in a leadership role
  • A Spoken Sample that appropriately demonstrates your mastery of oral communication
  • Downloadable, print-ready résumé in a pdf or similar format (no word documents)

As you put together your portfolio, you should use the Final Assessment Rubric to critique the evolution of your portfolio. Candidates rated ‘outstanding’ during the final review receive the title of LSU Distinguished Communicator.

Draft and Final Portfolio Deadlines

  • Draft Portfolios and Self-Assessments are due on April 1.
  • Final Portfolios and Dear Reviewer Letters are due on September 1.

  • Draft Portfolios and Self-Assessments are due on November 1.
  • Final Portfolios and Dear Reviewer Letters are due on February 1.
     

Helpful Links

Timeline for final three semesters (PDF)Translating your skills worksheet (pdf)Getting Started Worksheet (pdf)Order and Substance Worksheet (pdf)Dear Reviewer Letter informationFinal Assessment Rubric (pdf)


Portfolio Workshops

Part 1: Audience Analysis

You know that as a Distinguished Communicator candidate you need to make a portfolio, but do you know how to get started? In this session, we’ll explore what makes your portfolio unique to you and how, when well-executed, it can serve a practical purpose on your path to success beyond your undergraduate degree. We’ll move through the process of identifying the audience for your portfolio, your goals for your post-baccalaureate life, and set you on the path to success as you refine your ability to discuss and translate how your commitments and accomplishments today are valuable in your future arenas.

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Part 2: Organizing Your Multisensory Narrative

You’ve already identified your audience and begun to collect, reflect and translate your experiences. In this session, we will explore approaches to organizing your narrative, and you’ll have the opportunity to draft and share your content priorities and organization, then receive feedback to help you ensure that they are best accessing your audience and goals. This workshop is all about making sure your organization and navigation reflect the multisensory narrative that a website creates.

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Part 3: Executing Your Portfolio

You know your audience, you’ve identified your content and organization, and you’re ready to refine your digital narrative as it appears in your Public Portfolio! In this workshop, you’ll present the draft of your portfolio to your peers and work together to help each other make sure you’re on the path to success. 

For this workshop, you will need to come prepared with a website that you consider well-developed, with a clear sense of audience, goals, and what content is most important to highlight. 

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Public Portfolio FAQ

While the design and content of your public portfolio is completely dictated by you and your intended audience, there are several things CxC encourages you to consider while planning and building your public portfolio.

The first step in developing your Public Portfolio is to draft a plan. Download the Getting Started worksheet to think through your goals. This worksheet will help you prioritize content and organize your portfolio, and guide you through conversations with your Faculty Advisor and CxC Rep.

Planning and organization are vital to successful portfolios, so be sure to answer these questions for yourself prior to building the actual portfolio. And don't forget; there are multiple Portfolio Sessions to help guide you through this process, too.

CxC's Communication Coaches can help you with any Distinguished Communicator requirements, including building your website. Your CxC Representative can help you plan your website, talk with you about visual design, and assist you with technical issues. Distinguished Communicator candidates are also required to attend at least one Portfolio Workshop to ensure they are accessing and reviewing helpful resources. 

Your Spoken Sample must be included in your Public Portfolio. With your Faculty Advisor and CxC Representative, you determine the length and context for your spoken sample. Your sample must be substantive enough that the Review Panel can observe your skills, but brief enough that you enable the Panel to immediately identify your communication prowess. 

At the time your final portfolio is complete, you will also submit your Dear Reviewer Letter, which is your formal introduction of you and your portfolio to the Portfolio Review Panelist assessing your skills as a candidate for the Distinguished Communicator Medal.

It is okay; many people don’t. Learning to build a website is a skill you will be able to put on your resume, but don’t get caught up in the technology. Like past Distinguished Communicators, you will learn quickly. The overarching purpose is to get you to think critically about the work you produce, the skills you need to showcase to accomplish your post-college goals, and how you can best communicate all of this to your intended audience (e.g., employer, grad admissions officer, etc.).

You should work with your Faculty Advisor and CxC Representative to determine the platform that is most appropriate for your use when creating your Public Portfolio. Some candidates use programs like Google Sites, Wix, or Weebly. Others create their own websites from scratch.

Yes, your Public Portfolio must be a working site published live to the Internet.

CxC may use your Public Portfolio and Dear Reviewer Letter to help LSU faculty become better teachers. Additionally, your materials serve to demonstrate the quality of skill LSU students possess and CxC may use them in public settings (unless you denote in your exit survey that you do not grant CxC permission to use them publicly.)

Your Public Portfolio should be a useful tool for you even after you graduate as a Distinguished Communicator. An effective portfolio is something you share with new and potential collaborators and employers, and as your career trajectory grows and changes, your Public Portfolio can change along with you.