December 25, 2024 • 27 mins
Compliments of the Season!
In this episode of Digication Scholars Conversations, host Kelly Driscoll continues her conversation with Whitnee Fountain-Ruiz, a recent master’s degree graduate from Arizona State University in communication.
Whitnee shares her insights on organizing ePortfolios, integrating AI tools, and the importance of reflection in her learning journey. She also offers valuable advice for new students, emphasizing time management, asking questions, and balancing academic and personal life.
Join us for an inspiring discussion on the power of creativity and the benefits of ePortfolios.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear Part Twoof my conversation with Whitney Fountain
Ruiz, a recent graduate of ArizonaState University, where she received
her master's degree in communication.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:24):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You did have to make some decisionsabout how you were going to organize
it, and it sounds like you got kind ofa timeline for the course Kind of what
(00:44):
areas were supposed to get filled inat certain times to keep you on track.
Um, but did you make decisions aboutkind of how you wanted to, um, name
certain parts of the portfolio you chose?
It looks like some specific learningoutcomes that you wanted to focus on.
(01:05):
Were those decisions that you madeor were they part of a template
or prompts that you were given?
What was that process like?
I think it was a mix of both.
Um, For example, there was one sectionwhere I needed to speak about the
organization and how I intertwined, how Iwas um intertwined with the organization.
(01:29):
How did I know this organization?
Or how am I a participant in it?
And, you know, I had that section splitlike that, but I also added other things.
I added a part on the side just toexplain Uh, more about the organization
or, um, I showed the social media poststhat we had and, uh, videos, actually,
(01:55):
yeah, a training video that I did thatwasn't requested of me, but I showed
a training video that I did for theToastmasters just to show how much I was
involved in it and the tools that I used.
I will say that doing the projectas a whole, it really pushed me
(02:17):
in a way where I, I learned that Iwas capable, capable of doing other
things than I didn't think I was,especially on a time, on a timeline.
All right.
On a time crunch.
Uh huh.
And so, yeah, exactly.
So, and, and like I said, and I got to useso many great tools, especially with AI.
(02:40):
I, uh, played around with somethings like on Canva, there is.
Like an AI, uh, photo generator.
And so I created a character andthen I found another website that,
uh, has AI voices, I think it wascalled Eleven or something like that.
(03:02):
And so with this character, Imade her a voice in a script and
then I edited the video and I putit all together and it was just.
It was something, uh, creativethat I always want to do.
I know I'm capable of doing it.
I've been editing since I was 18for weddings and quinceañeras.
And so I know, I know how to edit, butit was just knowing that I could motivate
(03:28):
myself to complete a project the waythat I want to do it, kind of like the
way that you see other YouTubers do it.
And I'm like, Hey, I can do this.
You know, I, I always want to, but I neveram motivated to, but this project showed
me that I could motivate myself and usethese new tools to push myself along.
And they're really exciting.
(03:49):
I mean, it's like a game tome, you know, seeing these new.
AI stuff, yeah, and creating videosand and tools that I can show to future
employee employers, you know Yeah,yeah, absolutely And I was curious
when you started this was this kindof process on reflecting on your
(04:14):
learnings Something that you had doneprior to this course, or was this
a new kind of process for you too?
Not only building the ePortfolio, buthaving this kind of reflection built in.
Meaning, did I take all theinformation, for example, all the
(04:34):
knowledge that I gained from mywhole degree and put it into this?
Oh, well, I was kind of curious.
So for some students, they've never beenasked So I think for many students, they
go through this process as they're goingto school of doing an assignment, turning
it in, getting a grade, and moving on.
And for many students, they haven't,before they've gone through a process of
(04:58):
creating an ePortfolio, had, um, any kindof time or tool available where they're
actually thinking about what they may havelearned from that experience and how it
may connect to other things that they'velearned before or that are part of kind
(05:21):
of future things that they want to know.
This kind of reflection processis often very new to them.
Had you been asked about that?
to do that in any prior courses,or was that a new experience also?
Yeah, in the training and developmentcourse, we were asked to, I think we
were asked to pick our skills, like acertain amount of skills and competency.
(05:46):
Uh, Skills Lists, and then we were askedto apply the information that we learned,
I think, either within that course orwithin other courses to each skill.
So we, we had to show examples.
Let's say I said that one of myskills was working well with others.
(06:09):
Luckily, I take lots of screenshotswith meetings and was able to
show, okay, this is the team.
Actually, yeah, I have video too.
I said, this is the team that Iworked with for this project and
this is how we work together.
I showed them the documents that we madeand showed how we work together as a team.
(06:30):
Like for example, and I've learned thisthroughout the years when we have to do a
group project, I make sure I'm the firstperson to create a document and I put,
I put all of our names in the document.
I put my, I, as an example, I putmy phone number and the times and
days that I'm available, and then I.
(06:52):
Make another section like, okay, thisis a list of tasks that we might need to
do and who wants to take on each task.
So that way I'm kind of in control ofwhat you're setting the stage there.
So I showed off a document like that,you know, this is how I, um, how I worked
with the team and they appreciated that.
(07:13):
They loved it because it took off.
Uh, a lot of them told methat it took off pressure.
Um, even like nobody likes to bethe leader and it wasn't that I was.
I'm trying to be a leader.
I, I wanted to be the facilitator.
That's like, that's one of my favoriteroles to do, you know, so if, if every,
if there's someone who can't meet up,I'll make sure that I take video of the
(07:35):
meeting and send it to them, you know,and I'll, I'll make sure that everybody.
Is participant or, um, given theinformation that is needed so
that we can all get a good grade.
You know, my friend, she toldme, she's like, I'm so glad
you're in my group right now.
Cause I already know how you work andI know we're going to get a good grade.
(07:57):
Yeah.
I did put pressure onmyself to get good grades.
And the funny thing is, Itell my son, Don't worry.
You don't pressure yourself.
But he saw me.
And I think that's why he putsso much pressure on himself.
He's like, Okay, look.
You're over there getting A's, Mom.
So, I guess I have to do it too.
Well, and how incredible forhim to get to get to see you
(08:19):
through this experience, too.
I'm sure it's beenincredibly inspiring for him.
Or scary for him for the future.
I don't know.
I think my husband says like,finally, you're not a monster anymore.
You're done.
No, I mean, I it was I was stressed,but I think also, um, I might have
(08:46):
just put that much stress on myself,because, like you were mentioning...
um, a lot of students, they do their,their work and then they get a grade.
And for us, once you get thatgrade, it's a validation.
Okay.
Now I know either I did good or Idid bad and I can fix it or not.
But with the, with the Digication, thelast one that I did for Capstone, we
(09:11):
weren't receiving any grades per section.
It was like, you, you have todo this whole project and then
you'll get the grade at the end.
So that's, I think that's whatmade it, uh, um, scary or gave us
a little bit of anxiety over it.
It's a bigger project, yeah.
And even though eight weeks isn't a lotof time, it's still, yeah, a accumulation
(09:37):
of a lot of work and writing about whatyou've done and what you've achieved.
And what I really enjoyed about, uh,your, your ePortfolio also is that you
included some really interesting, uh,kinds of, we often refer to as kind
(09:58):
of pieces of evidence of your learningthat people might not think about.
So you mentioned you take alot of screenshots and things
of your meetings and videos.
And there was one in particular thatyou shared that I thought was great.
That it was actually during, um, Ithink it may have been a training or
(10:19):
educational exercise, but it was somethingwhere the technology was not working.
Oh, yes.
And, and we've all been there, right?
Um, but you shared that because you wantedpeople to see, you know, this is how I
was trying to problem solve in the moment.
And this is what I learnedfrom that experience and things
(10:43):
that I'll do going forward.
Should I be in that kind of situation
What, you know, at Digication, whenwe're creating this platform, we're
always thinking about ways thatstudents can always have an opportunity
to share who they are, and what theyknow, and their successes, of course,
(11:04):
but we really also want it to bethat place where they can celebrate
the whole person and that includesthe challenges they've encountered.
It includes those, um, bumpy times someonethe other day was talking about as being
those wobbly, wobbly moments where wemay not be in sure footing, um, but that
(11:28):
we, are able to, you know, make our waythrough and look back on and, you know,
whether we see that as um, you know, wecall it kind of failing forward where, you
know, you may recognize that you messed upor something didn't go the way you wanted,
but how you've grown from that and mayapproach things differently in the future.
(11:50):
And I loved that you, you know,shared that situation because I'm
sure it was very uncomfortable.
Well, first of all, I spent hours.
I would, I spent so many hours.
I found a video online, uh, I think theDigication that you're telling, talking
about, um, I, for one of the trainingvideos, I wanted to teach my teammates
(12:19):
about creating a, uh, PowerPoint.
Yes.
An effective PowerPoint.
And there's a great video about it, uh,and it was like, I'll say 20 minutes long.
Mm hmm.
And I shrunk it down to five minutes.
About five minutes.
I really had to cut it up and I, Ispent so many hours on it and I was
(12:40):
so excited to show my team and thenit, they couldn't hear, they couldn't
hear what was going on, like whatthe heck, why isn't that working?
Um, and then I just said, okay, well,you know, This is, yeah, like you
said, um, having experiences likethat really teaches you that you
(13:01):
need to, what you need to do nexttime, how you need to be prepared.
So when I do, for example, aninterview with someone, I make sure
I have my phone next to me too,to also record the interview in
case for some reason the computerdoesn't record the sound, you know.
And, and it really hastaught me how to be prepared.
(13:23):
The, the reflection partof those Digications.
are really essential because Ithink a lot of people are afraid
of, of failing, of course.
They don't know, even, not justfailing, they're just afraid of,
in general, not, of the unknown.
(13:43):
They're afraid of the unknown.
And reflecting on those thingsand figuring out what you could
have done for the next time.
It really, it really builds resilience.
It really builds problem solving skillsand prepares you for the future, for
whatever you're going to do in the future.
It's really important.
(14:04):
You know, my daughter, she's, likeI said, she's, uh, working, she,
she finished her psychology degree.
Um, She wishes thatshe took communications
because a lot of the thingsthat I've learned, she really
wanted to learn more about.
(14:24):
And, and she ended up doing, um, rightnow she's working on her dancing degree.
But I told her, even though you didn't.
You don't want to furtherpursue your psychology degree.
You've learned so much from it.
And it's not just about psychology.
Again, it's about problem solving,working with others, critical
(14:46):
thinking, all those things you'll,that will keep with you forever.
And she also became interestedin body language too, cause
she saw I was studying it.
And now she, she realizes that alot of the things that she's learned
in psychology or what she studiedabout body language, she uses, she's
Um, as a dancing instructor, she,she sees if someone's uncomfortable
(15:09):
or if they want to ask a question.
So she does use those skills.
It's, it's not, of course,it's never gone to waste.
She has a psychology degree.
If she wants another job, she hasthat to back her, you know, um,
and, and I'm trying to get my sonto understand those things too, even
(15:29):
in, he's in high school right nowand I tell him, um, ask questions.
It's okay if you fail.
I think I tried to practice for a while.
I've seen a parent asking their child.
Oh, what did you fail at today?
To try to reflect on that.
It didn't last very long.
I did try to get him into it, but I wantedhim to understand it is okay to fail.
(15:53):
You make mistakes, but if you make amistake, you can also ask questions
until you, um, get help or findthe answer that you're looking for.
And, uh, so I think you mentioned he's,um, he's, is he in college yet or not yet?
No, he's, he just started high school.
Oh, he just started high school.
(16:14):
Okay.
Yeah.
But what a wonderful conversationsto be having with him at this time.
I have a recent high school graduate andtwo juniors right now, and I, I understand
the, um, challenge sometimes in gettingthem to talk about their day, especially
saying, you know, where did you,
(16:37):
I've learned that they don'twrite when they get out of school.
No, they're not goingto talk about it, but.
As soon as it's time forsomebody to go to bed.
Like if I want to go to bed, all of asudden, there's a whole conversation.
I, I try to throw it in, you know,throughout the day though, um, when
(16:57):
we're listening to a song and the subjectcomes up or when we're watching TV,
I do try to make that those moments.
I don't know if it annoys him.
I mean, he engages in the conversation.
Yeah, he engages in the conversation.
So, I do try to makecertain learning moments.
Or I'll let him tell me things, you know.
I'll let him talk sometimes.
(17:19):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I appreciate those times where they,you know, end up having to get together.
Stuck in the car with me.
I feel like that's sometimeswhen the wonderful stories come
out and I try to just listen.
Yes.
Yes.
So fun.
Um, so I was curious, you know, nowthat you're a, um, recent graduate
(17:41):
and, you know, already starting todo some new things in your career.
Um, you know, thinking back on this, ifyou might have any advice for New students
that might just be embarking on this.
Um, if there's, uh, maybe in communicationor not, if you feel like it might be
(18:03):
a value to students in other kindsof disciplines too, what might advice
would you have for students that may benew to the whole idea of a ePortfolio
or just taking time to think about howthey might share who they are and what
their experiences are with other people?
(18:24):
I would say, uh, yeah, I havea lot of advice for this one.
We want to hear it.
Yeah, the first thing I would say isto schedule, like, time management.
Work on your time management skills.
Set goals for yourself.
And you, you know what?
Break, break them down.
(18:45):
Okay.
Today or at least this week.
I will get a paragraph done, or Iwill design this spot, you know, I, I
don't know, and one of the Digication,someone told us to work backwards kind
of, um, because I think the very firstpage was just introducing ourselves
and that's the easy part, so they werejust telling us to work backwards and,
(19:09):
um, I would say also have fun with it,because like I said, that's what saved
me, is just being able to, uh, play withediting tools and, uh, photos and AI.
It was really fun for me.
I would say have, uh, Make friends, afriend that you can call or write to
(19:35):
and, uh, or even like on email to, to seehow things are going and ask questions.
That would be the next uh, advicewould be to ask questions because with
my last Digication, I had a mentor.
That, that's, that was the purpose ofhaving the mentor to ask questions.
(19:56):
I went to her to, um, I think we had togo to the mentor at least three times.
So in the beginning to ask,how are we supposed to do this?
And then, or I think even,I was trying to figure out.
How to define the problem that Iwas working on, cause my Capstone
(20:16):
Digication, we had to figureout a communication problem.
And an organization that it connected to.
So I needed to definewhat I was working on.
And I, that's really importantto understand where you're going
with it, you know, so that youcan know how to set everything up.
(20:38):
Asking questions with the mentor,showing her, she, I showed her my work
the second time that I met with her.
And she said, okay, youlook like you're on track.
And that helped out, that helped me feelbetter about the projects because you
know, there was positive feedback or evenif it wasn't positive, at least she would
let me know what I needed to work on.
(21:00):
And then the last one, she was justlike, Oh, you look like you're done.
And I was like, really?
Okay, I'm finished finally.
Yeah, I was like, okay,I'll enter it right now.
It sounds like I'm done.
I will enter it right now.
And, and understand that you're goingto change your mind on a lot of things.
You, you, you, it's okay to just putit down, put all the work down first.
(21:25):
I think I, I looked at someone'sDigication in the beginning stages
and they literally just pasted theirstuff on and it was all over the place.
But they just wanted to get theiridea down and then they organized
it later, just like they tell youto do when you're, uh, writing
an essay or a story or something.
Just get your ideas downand then edit it later.
(21:47):
That way you don't block yourself.
You just, you just let it all out.
So that, those would be the things.
That would be the advicethat I would give.
Time management.
Ask questions.
Get a friend.
Have fun.
And I don't remember whatwas the last thing I said.
(22:07):
Oh, get it all out.
Don't be afraid to make a mess soI think we're, we put more pressure
on ourselves as students thanthe teachers do, and it's okay.
Just realize that it's okay.
I saw a, uh, college speech,a valedictorian, I don't
(22:33):
know how to say it properly.
I think you got it.
Valedictorian.
Valedictorian.
The way, what he said was, um, heworked so hard in school that he
realized that he missed out on alot of things, like spending time
with family and things like that.
So I, I would say also createa balance for yourself.
(22:55):
Make time for yourself by yourself, maketime for your friends, make time for
your family and make time for school.
So create a good balanceso that you don't go crazy.
That is good advice.
Yeah, and we always in, uh, you know,just in terms of the kind of tools
(23:17):
and design and the platform, uh,speaking to some of the things that
you mentioned, we always try to makethe tools, approachable in such a way
that you can start with something thatis, um, kind of, uh, unfinal, right?
So that you can keep growing it andchanging it and moving things around
(23:43):
if you need to, if you needed tomove pages around or content from one
page to another that you can do thatand even create different versions
of your ePortfolio along the way.
Yeah, depending on who you wanted toshare it with and having those mentors
and friends around you is so important.
(24:04):
So being able to share it withother people and get advice.
And I was kind of curious with thementor that you had, um, were they
another student at the school or wasit someone that worked in some kind
of resource position at the school.
How did you get connected?
Lucky for me?
It happened to be my previous professor.
That was my training and development...
(24:26):
she had already saw my workbefore my previous education
and so she knew she is short.
But she's like I alreadyknow you got this.
It's okay It was perfect becauseI was already Uh, I already
knew her, so it was nice.
She made me feel comfortable.
Good.
Good.
Yes.
(24:46):
Fostering those relationships.
Yes.
You mentioned that earlierin the conversation, too.
Yes.
Yes.
And the first Digication that we, thatwe did, it was more about ourselves.
Like I said, it was about theskills that we've acquired from
the degree, from the course.
And I think that was really importantfor us students to do because It
(25:11):
made us, um, one of my friends,she was like, um, Hey, they called
us, uh, a communication scholar.
Like, as if we weren't, we'd like, weneeded somebody to tell us it so we could.
Recognize our accomplishments.
And doing that Digication also allowedus to recognize those accomplishments
(25:33):
and be like, okay, you know what?
I am capable.
Sometimes we might have impostersyndrome, you know, like, okay, even
though I'm learning this, it doesn't meanI'm an expert at it or that I know it.
And I understand we're always growing.
We're always learning.
The information, but the Digicationhelped me to realize that I
have fostered these skills.
(25:56):
Yes.
And, and now I can be proud tosay that I actually have them.
Yeah.
Very validating.
Yeah.
Indeed.
Yeah.
Hard to, hard to deny that you'rea scholar, that you see all of
that work and growth together.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, Whitney, thank youagain for joining me today.
(26:19):
It was such a pleasure to talk toyou and I still look forward to
sharing our conversation with others.
Thank you.
I enjoyed our conversation and itjust makes me more excited about
learning more and, and sharingthis information with others.
Wonderful.
I hope that you do.
Thank you so much.
(26:39):
Thank you.
This concludes our conversationto hear our next episode.
Be sure to subscribe to Digication'sScholars Conversations on YouTube, iTunes,
Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
The Digication's Scholars Conversationseries is brought to you by Digication.
A technology platform powering themost innovative e-portfolio programs
(27:03):
in K-12 and higher education.
Our website can befound at digication.com.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, please like,
subscribe, and share with a friend.
Thanks for tuning in.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear Part Twoof my conversation with Whitney Fountain
Ruiz, a recent graduate of ArizonaState University, where she received
her master's degree in communication.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:24):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You did have to make some decisionsabout how you were going to organize
it, and it sounds like you got kind ofa timeline for the course Kind of what
(00:44):
areas were supposed to get filled inat certain times to keep you on track.
Um, but did you make decisions aboutkind of how you wanted to, um, name
certain parts of the portfolio you chose?
It looks like some specific learningoutcomes that you wanted to focus on.
(01:05):
Were those decisions that you madeor were they part of a template
or prompts that you were given?
What was that process like?
I think it was a mix of both.
Um, For example, there was one sectionwhere I needed to speak about the
organization and how I intertwined, how Iwas um intertwined with the organization.
(01:29):
How did I know this organization?
Or how am I a participant in it?
And, you know, I had that section splitlike that, but I also added other things.
I added a part on the side just toexplain Uh, more about the organization
or, um, I showed the social media poststhat we had and, uh, videos, actually,
(01:55):
yeah, a training video that I did thatwasn't requested of me, but I showed
a training video that I did for theToastmasters just to show how much I was
involved in it and the tools that I used.
I will say that doing the projectas a whole, it really pushed me
(02:17):
in a way where I, I learned that Iwas capable, capable of doing other
things than I didn't think I was,especially on a time, on a timeline.
All right.
On a time crunch.
Uh huh.
And so, yeah, exactly.
So, and, and like I said, and I got to useso many great tools, especially with AI.
(02:40):
I, uh, played around with somethings like on Canva, there is.
Like an AI, uh, photo generator.
And so I created a character andthen I found another website that,
uh, has AI voices, I think it wascalled Eleven or something like that.
(03:02):
And so with this character, Imade her a voice in a script and
then I edited the video and I putit all together and it was just.
It was something, uh, creativethat I always want to do.
I know I'm capable of doing it.
I've been editing since I was 18for weddings and quinceañeras.
And so I know, I know how to edit, butit was just knowing that I could motivate
(03:28):
myself to complete a project the waythat I want to do it, kind of like the
way that you see other YouTubers do it.
And I'm like, Hey, I can do this.
You know, I, I always want to, but I neveram motivated to, but this project showed
me that I could motivate myself and usethese new tools to push myself along.
And they're really exciting.
(03:49):
I mean, it's like a game tome, you know, seeing these new.
AI stuff, yeah, and creating videosand and tools that I can show to future
employee employers, you know Yeah,yeah, absolutely And I was curious
when you started this was this kindof process on reflecting on your
(04:14):
learnings Something that you had doneprior to this course, or was this
a new kind of process for you too?
Not only building the ePortfolio, buthaving this kind of reflection built in.
Meaning, did I take all theinformation, for example, all the
(04:34):
knowledge that I gained from mywhole degree and put it into this?
Oh, well, I was kind of curious.
So for some students, they've never beenasked So I think for many students, they
go through this process as they're goingto school of doing an assignment, turning
it in, getting a grade, and moving on.
And for many students, they haven't,before they've gone through a process of
(04:58):
creating an ePortfolio, had, um, any kindof time or tool available where they're
actually thinking about what they may havelearned from that experience and how it
may connect to other things that they'velearned before or that are part of kind
(05:21):
of future things that they want to know.
This kind of reflection processis often very new to them.
Had you been asked about that?
to do that in any prior courses,or was that a new experience also?
Yeah, in the training and developmentcourse, we were asked to, I think we
were asked to pick our skills, like acertain amount of skills and competency.
(05:46):
Uh, Skills Lists, and then we were askedto apply the information that we learned,
I think, either within that course orwithin other courses to each skill.
So we, we had to show examples.
Let's say I said that one of myskills was working well with others.
(06:09):
Luckily, I take lots of screenshotswith meetings and was able to
show, okay, this is the team.
Actually, yeah, I have video too.
I said, this is the team that Iworked with for this project and
this is how we work together.
I showed them the documents that we madeand showed how we work together as a team.
(06:30):
Like for example, and I've learned thisthroughout the years when we have to do a
group project, I make sure I'm the firstperson to create a document and I put,
I put all of our names in the document.
I put my, I, as an example, I putmy phone number and the times and
days that I'm available, and then I.
(06:52):
Make another section like, okay, thisis a list of tasks that we might need to
do and who wants to take on each task.
So that way I'm kind of in control ofwhat you're setting the stage there.
So I showed off a document like that,you know, this is how I, um, how I worked
with the team and they appreciated that.
(07:13):
They loved it because it took off.
Uh, a lot of them told methat it took off pressure.
Um, even like nobody likes to bethe leader and it wasn't that I was.
I'm trying to be a leader.
I, I wanted to be the facilitator.
That's like, that's one of my favoriteroles to do, you know, so if, if every,
if there's someone who can't meet up,I'll make sure that I take video of the
(07:35):
meeting and send it to them, you know,and I'll, I'll make sure that everybody.
Is participant or, um, given theinformation that is needed so
that we can all get a good grade.
You know, my friend, she toldme, she's like, I'm so glad
you're in my group right now.
Cause I already know how you work andI know we're going to get a good grade.
(07:57):
Yeah.
I did put pressure onmyself to get good grades.
And the funny thing is, Itell my son, Don't worry.
You don't pressure yourself.
But he saw me.
And I think that's why he putsso much pressure on himself.
He's like, Okay, look.
You're over there getting A's, Mom.
So, I guess I have to do it too.
Well, and how incredible forhim to get to get to see you
(08:19):
through this experience, too.
I'm sure it's beenincredibly inspiring for him.
Or scary for him for the future.
I don't know.
I think my husband says like,finally, you're not a monster anymore.
You're done.
No, I mean, I it was I was stressed,but I think also, um, I might have
(08:46):
just put that much stress on myself,because, like you were mentioning...
um, a lot of students, they do their,their work and then they get a grade.
And for us, once you get thatgrade, it's a validation.
Okay.
Now I know either I did good or Idid bad and I can fix it or not.
But with the, with the Digication, thelast one that I did for Capstone, we
(09:11):
weren't receiving any grades per section.
It was like, you, you have todo this whole project and then
you'll get the grade at the end.
So that's, I think that's whatmade it, uh, um, scary or gave us
a little bit of anxiety over it.
It's a bigger project, yeah.
And even though eight weeks isn't a lotof time, it's still, yeah, a accumulation
(09:37):
of a lot of work and writing about whatyou've done and what you've achieved.
And what I really enjoyed about, uh,your, your ePortfolio also is that you
included some really interesting, uh,kinds of, we often refer to as kind
(09:58):
of pieces of evidence of your learningthat people might not think about.
So you mentioned you take alot of screenshots and things
of your meetings and videos.
And there was one in particular thatyou shared that I thought was great.
That it was actually during, um, Ithink it may have been a training or
(10:19):
educational exercise, but it was somethingwhere the technology was not working.
Oh, yes.
And, and we've all been there, right?
Um, but you shared that because you wantedpeople to see, you know, this is how I
was trying to problem solve in the moment.
And this is what I learnedfrom that experience and things
(10:43):
that I'll do going forward.
Should I be in that kind of situation
What, you know, at Digication, whenwe're creating this platform, we're
always thinking about ways thatstudents can always have an opportunity
to share who they are, and what theyknow, and their successes, of course,
(11:04):
but we really also want it to bethat place where they can celebrate
the whole person and that includesthe challenges they've encountered.
It includes those, um, bumpy times someonethe other day was talking about as being
those wobbly, wobbly moments where wemay not be in sure footing, um, but that
(11:28):
we, are able to, you know, make our waythrough and look back on and, you know,
whether we see that as um, you know, wecall it kind of failing forward where, you
know, you may recognize that you messed upor something didn't go the way you wanted,
but how you've grown from that and mayapproach things differently in the future.
(11:50):
And I loved that you, you know,shared that situation because I'm
sure it was very uncomfortable.
Well, first of all, I spent hours.
I would, I spent so many hours.
I found a video online, uh, I think theDigication that you're telling, talking
about, um, I, for one of the trainingvideos, I wanted to teach my teammates
(12:19):
about creating a, uh, PowerPoint.
Yes.
An effective PowerPoint.
And there's a great video about it, uh,and it was like, I'll say 20 minutes long.
Mm hmm.
And I shrunk it down to five minutes.
About five minutes.
I really had to cut it up and I, Ispent so many hours on it and I was
(12:40):
so excited to show my team and thenit, they couldn't hear, they couldn't
hear what was going on, like whatthe heck, why isn't that working?
Um, and then I just said, okay, well,you know, This is, yeah, like you
said, um, having experiences likethat really teaches you that you
(13:01):
need to, what you need to do nexttime, how you need to be prepared.
So when I do, for example, aninterview with someone, I make sure
I have my phone next to me too,to also record the interview in
case for some reason the computerdoesn't record the sound, you know.
And, and it really hastaught me how to be prepared.
(13:23):
The, the reflection partof those Digications.
are really essential because Ithink a lot of people are afraid
of, of failing, of course.
They don't know, even, not justfailing, they're just afraid of,
in general, not, of the unknown.
(13:43):
They're afraid of the unknown.
And reflecting on those thingsand figuring out what you could
have done for the next time.
It really, it really builds resilience.
It really builds problem solving skillsand prepares you for the future, for
whatever you're going to do in the future.
It's really important.
(14:04):
You know, my daughter, she's, likeI said, she's, uh, working, she,
she finished her psychology degree.
Um, She wishes thatshe took communications
because a lot of the thingsthat I've learned, she really
wanted to learn more about.
(14:24):
And, and she ended up doing, um, rightnow she's working on her dancing degree.
But I told her, even though you didn't.
You don't want to furtherpursue your psychology degree.
You've learned so much from it.
And it's not just about psychology.
Again, it's about problem solving,working with others, critical
(14:46):
thinking, all those things you'll,that will keep with you forever.
And she also became interestedin body language too, cause
she saw I was studying it.
And now she, she realizes that alot of the things that she's learned
in psychology or what she studiedabout body language, she uses, she's
Um, as a dancing instructor, she,she sees if someone's uncomfortable
(15:09):
or if they want to ask a question.
So she does use those skills.
It's, it's not, of course,it's never gone to waste.
She has a psychology degree.
If she wants another job, she hasthat to back her, you know, um,
and, and I'm trying to get my sonto understand those things too, even
(15:29):
in, he's in high school right nowand I tell him, um, ask questions.
It's okay if you fail.
I think I tried to practice for a while.
I've seen a parent asking their child.
Oh, what did you fail at today?
To try to reflect on that.
It didn't last very long.
I did try to get him into it, but I wantedhim to understand it is okay to fail.
(15:53):
You make mistakes, but if you make amistake, you can also ask questions
until you, um, get help or findthe answer that you're looking for.
And, uh, so I think you mentioned he's,um, he's, is he in college yet or not yet?
No, he's, he just started high school.
Oh, he just started high school.
(16:14):
Okay.
Yeah.
But what a wonderful conversationsto be having with him at this time.
I have a recent high school graduate andtwo juniors right now, and I, I understand
the, um, challenge sometimes in gettingthem to talk about their day, especially
saying, you know, where did you,
(16:37):
I've learned that they don'twrite when they get out of school.
No, they're not goingto talk about it, but.
As soon as it's time forsomebody to go to bed.
Like if I want to go to bed, all of asudden, there's a whole conversation.
I, I try to throw it in, you know,throughout the day though, um, when
(16:57):
we're listening to a song and the subjectcomes up or when we're watching TV,
I do try to make that those moments.
I don't know if it annoys him.
I mean, he engages in the conversation.
Yeah, he engages in the conversation.
So, I do try to makecertain learning moments.
Or I'll let him tell me things, you know.
I'll let him talk sometimes.
(17:19):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I appreciate those times where they,you know, end up having to get together.
Stuck in the car with me.
I feel like that's sometimeswhen the wonderful stories come
out and I try to just listen.
Yes.
Yes.
So fun.
Um, so I was curious, you know, nowthat you're a, um, recent graduate
(17:41):
and, you know, already starting todo some new things in your career.
Um, you know, thinking back on this, ifyou might have any advice for New students
that might just be embarking on this.
Um, if there's, uh, maybe in communicationor not, if you feel like it might be
(18:03):
a value to students in other kindsof disciplines too, what might advice
would you have for students that may benew to the whole idea of a ePortfolio
or just taking time to think about howthey might share who they are and what
their experiences are with other people?
(18:24):
I would say, uh, yeah, I havea lot of advice for this one.
We want to hear it.
Yeah, the first thing I would say isto schedule, like, time management.
Work on your time management skills.
Set goals for yourself.
And you, you know what?
Break, break them down.
(18:45):
Okay.
Today or at least this week.
I will get a paragraph done, or Iwill design this spot, you know, I, I
don't know, and one of the Digication,someone told us to work backwards kind
of, um, because I think the very firstpage was just introducing ourselves
and that's the easy part, so they werejust telling us to work backwards and,
(19:09):
um, I would say also have fun with it,because like I said, that's what saved
me, is just being able to, uh, play withediting tools and, uh, photos and AI.
It was really fun for me.
I would say have, uh, Make friends, afriend that you can call or write to
(19:35):
and, uh, or even like on email to, to seehow things are going and ask questions.
That would be the next uh, advicewould be to ask questions because with
my last Digication, I had a mentor.
That, that's, that was the purpose ofhaving the mentor to ask questions.
(19:56):
I went to her to, um, I think we had togo to the mentor at least three times.
So in the beginning to ask,how are we supposed to do this?
And then, or I think even,I was trying to figure out.
How to define the problem that Iwas working on, cause my Capstone
(20:16):
Digication, we had to figureout a communication problem.
And an organization that it connected to.
So I needed to definewhat I was working on.
And I, that's really importantto understand where you're going
with it, you know, so that youcan know how to set everything up.
(20:38):
Asking questions with the mentor,showing her, she, I showed her my work
the second time that I met with her.
And she said, okay, youlook like you're on track.
And that helped out, that helped me feelbetter about the projects because you
know, there was positive feedback or evenif it wasn't positive, at least she would
let me know what I needed to work on.
(21:00):
And then the last one, she was justlike, Oh, you look like you're done.
And I was like, really?
Okay, I'm finished finally.
Yeah, I was like, okay,I'll enter it right now.
It sounds like I'm done.
I will enter it right now.
And, and understand that you're goingto change your mind on a lot of things.
You, you, you, it's okay to just putit down, put all the work down first.
(21:25):
I think I, I looked at someone'sDigication in the beginning stages
and they literally just pasted theirstuff on and it was all over the place.
But they just wanted to get theiridea down and then they organized
it later, just like they tell youto do when you're, uh, writing
an essay or a story or something.
Just get your ideas downand then edit it later.
(21:47):
That way you don't block yourself.
You just, you just let it all out.
So that, those would be the things.
That would be the advicethat I would give.
Time management.
Ask questions.
Get a friend.
Have fun.
And I don't remember whatwas the last thing I said.
(22:07):
Oh, get it all out.
Don't be afraid to make a mess soI think we're, we put more pressure
on ourselves as students thanthe teachers do, and it's okay.
Just realize that it's okay.
I saw a, uh, college speech,a valedictorian, I don't
(22:33):
know how to say it properly.
I think you got it.
Valedictorian.
Valedictorian.
The way, what he said was, um, heworked so hard in school that he
realized that he missed out on alot of things, like spending time
with family and things like that.
So I, I would say also createa balance for yourself.
(22:55):
Make time for yourself by yourself, maketime for your friends, make time for
your family and make time for school.
So create a good balanceso that you don't go crazy.
That is good advice.
Yeah, and we always in, uh, you know,just in terms of the kind of tools
(23:17):
and design and the platform, uh,speaking to some of the things that
you mentioned, we always try to makethe tools, approachable in such a way
that you can start with something thatis, um, kind of, uh, unfinal, right?
So that you can keep growing it andchanging it and moving things around
(23:43):
if you need to, if you needed tomove pages around or content from one
page to another that you can do thatand even create different versions
of your ePortfolio along the way.
Yeah, depending on who you wanted toshare it with and having those mentors
and friends around you is so important.
(24:04):
So being able to share it withother people and get advice.
And I was kind of curious with thementor that you had, um, were they
another student at the school or wasit someone that worked in some kind
of resource position at the school.
How did you get connected?
Lucky for me?
It happened to be my previous professor.
That was my training and development...
(24:26):
she had already saw my workbefore my previous education
and so she knew she is short.
But she's like I alreadyknow you got this.
It's okay It was perfect becauseI was already Uh, I already
knew her, so it was nice.
She made me feel comfortable.
Good.
Good.
Yes.
(24:46):
Fostering those relationships.
Yes.
You mentioned that earlierin the conversation, too.
Yes.
Yes.
And the first Digication that we, thatwe did, it was more about ourselves.
Like I said, it was about theskills that we've acquired from
the degree, from the course.
And I think that was really importantfor us students to do because It
(25:11):
made us, um, one of my friends,she was like, um, Hey, they called
us, uh, a communication scholar.
Like, as if we weren't, we'd like, weneeded somebody to tell us it so we could.
Recognize our accomplishments.
And doing that Digication also allowedus to recognize those accomplishments
(25:33):
and be like, okay, you know what?
I am capable.
Sometimes we might have impostersyndrome, you know, like, okay, even
though I'm learning this, it doesn't meanI'm an expert at it or that I know it.
And I understand we're always growing.
We're always learning.
The information, but the Digicationhelped me to realize that I
have fostered these skills.
(25:56):
Yes.
And, and now I can be proud tosay that I actually have them.
Yeah.
Very validating.
Yeah.
Indeed.
Yeah.
Hard to, hard to deny that you'rea scholar, that you see all of
that work and growth together.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, Whitney, thank youagain for joining me today.
(26:19):
It was such a pleasure to talk toyou and I still look forward to
sharing our conversation with others.
Thank you.
I enjoyed our conversation and itjust makes me more excited about
learning more and, and sharingthis information with others.
Wonderful.
I hope that you do.
Thank you so much.
(26:39):
Thank you.
This concludes our conversationto hear our next episode.
Be sure to subscribe to Digication'sScholars Conversations on YouTube, iTunes,
Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
The Digication's Scholars Conversationseries is brought to you by Digication.
A technology platform powering themost innovative e-portfolio programs
(27:03):
in K-12 and higher education.
Our website can befound at digication.com.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, please like,
subscribe, and share with a friend.
Thanks for tuning in.
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