1. First-Year Writing Portfolio Project
RWIT Education & Outreach
[Make sure to sign the attendance sheet!]
Welcome and Meta-Work
Food - welcome folks and invite them to grab food
Introduce yourselves!

2. Setting Goals 1. SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION 2. FULL GROUP DISCUSSION
Why did you choose to participate in this project?
Why did you choose to create a portfolio?
What do you hope to get out of this process?
2. FULL GROUP DISCUSSION
What did you talk about in your groups?
Why did most of you choose to participate in this project?
Become a better writer
Build a professional portfolio
Wordpress/Web design
Archive your work and track growth
3. RECORD YOUR GOALS
bit.ly/portfoliogoals
Setting Goals
Participants set goals, share in small groups, discuss in large group
Set up small group discussion: “Why did you choose to participate in this project? Why did you choose to create a portfolio? What do you hope to get out of this process?” “Groups of 3-4, share your goals with those around you.” Presenters circulate to listen in and check in with groups.
Full group discussion: “So, what did you talk about in your groups? Why did you choose to do this?”
FIller statements: rehearse the four major goals: (1) become a better writer (2) build professional portfolio (3) wordpress/web design (4) archive your work and track growth. You could ask folks to raise hands for these and then ask folks to expand on those categories for you: “Could you say more about why you want this?”
Participants quickly record their goals for participating in a survey (bit.ly/portfoliogoals). Put this on the screen and give folks 5 minutes.

3. Walkthrough of the Wordpress Template
LOGGING IN Bottom right footer of the page -> “Log in” -> “my sites” in the upper-left menu -> select the correct site
ABOUT ME PAGE A chance to represent yourself as a student. Tell your audience who you are and what kind of a person you are becoming through your Dartmouth experience. It should present the portfolio as well, which may be integrated with your presentation of yourself. However, for now you can just explain what is in the portfolio.
WRITING 2/3 or WRITING 5 or HUMANITIES 1 PAGE 1) Edit the title. 2) Two types of writing on this page: (1) The project description. This should precede the link to the uploaded file. (2) The answer to the reflective question at the bottom of the template page.
Walkthrough of the Wordpress Template
Visit the template on the big screen - explain that all have access to this template. Invite students to navigate to that page with you. Sites.darmouth.edu (log in link in the footer of the page). In case folks need help: Logging in takes you to the profile page > go to “my sites” in the upper-left menu > select the correct site.
This is the site we can reference:
We can log in to the Dashboard for a RWIT account by going to -- use your NetID and password to log in
Page 1: About me page
Explain: the “About Me” page is a chance to represent yourself as a student. You want to tell your audience who you are and what kind of a person you are becoming through your Dartmouth experience.
This page should also present the portfolio. So, those things might be integrated (the portfolio represents a feature of that emerging person). But for now, you merely need to explain what is in the portfolio.
Ask students to take 5 minutes to draft a blurb about themselves in that space, updating it on the About Me page. Circulate as you go.
Writing 2/3 OR Writing 5 OR Humanities 1 page
Ask students to edit the title (see if they can intuit how to do it). Show the “edit” button to individuals if they are struggling.
Explain: Two kinds of writing on this page: (1) the project description that precedes the link to the thing you upload. (2) the answer to the reflective question that shows up at the bottom of the template page (Why did you choose this piece as the best?)
On the big screen, pull up the edit view of the page (just hit the edit button), and ask students to talk about their titling choices.
Titling standards to offer after they talk about their decisions
Titles should contain one or more keywords that help prepare readers for the page’s content.
Titles should be short (50-60 characters) because you want titles to (1) be easy to remember and (2) fit well on most any screen.
Titles should be unique enough that they describe only one page on your site.
“You don’t need to choose a robust title just yet”
Embedding- explain that this is a part of the process. That they will need to embed a document/image/video/audio…a thing on this page. Many participants will host pdfs of essays.
Step 1: Ask participants to open a file in their prefered word processor (Word / pages/ etc). Write something in this (come up with something fun for this! A limerick? A custom emoji?). Save it as a pdf.
Do this on the big screen as you go.
Step 2: Upload it to the page. Ask participants to intuit how to do this. Circulate and see if they need help. Review on the big screen once everyone is done.
Explain:
Add media; this opens library. Upload a file.
Once uploaded, make sure your thing is selected
Insert into the page button; It will go into your page wherever your cursor is.
It will take the Title as it is displayed on the attachment details on the media library page. TO FIX THE TITLE, you must go to media library to edit that title in the description.
Explain why pdfs are preferable. Formatting can get crazy!

4. Wordpress Dashboard https://sites.dartmouth.edu/
Wordpress Dashboard Review
What is the Dashboard (pull it up on the screen)
Show/tell posts (template does not use these because their publishing date determines where they show up on the site (blog scrolling))
Show/tell media library (this where your uploaded files live after you upload them to your site; you can also access the library by clicking the “Add Media” button while editing any page)
Show/tell pages (this is what the template uses; here’s how you can make a page)
NEXT TERM WILL FOCUS ON CUSTOMIZATION

5. Privacy Decisions INDEXING
What is indexing? Indexing allows search engines to find your site and display it in search results
As a default, your Wordpress site is not indexed. So, people will not be able to find your site through a search engine. You have to provide a direct link to people who want to see your site.
I want to turn indexing on. EXPLANATION FOR HOW
PASSWORD PROTECTION
What does the password do? If you choose to use the password plugin, even with a direct link readers will not be able to access your site unless you give them the password.
As a default, the template is not password protected.
I want to password protect my site. Dashboard -> plugins -> Password Protected -> “activate”
Privacy Decisions
What is indexing? (Indexing allows search engines to find your site and display it in search results.)
Template is default not indexed (which means that search engines WILL NOT be able to find your site; instead, readers will need a direct link to see your site.)
How to turn it on if you want to
Password plugin or not? (with this plugin, even with a direct link, readers won’t be able to see your site unless you give them the password.)
Template is not pw protected
How to integrate the plug-in [dashboard > plugins > Password Protected, “activate”)
Site password

6. Conclusion http://sites.dartmouth.edu/ HELPFUL PAGES
Visit Wordpress Help Pages
Managing your Site
FAQs
Conclude with this page up on the screen:
Point out the following pages:
Visit Wordpress Help Pages
Managing your Site (
And, less useful, FAQs