Prof. Cameron Blevins

Introduction to Digital Studies
HIST 3260/5260 | COMM 3081/5081
M/W 2:00-3:15pm
North Classroom 1608
Office Hours: W. 3:30-4:30pm
TA Office Hours: M. 12:30-1:30pm

One of the goals of this course is professionalization: preparing you for a career beyond CU Denver. That will look different for each of you, but the following tasks will (hopefully) give you a starting point for furthering those goals. Each of these assignments are smaller “tasks” that will be marked as simply complete/incomplete in Canvas.

LinkedIn Profile (2/6)

Make a LinkedIn profile (some helpful advice), connect with Professor Blevins, and submit a link to your profile on Canvas. (Due February 6th)

Networking Follow-Up (different due dates)

We will be having a series of class visitors from people across a variety of professions to discuss their careers and how technology plays a role in their jobs. An important skill regardless of your career path is networking, or making professional connections. Choose one class visitor whose job looks interesting to you and sign up for their scheduled visit on the shared Google Doc. After their visit, write them a follow-up email or message (contact details will be provided on the Google Doc) that: a) introduces yourself, b) thanks them for speaking to us, and c) references at least 1-2 specific things they discussed that you appreciated or found helpful. You may also take this opportunity to ask any follow-up questions about their career that you may not have had the chance to ask during the visit. Submit a screenshot of your sent message to Canvas (instructions to take a screenshot for Mac, Windows, Chromebook). (Due within 24 hours of their visit)

Career Center Appointment and Reflection (4/9) (4/11)

Schedule an appointment with the Career Center through Handshake. You can use that time to discuss any aspect of professionalization: career options, looking for a job/internship, your resume, etc. After your meeting write a 2-3 paragraph reflection on your meeting:

  • What did you discuss during your appointment?
  • What are some of your professional/career goals?
  • How does this class fit within those goals? Is there anything you are learning or want to learn more about?
  • How does this class fit with your primary area of study, major, minor, etc.?

Note: if you are pursuing the Digital Studies Certificate, you can use this Career Center meeting to fulfill one of your three required career-focused activities.

Resume Page (4/23)

Follow these instructions to add a resume page to your website and post the URL to Canvas.

Website Portfolio (5/5)

During the semester your personal website will function as a sandbox for you to learn different technologies and a repository for completed course assignments. Moving forward, however, you can use it as a personal portfolio that showcases your work and skills to potential employers or graduate schools. At the end of the semester we will go over how to clean up and polish your website so that it functions as a personal portfolio rather than a course-specific website. Once you have “transitioned” your website, submit a one-paragraph explanation of the choices you made that also includes a URL to your website on Canvas.