Lecturer in Multimedia
A digital showcase showreel is a more direct way to present someone’s work than the traditional text-based resume. This approach is recognised as being Digitised, Visual, Dynamic (DVD), and is not exclusive to any specific discipline. Showcase portfolios will become a valuable asset and powerful language to demonstrate a student’s knowledge, skillsets, and achievements, making them stand out amongst potential candidates in competitive industries and the employment market.
To date, individual students from all disciplines usually rely solely on pure text-based resumes to pitch their skills. They largely do not have the knowledge and skills to create a powerful and appealing digital asset to pitch their achievements to potential employers. There is growing demand for greater visibility of students' and graduates’ employability under the pervasive digital economy. There has been relatively little work to date in the area of directly promoting students and graduates’ visibility and dynamically publicising their achievements in the job market. This project aims to address this gap.
A permanent online resource centre has been established where materials and guidance are provided for students to create digital showcase portfolios that demonstrate their skills and achievements to industry and potential employers. The resources aim to help students produce various types of portfolios depending on their needs, which they can keep for themselves for future job applications, interviews, or other competitive or scholar events. Students can also use their digital portfolio in a range of other social occasions such as personal homepage, LinkedIn page, or even Facebook page.
The Digital Portfolio Resource Centre is now live on QMPlus to provide a range of resources provided to students including:
It was a great opportunity to review my four years of undergraduate experience. My parents don't have a computer science background. I often wanted to share my undergraduate studies with them but didn't know how to make them understand better. After I made the digital showreel portfolio and shared it with my parents, they instantly understood what I have studied and achieved.— Xuanyu Chen, QMUL graduate
The project has improved student experience evidencing impact in several areas, some of which were anticipated prior to the start of the project while others emerged as a good surprise. First, it helped students to transit towards employment and increase their visibility in the job market. Student feedback on the resource centre revealed the advantages of using digital portfolios to stand out among peer candidates. One student commented “It fully demonstrated my strengths to my current supervisor and made me stand out from the other students”. Second, it promoted student participation. Students suggested that digital portfolios allowed them to review their work from their respective degree courses. One student reflected “It was a great opportunity to review my four years of undergraduate experience”. Third, students frequently reported their confidence having been enhanced, for example, “I realised how much I had already accomplished at the uni, and I have never been so confident”, “…it reminds me all the highlights of my previous experience, which in turn helps me become more confident!".
I’ve found a wonderful way to show my experience to others...through the digital portfolio making process, it reminds me all the highlights of my previous experience, which in turn helps me become more confident. — Hantang Zhang, QMUL graduate
It is also worth noting that the digital portfolio is a methodology that is not only applicable to students, but potentially to staff as well. Fellow colleagues have also taken advantage of the resource centre to showcase an event they have organised.
Currently there is a gap in academic institutions where little or no guidance exists for students to prepare digital showcase portfolios. While most if not all universities have a careers centre to assist students in the creation of CVs, precious few help students to promote themselves via digital showcase portfolios. The findings of this project prove that the effectiveness and efficiency of such a resource centre for creating digital portfolios, which is worth exploring. The success and impact in Queen Mary can be easily mapped and duplicated to any other establishment. Should any institutions wish to initiate a resource centre of this kind, please feel free to get in touch and discuss a bespoke business case.
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science