WDC 610: Content Strategy and Digital Portfolio Design

Designed and taught for the first time in fall 2019, this course is the foundation of the core curriculum for the graduate program in Writing and Digital Communication. Required in the first semester for all new WDC students, it will be offered at Agnes Scott in both fall and spring.

Course Description

This course covers principles of content strategy, the methodology digital communicators use to craft content that reaches their intended audience on their chosen platforms in order to achieve organizational or creative goals. Students will learn the fundamentals of user-centered text, and how to select optimal technical platforms as they plan and build websites to house their digital portfolios. They will learn to analyze web design and content, employ analytics to evaluate content, explore pathways of innovation in web technologies, follow the law regarding intellectual property and fair use, and create effective web-based content. Along the way, they will consider the rhetoric and ethics of personal branding and representing the professional or creative self online. A completed, professional quality digital portfolio aligned with their stated goals is a requirement for the master’s degree, to be submitted for evaluation in the final semester following guidelines established by the program.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and apply the principles of content strategy for inclusive digital communication.
• Assess current websites and web writing for accessible design and style.
• Design and build a professional quality digital portfolio website.
• Demonstrate advanced understanding of HTML5, analytics, SEO, and using a content management system.
• Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the rhetoric and ethics of personal branding and representing the self online.

Required Texts

• A Web for Everyone, Designing Accessible User Experiences, Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
• HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide (8th Edition), Elizabeth Castro

Additional resources (recommended, but not required)

• Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited (3^rd Edition), Steve Krug
• Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works, Second Edition. Janice (Ginny) Redish.
• AP Stylebook Online (A hardcopy is available on course reserves at the library)

Assignments and grading

20% – Course preparation – Students will answer 1-2 questions in Canvas after each required reading, video or lecture to help them prepare for that week’s learning activities. Students have up to two attempts for each “quiz” and will see their grade in Canvas immediately. For assigned Lynda classes, students will submit PDF copies of their certificates upon completion. Lynda classes are graded complete/incomplete. All course preparation assignments are due before the class in which they are due. Late penalties incur automatically in Canvas from the moment class starts, so I encourage you not to wait until the last minute to submit your assignments.

20% – Participation – Students must participate in class activities and in class discussion online. Quality of participation will be evaluated via self-reflection and peer review using a rubric at the midpoint and at the end of the course.

10% – Website analysis – Students will submit a 750-word written analysis of a website in terms of its accessibility and cultural fluency in order to demonstrate your understanding of inclusive digital communication. Consider meeting with a tutor at the Center for Writing and Speaking to work on a draft before submitting the paper. Papers must be submitted via Canvas and will be graded using a rubric also found on Canvas.

50% – Digital portfolio content strategy (25%) and site build (25%) – You will develop a content strategy for your digital portfolio, create content for the site in line with your strategy, and build the site. This assignment will be completed in six stages in order to maximize the opportunities for feedback. Pre-work at each stage will be completed in class. For stages 1-5, students will receive individual peer feedback according to a rubric and the instructor will go over common challenges and opportunities with the class as a whole.

• Stage 1: Using a template, students will outline the goals, audience, content objectives, and user needs for their digital portfolio, along with a core strategy statement. A final draft must be submitted via Canvas for feedback before the class in which it is due.
• Stage 2: Using a template, students will outline the information architecture of their site. A final draft must be submitted via Canvas for feedback before the class in which it is due.
• Stage 3: Using the Content Model Spreadsheet, students will outline the content of their proposed site. This assignment will be shared electronically and assessed in class on the day it is due. 
• Stage 4: Students will present their content strategies to the rest of the class in order to receive feedback prior to building their sites.

After the presentations in  stage 4, students will receive a holistic grade for their work on the content strategy portion of the assignment.

• Stage 5: In order to practice your skills in a practical way, you will create an HTML copy of your resume and a professional bio formatted according to AP style to include in your digital portfolio
• Stage 6: You will build the digital portfolio that you proposed in your content strategy plan and populate the site with the content you’ve created in class. The instructor will provide feedback via a screencast of your website as they grade it according to a rubric. Your final portfolio site will be evaluated based on its alignment with the content strategy and with principles of accessible and inclusive user-centered design.

Course preparation schedule

The work listed for each week must be completed and turned in before the associated class.