April 20th at 7 p.m. ET

*Hello everyone! Welcome to the first week of Professional Development in Technical Writing!

*Our first task is to get to know each other.

*In the Introduction thread, please write a “30 second elevator speech” that introduces yourself to your classmates and me. I have placed a helpful guide on writing elevator speeches in Doc Sharing in the “week One” folder.

*Choose one of the ten items listed in How to be famous in your profession* and discuss how you can follow that advice in your chosen profession.

*Do not write about something you already do well.

*Challenge yourself to pick one of the items you don't do or you don't do very well right now.* Linked in the course but also in doc Sharing in Unit One folder.

*Look through the sample student portfolios on p. 17 of your course text. (Note: Some of the links are no longer active; some take you to portfolio services at a certain university. You may have to try several to get to a list of student portfolios.)

*Choose one student portfolio that you consider particularly effective and that stands out from the others and explain why.

*List at least three reasons why you consider this particular portfolio effective. Refer to the reading in your response.

*Why is a portfolio as important or more important than a resume, especially for a technical writer or communications major?

*In her article, Coker talks about the need to have several portfolios and not just one. What is the advantage of compiling all three types she speaks about?

*What can make a portfolio unique or stand out from others?