ePortfolio Blog Post Check In

       Halfway through the first two courses in my master's program and I can't believe how time is flying by. Creating an ePortofio started out as an exciting adventure for me. I love to create and design so I was excited about putting all my hard work into a page for myself. I quickly found out that it was a challenging task. I had never used these platforms before so at first I tried just to make sure I had all my information and made the site as basic as possible. 
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My greatest struggle starting out was feeling overwhelmed by the task of creating and making the course my own while making sure assignments were in the correct places and navigated correctly throughout it. I had started using Webador as my platform because I felt that it was the easiest for me to understand and edit the way I wanted it to look. My classmate's guidance on this platform helped me navigate my thoughts. I needed more created freedom in the site so I decided to purchase a few add-ons to help me along the way. Long story short my bank blocked me from purchasing anything on the site and was a very frustrating experience. 

Going forward, I decided to search for a new and uncomplicated platform to transfer all the work I had already added to a new website creator. I looked at various examples, which were great, but also overwhelming. Although WordPress looked impressive, learning the platform took some time, and I was under a time crunch. I really wanted something similar to what I had already been working with. Eventually, I came across Weebly and did a little happy dance. It was easy for me to navigate and worked very similarly to the platform I had already used. We have discussed many times about the importance of growth mindset and I'm finding in myself that I need to reflect on my "Power of Yet" blog post when going through this process.

Everything is now working seamlessly. The links on my site are functioning perfectly, and the creative aspects of the site move and flow exactly as I intended them to. This is my first time creating a blog, and this site has made it super easy for me to transfer all of my original content from my previous site. Even though I transferred all of my content on the same day, they may all have the same dates associated with them. 

Since this site also let me pay for add-ons to make the creative process easier, I also bought a domain to personalize my site. paigeshaw.co, which I felt was very professional, is something that I can carry with me once I am done with my master's program. 

I encountered a roadblock while transferring my content - I needed to create a dropdown menu and submenu to organize my work. I didn't want anyone to have trouble finding my posts. Fortunately, I found some easy tutorials and was able to figure it out quickly. This was an effective way to guide others to my About Me page and my latest upload, the Innovation Proposal. Although some of the pages in the course are still blank and a work in progress, I am learning a lot from this new platform.

I have recently added a comment section to my constantly growing Blog Page. This feature will allow visitors to leave their comments and suggestions on my blog posts. I appreciate feedback as it helps me improve my content and grow as a writer. I believe we can learn from everything, including negative feedback.

I am thoroughly enjoying this class and collaborating with others along the way. While creating this portfolio, I faced some challenges, but I believe that I have grown and become better at it. Through the struggles, I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience, and now I find it easier to manage. I am excited to continue this journey in the ADL program.

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