Preparing Students for Real-World Success
To graduate, digital marketing students must complete a portfolio course that wraps up their college experience and helps them start their careers. Unlike regular classes that only teach theories or single skills, this portfolio class asks students to collect and present their best work that connects directly to their personal career goals.
What Students Include in Their Portfolios
The portfolio shows a student's range of skills and real-world experience. Students include work from:
- Internships: Projects completed while working at companies
- Side jobs and freelance work: Projects done for clients or personal business ventures
- Class projects: Work from previous marketing courses
- Other experiences: Any other projects that show important skills
What makes each portfolio special is that it's personalized. Each student carefully chooses work that matches their specific career goals, whether that's running social media accounts, creating content, improving website search rankings, or another marketing specialty.
The Feedback Process
Instead of working alone until a final due date, students share their work multiple times throughout the semester. They present to:
- The professor for expert advice
- Other students for friendly feedback
- Outside reviewers and practice interviewers for professional opinions
This ongoing feedback helps students build impressive portfolios and improve their presentation skills—both very important for job interviews.
More Than Just a Requirement
While the portfolio class is needed to graduate, it offers much more than just course credit:
- Job readiness: Students graduate with professional work samples they can show employers
- Connections: The presentations help students meet industry professionals
- Confidence: Regular feedback helps students become comfortable presenting their work
- Career focus: Creating a portfolio for specific career goals helps students clarify what they want to do
- Real-world standards: Feedback from professionals ensures portfolios meet industry expectations
How Employers See It
From an employer's perspective, graduates with these portfolios stand out when applying for jobs. Instead of just listing skills on a resume, these students can show actual examples of their work and explain how their experiences have prepared them for specific jobs.
This teaching approach matches how the marketing industry works today, where showing what you can do is often more important than just having a degree.
Conclusion
As marketing becomes increasingly digital, education must keep up. The digital marketing portfolio class represents a modern approach to college education—one that focuses on practical skills, individual career goals, and job readiness. For graduating students, the May 8th final presentation isn't just the end of college but the beginning of their professional journey.
Don't miss your chance to see these principles in action! Join us on May 8th 11:30-2:30 p.m. for the final presentations of this year's graduating digital marketing seniors. Whether you're a student looking for inspiration, a faculty member interested in student outcomes, or an employer seeking fresh talent, these presentations showcase the best of what our program offers. Come witness firsthand how our students have transformed their classroom knowledge into real-world marketing solutions—and perhaps discover your next star employee or marketing collaborator. The future of digital marketing is here, and it begins with these presentations.