Abstract
Data science educators have a unique opportunity to teach students the skills they need in their future careers. We know that practical skills matter, like being able to wrangle, explore, analyze, and visualize data (preferably using code), but what is easy to overlook is teaching students how to communicate about data science with other people. Being able to communicate about data, code, and insights gained are important skills we can strengthen in the classroom to make a real impact on students. I will talk about using the R package “blogdown” for students to build an online profile and portfolio, and how students use these sites to connect with the online R user community, build expertise in R/data science, and find new jobs and opportunities.