Creating an Electronic Portfolio Saundra Selness, MS Information Technology Services

What Is an E- Portfolio?

Definition  What is an e-portfolio? A generic definition for a portfolio is a purposeful collection of work that exhibits efforts, progress, and achievements. A systematic collection of materials or artifacts that demonstrate the capabilities of the person who compiled the portfolio.

Definition Shows progression and growth in your field (transition from student to teacher to master teacher). A portfolio portrays your knowledge, experience, and skills learned over time. A portfolio is not a scrapbook!!

How to Begin… 1. Define the Purpose 2. Select the Electronic Artifacts 3. Write the Reflections 4. Create the Navigation 5. Publish to Web Server

Purpose  Define the audience  Type of Portfolio Career Portfolio Employment Portfolio Professional Development Portfolio Family Vacation Portfolio  What information do you want in your portfolio?

Professional Development Portfolio Navigation Bar/Border with the following: Welcome Educational Philosophy Statement Letters of Recommendation Resume Conceptual Framework Standards

Other Items to Include…  Section about yourself  Volunteer Opportunities  Other Recommendations and Certificates  Standards, Competencies, Requirements  Professional Association Memberships

What is an artifact?  An artifact is a piece of evidence you choose that shows you have attained a certain standard.  Artifact Description  Samples Writing samples Formal evaluations Photographs PowerPoint Participation certificates Lesson plans Video

Artifact Reflection  An important aspect of the process  The reflection should directly show how you have attained this standard  Not a description or summary

Creating  Choose the format and the software needed to create a portfolio.  You can chose to create HTML portfolios, or web based. Does not mean it has to be published to the web Secure server should be considered

Why use a webpage for a portfolio? All computers have an Internet browser installed and can therefore view your portfolio!

Web Authoring Software  Microsoft FrontPage  Macromedia DreamWeaver

Publishing  Publish to your space on the Student Academic Web Server on some campuses Password protected All faculty can view Often retained for a specified period after graduation, if requested  Publish to a CD

Creating an Electronic Portfolio Using FrontPage

Creating an Electronic Portfolio  Design – decide what items are going in the portfolio Write – create the portfolio, typing text, creating hyperlinks to other pages, inserting artifacts Test – using a web browser to make sure all links work and images appear  Publish – to a CD or a secure web server  Maintain – update with newer and better artifacts

Planning Your Site Decide which items will be on your portfolio homepage and what other pages you will hyperlink to such as your resume, standards, artifacts and so on. Main Page PhilosophyStandards Standard 3Standard 2Standard 1

Suggested Directory Structure Directory structure of your portfolio is similar to the file system on your computer Using additional folders helps to manage and organize your portfolio Root Directory Home Page Other basic main pages Image FolderArtifact FolderReflection Folder

Creating a Portfolio Folder A few intro slides before we begin…

Inserting Text  Very similar to using Microsoft Word formatting techniques  Predefined formats  Basic Text Formatting

Creating Hyperlinks Hyperlink to one of the following: Another page you’ve created A webpage (i.e. Your college, Internship sponsor, …) An address A specific spot on a page You can use an image or text to create the hyperlink.

Creating Tables

Table with a Border

Inserting Artifacts  Writing Sample  Formal Evaluation  Photographs  PowerPoint Presentation  Award/Certificates  Lesson Plans  Projects These artifacts can be in many different types of formats!

Formats PDF (Portable Document Format) Word Document Text Document Excel Spreadsheet PowerPoint Presentation Hand Written (or with a signature) Professional brochure or conference program  Audio Tape  Video Clip  Photograph

Word Documents You have several options:  Word Document Need Word to open the document with correct formatting. Word Viewer available from Microsoft  Save as Webpage using Word Flush to left side of screen; does it look better in a table?  Copy to a Webpage using FrontPage Look at the difference between left and justified.  Create a PDF using Adobe Acrobat Keeps format Secure Sample Pages

PowerPoint Presentation  PowerPoint Need PowerPoint to open Has sounds and animation effects  Save as a Web Page using PowerPoint Shows all slides but without sounds or animation effects. Opens with a web browser  PDF Sample Pages

Excel Spreadsheet  Excel (need Excel to open)  Save as a Webpage in Excel Sample page

Anything with Handwritten Text Reference Letter, Clinical Evaluations,  Create a PDF using Acrobat Looks more professional Better view Less load time  Create an image using a scanner Sample Pages

Professionally Created Documents Conference Brochure International Tickets Conference Program Depending on the size of the document, either scan or create a PDF.

Shared Border  Allows a border to appear on all pages within your portfolio.  It can be on the left, right, top or bottom of a page.  It can have a table, buttons, hyperlinks and so on to a border.  To use Navigation buttons you must have a Navigation Structure created.

Previewing your Portfolio  Clicking on the Preview tab (located along the bottom of the FrontPage window) does NOT show exactly what you page will look like.  Use the “Preview in Browser” button to view your portfolio in a Web browser to see an accurate display!

Adding Color and Background Two options:  Format Background  Format Themes

Modifying the Background Color

Applying Themes

Additional Items in Handout  Modifying Themes  Adding a Page Title  Working with Images (Buttons, new name,…)  Shared Borders  Navigation Structure (Banners and Shared Navigation Links)  Web Components

Creating your Portfolio Folder Let’s start by opening FrontPage and creating a Portfolio folder!

Questions? Ideas? Let’s start creating!