CREATING YOUR DIGITAL PORTFOLIO

 

Now that you have your artifacts in your ePortfolio you can use them to create your own professional portfolio.  You will need to open your internet browser, and go to the portfolio login screen.  In case you have forgotten, the address is: http://dagwood.dgrc.crc.ca/eportfolio/suulogin.html.  Use your username and password to login.  If you have forgotten how to login refer to the previous tutorial for more detailed instructions.  You should now be looking at a screen similar to this one:

 

 

While working on your portfolio avoid using the navigation buttons of your internet browser.  These buttons are found above the “Address” line of your internet browser.  Use of these buttons may cause you to loose valuable date.  Instead use the navigation buttons directly in the ePortfolio program.  Click the edit button to the right of the portfolio you created in the first tutorial.  The name of the portfolio you previously created will still be below the words “Existing Portfolios”.  My portfolio is named “Test”.  The edit button can be seen to the right of it in the example below:

 

 

          There is also a delete button and a small check box further to the right.  You can use this if you want to delete your portfolio and create a new one.  This is done by clicking in the check box to the right of the delete button, and then clicking on the delete button.  Don’t worry, if you accidentally delete your portfolio, you can get it out of the trash later.  Also, deleting a portfolio does not delete your artifacts. 

          Since you are not deleting your portfolio now, just click on the edit button.  You will be brought to a screen that looks like this:

 

 

At any time you can click on the “help” button in the upper right corner of the portfolio screen for helpful information from Chalk & Wire.  The first thing you will need to do is choose a table of contents.  This is done by clicking on the “Table of Contents” button.  This button is located towards the top of your portfolio.  It looks like this:

 

 

 


           

 

 

This will take you to a page that looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


As illustrated, you will select INTASC from the drop down menu, and then click the continue button that is directly below.  I have circled this area in red in the example above.  Your portfolio will now have a table of contents that will appear similar to the circled example below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Next, you will click on the “Choose Theme” button located to the right of the “Table of Contents” button.  It looks like this:

 

 

This will take you to a screen that looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


In this screen you will select the way your portfolio will look.  This is called the theme of your portfolio.  If you want to see a preview of the theme, click on the image.  I have circled one of the theme preview buttons above in red for you.

         

When you have decided which theme you want you will need to select it for your portfolio.  This is done by first clicking the radio button (small round circle to the right of each theme preview button).  To finalize your selection, you then click the “Continue” button found at the bottom of the theme examples as illustrated below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Your portfolio will now look like the theme you have selected.  I selected this theme:

 

 

          You are now ready to select and place the pictures and artifacts you have prepared for your portfolio.  I will begin by showing you how to add pictures to your portfolio.  There are two ways to do this.  The first way is to use a prepared picture.  This is done by clicking on the “Image Gallery” button that is circled in red below.    

 

 

 


           

 

 

This will bring up a window that looks like the image below.  Click on a thumbnail (small picture) to see an example of it in a new window.  If you like the picture you can click the checkbox to the left of the thumbnail.  Once you have clicked the checkboxes to the left of the pictures you want available for your portfolio, click on the update button (found above the thumbnails on the left and below the thumbnails on the left).  This will update your available photo selection in the digital portfolio.

 

 

 

          Click one of the two return buttons, found above the top update button and below the bottom update button, to complete your selection(s).  This will return you to the portfolio selection screen where you will click the edit button to the right of the name you gave your portfolio. (Refer to text block two of this tutorial for a refresher).  You will again be brought to a screen the main screen of your portfolio. 

 

The second way to add a picture to your portfolio is a little tricky.  If you need help, you can ask any computer lab assistant.  First you need to decide where in your portfolio you want the picture.  (Note: If your photo is not on a disk already, meaning that is on photo paper, you will need to scan it into the computer to digitize it.)  Once you have navigated to the desired page in your portfolio, you will notice a box like the one circled below.  This box tells you the size your picture will need to be.  The text in this box will read similar to this:”Image (400x310)”.  The numbers represent pixels (dots per inch).  The first number inside the parentheses represents the width of the picture box, while the number after the “x” in the parentheses represents the height of the picture box.  If you want to add your own picture to this page, you need to open it in a photo editing program such as Adobe Photo Deluxe® or Microsoft Photo Editor®.  From there you can electronically change your picture down to the appropriate size.  Be sure to change the units in your photo editing program to pixels before resizing your photo.   The first number inside the parentheses represents the width of the picture box, while the number after the “x” represents the height of the picture box.  If you need further help scanning or resizing your photos, you can ask for help from a lab assistant, or you can email me at acampbell@sisna.com. 

Once you have done this you will need to register your artifact in your “Artifact Library”.  Refer to the previous tutorial, if you would like a reminder relative to the process of artifact registration.  Remember that you will need to select “Image” in the “Type” box when you register your photo.  Once you have done this, you will not need to select the image in your photo gallery.  It will automatically be added to every image selection box (see circled area in illustration below) in your portfolio that is the same size (pixels). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


You are now ready to select your picture.  This screen will look somewhat like the screen below the image immediately following this text block.  The appearance of your screen will vary slightly depending on which theme you have chosen for your portfolio.  You will notice a selection box with a karat symbol to the right of it (a karat symbol is a downward pointing arrow that has now line connected to it.  I have provided an illustration directly below.  Click on the karat symbol, as illustrated directly below.  Now a new window opens that contains a list of the pictures I you just selected from your “Image Gallery”.  As your mouse hovers over an item it changes color, as seen above.  Click on the highlighted item to select that item.   

 

 

 

          Your screen will flash briefly and then your photo should appear.  Your page should now look similar to the example below.

 

 

          Look at the illustration above.  It contains two text boxes.  One is to the left of the photo and one is below.  These are designed for quotes and for descriptions of personal photographs you might add to your portfolio in the next step.  I suggest that you type all of your text into a word processing program that has spell check.  Note: ePortfolio will not check your spelling!  Once you have typed your text in your word processing program, you can complete the following steps to transfer it to your portfolio.  First, highlight the desired text by left clicking (for non Macintosh® computer users) at the beginning of the text, and while holding down the left mouse button dragging the cursor to the end of the text.  If you are using a Macintosh® just click and hold the mouse button while you drag it over the selected text.  Next, click edit, and then copy (You can also hold down the control or apple key and then depress the “c” key).  You now need to switch back over to your internet browser (where you are working on your portfolio).  This can be done quickly by holding down the alt key and pressing tab until the window that pops up is highlighting the icon representing your internet browser.  This will make more sense if you just try it.  Once you are back at the screen that looks similar to the one above, click inside the text box where you want your text to be.  You can now, click edit, and then paste to send your text to your portfolio.  You can also hold down the control or apple key and then depress the “v” key to do this.

         

Congratulations!  You are now ready to move on to the next phase of portfolio development.  There you will place the artifacts you have created and registered during this course, under their appropriate new teacher standard.  We will also cover the most important part of your portfolio, the written section that accompanies each of your artifacts.