Creating a New e-Portfolio

e-Portfolio Settings

Clicking the Create button in the "My e-Portfolios" area of your home page, opens the Portfolio Settings page of a new e-Portfolio, on which you provide basic information about your e-Portfolio. The e-Portfolio Title, Permissions, and Tagging fields are required. The other options enable you to customize information about your e-Portfolio. (You can return to this page to edit these fields at any time by clicking the Portfolio Tools drop-down menu and selecting Settings.)

Create an e-Portfolio

Creating an e-Portfolio only requires three steps: simply fill out the title of your e-Portfolio and choose your permission and tagging settings. However, you can customize it much more if you so desire.

Title and Web Address                                          

1.Enter the title of your e-Portfolio (for example, “My Student Work”).

2.The e-Portfolio Web Address is a unique URL you can provide to others to view your e-Portfolio. This is generated automatically as you type. If you would like to change it to something else, click the Edit link next to the address and enter a custom Web Address. 

Choose a Template

Select a template that will provide sections and pages for your e-Portfolio that you can then fill with your own content. Templates are created by Digication, or your school, to help you create your e-Portfolio quickly and easily. To choose a template to use, click the thumbnail.

The default option, Create From Scratch, will create a blank e-Portfolio layout. If you would like to search for additional templates, click the More Templates link to the right.

 More Templates

Search and navigate to the template you’d like to use and click the Select button. You may preview the template by clicking the (Click to preview in new window)link below the template thumbnail.

Themes

Themes change your e-Portfolio’s appearance by setting colors, font sizes, and backgrounds on each page. Each template comes with a default theme.

To use a different theme, simply un-check the Use selected template’s theme option.

You may also browse for more themes by clicking the More themes link to the right. From here you can search through all the available themes. Navigate to the theme you’d like to use and click the Select button to choose that theme.

Customize

Additionally, you can select Customize to create your own theme. A theme consists of four components: the Directory Icon, Header Image, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and Portfolio Footer.

Directory Icon: This icon is displayed in the directory of e-Portfolios if you choose to have your e-Portfolio listed there. The default Digication image shown in the sample screen above is used if you do not upload your own icon. Click the Choose File button to upload an image file from your computer as your own directory icon.

Header Image: This image is displayed at the top of every page of your e-Portfolio. The default Digication image shown in the sample screen above or an alternate default image provided by your school is used if you do not upload your own image. Click the Choose File button to upload an image file from your computer as your own header image. For best results, use an image that is 779 pixels in width.

Custom CSS: If you are comfortable editing Cascading Style Sheets, you can create your own e-Portfolio styling by editing the default CSS. If you need to get back to the default style, just delete the contents of the Custom CSS box and click Save at the bottom of the page. Upon saving, the Custom CSS box will be populated with the default styling for that theme. The Reset button causes the CSS to revert to the last saved state.        

e-Portfolio Footer: The footer text is displayed at the bottom of every page of your

e-Portfolio. For example, you can enter your email address, a quotation, or copyright information here

Click on the appropriate radio button to choose settings for privacy, permissions and collaboration for your e-Portfolio.

Private to me: Only you or those you specifically grant permission to can view your e-Portfolio.

Private within  <school name>: Only users at your school can view you e-Portfolio.

Public: Your e-Portfolio is viewable by anyone, including search engines like Google.

If you wish to customize these settings, click on the Custom Permissions link to the right.

Directory Listing: This setting determines whether your e-Portfolio is listed in the directory for your school. Even if you choose Show e-Portfolio in directory, it will be listed only for those who have access to your e-Portfolio itself.

Categories: To categorize your e-Portfolio, select a category from the drop-down list, and click the add icon next to it. Your e-Portfolio can belong to as many categories as you want. To remove a category, click the appropriate delete icon.

Permission Settings: To control who can view and edit your e-Portfolio, begin typing a name or email address to choose an individual user or search for s specific group or course name or number,. Click the green button to choose from a list of options.

You can assign any of four types of access to individuals:

• Admin: can edit e-Portfolio settings including adding and removing users edit and publish your e-Portfolio.
• Publisher: can edit and publish your e-Portfolio
• Editor: can edit your e-Portfolio but not publish
• Viewer: can view your e-Portfolio

Tagging

Your final decision before creating your new e-Portfolio is whether or not to allow Tagging on your e-Portfolio.  Tags are keywords that you or others who have access to your e-Portfolio can assign to the e-Portfolio pages. Tags make it easier to find individual pages of the e-portfolio when searching the e-Portfolio directory. You can turn tagging on or off at any time.

Comments

You can also change the default comments settings for your e-Portfolio.

Create Your e-Portfolio

When you’re finished, click the Create New e-Portfolio button to complete your e-Portfolio and open its first page. If you have chosen a template or theme, you may see pre-built section, pages and pre-filled content. You can also come back to this Portfolio Settings page to change many of these settings at a later time.

You are now ready to begin filling your e-portfolio with your content.