TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS FOR STUDENT CREATED AND CONTROLLED eportfolios Adapted from the work of Rob Davidson (BWDSB) and Katie Long (RCDSB)

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1 TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS FOR STUDENT CREATED AND CONTROLLED eportfolios Adapted from the work of Rob Davidson (BWDSB) and Katie Long (RCDSB) eportfolio is a tool found in the Ministry licensed virtual Learning Environment (vle). LOGGING IN Click on Desire2Learn link to the vle from our Board's website (lower left under Useful links) or from teacher and student My Site pages. 1. If you are at school, using Internet Explorer on a school computer, you will be logged into the vle automatically. 2. If you are at school, using Chrome, or another browser, or you are on a personal computer and you click on the Desire2Learn icon, you will be taken to the Board Single Sign-on page. Teacher usernames are your firstinitiallastname@office.ldcsb.on.ca, e.g., jsmith@office.ldcsb.on.ca (or whatever username you use to log into Board computers). Student usernames are LDCSB 5 or 6 digit student numbers followed e.g., @365.ldcsb.on.ca Passwords are Board computer passwords. The Single Sign-on screen is shown at right. 3. When you are not at school, you will have to log in using the instructions above. The vle's url is Once you have logged in, you will arrive at the My Home page of the vle. To open eportfolio, look for the Learning Toolkit and click on the eportfolio icon GIVING YOUR CLASS ACCESS eportfolio is one of a number of tools available through the virtual Learning Environment. All of the courses in PowerSchool in which you have been scheduled as a teacher automatically exist in the vle. You can see your courses in the My Courses widget or box at the lower left of your My Home screen. Elementary Course Activation In the example at right, the teacher has a 78HRM-8-Grade 7 course listed. In many cases this will be the only course that needs to be activated. This depends on school set-up and can be viewed in PowerSchool attendance. If the Grade 7 class in PowerSchool contains the cohort of all the students for you as the teacher, you only need to activate one course. If attendance in PowerSchool is done separately and you will only be using the eportfolio tool, the easiest thing to do is activate both courses. If you think you will be using other tools in the vle, you have two choices: 1. Activate each of the courses listed and treat them as independent courses. 2. Activate one of the courses and manually add the other students from the other courses to the activated course by using the Add Participants in the Classlist tool. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 1 of 15

2 Option 1 keeps the cohorts of students separate, but it means you as the teacher have to manage news/content multiple times. Option 2 only requires you as the teacher to manage the news/content once but requires you to manually manage the enrollment of students from the other grade. Most teachers choose option 2 if they wish to make use of other vle tools. NOTE: If you do not wish to use the other tools available within the vle, simple activate the Grade 7 and/or 8 classes separately. To activate a course: Locate the course in the My Courses "widget" or box, located at the bottom left of your screen (scroll down) Click the Pencil to the right of the (Inactive) message. This will open up a larger menu. On this screen, look for the Active section and check off the Course is Active box. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Save. Activation instructions are also found on page 6 of the Blended Learning Instructions The day following the course activation, your students will have access. While the default class page has all of the links you require for the eportfolio, this page is empty. If you wish to make use of the other tools, e.g., News, Dropbox, in the vle, please refer to the Blended Learning Instructions found above. There is Ministry content available for your grade(s). If you wish to have this content copied to your class, please fill out the form located at You will receive an indicating that content has been copied over. For training, please contact Linda Vandeven via or at Ext THE GRAPHICAL TOOLBAR In order to make usage of eportfolio simpler for younger students, a graphical toolbar has been provided. Students will use the tools listed below to create and organize artifacts and other eportfolio elements. This graphical toolbar will appear at the top of each of the eportfolio tool pages. The Dashboard My Items New Reflection New Weblink Upload HTML Audio Recording New Collection New Presentation There are two ways to get to the eportfolio Graphical toolbar. One is using the eportfolio link in the Learning Toolkit on the My Home page. Or use the Toolkit dropdown menu in the burgundy toolbar near the top of the page and selecting eportfolio. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 2 of 15

3 THE DASHBOARD Use this icon from any page in eportfolio to access the Dashboard. From this page, you are able to access and manage all parts of your eportfolio. 1 eportfolio Dashboard This tab takes you back to the Dashboard page or you can use the link icon shown in the graphical toolbar. 2 My Items Takes you to a list of all items you have added to your eportfolio. 3 Explore 4 Sharing Group Allows you to view/search all publically shared items or all items specifically shared with you. Allows you to view existing Sharing Groups or to create and manage your own groups. 5 Quick Add This is a quick add area which we will not be using. 6 New Presentation Quick link to create a new presentation with items that are already in your eportfolio. 7 New Collection Quick link to create a collection of items that are already in your eportfolio. 8 Add Other Items Quick link to create a text file or audio recording. 9 News Feed 10 Invites Shows updates of the most recent activity on your eportfolio items and any items shared with you. Displays unread invitations sent to you by others to view items they have shared with you. 11 My Profile Used to view and edit your personal profile and image. 12 Settings Allows you to change different settings for you eportfolio. 13 Search Search for items in your eportfolio by keyword. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 3 of 15

4 Below is an example of a teacher eportfolio dashboard already in use. The door icon eportfolio. may need to be used at times in order to accomplish some tasks in TO CREATE AND ADD A COLLECTION Keeping Artifacts organized by collection allows easy viewing of related artifacts. A student's first step in the Individual Pathways Plan/All About Me eportfolio process is to create a collection for this year. The student selects the New Collection icon from the Graphical toolbar. In the Name field, a student enters his/her portfolio type, Name and grade. For Grade 7/8 students, the pattern would be IPP Name Grade_. For K-6 students, the pattern would be All About Me Name Grade_. Leave the description blank. Click the button. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 4 of 15

5 Collections are also listed in the My Items section of eportfolio. TO SHARE A COLLECTION: (with a student or another teacher) For a teacher to keep track of a student's work, each student must share his or her collection with his or her teacher. If you are using the graphical toolbar, you have to exit it by clicking the door icon. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the collection and select Share Click on the button Enter the person s last name in the Search for field. Scroll down to and select the person s name (the name area will turn green). The person s name will be added below. Teachers have access to all student and teacher name. Scroll down and click Add. Scroll down and click Close. You will see a blue snowman indicating the collection has been shared. TO VIEW YOUR ARTIFACTS (MY ITEMS) The My Items page allows you to access all of your saved eportfolio artifacts, collections and presentations. To access My Items, click on the briefcase link in the graphical toolbar. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 5 of 15

6 You can filter what is visible by selecting one, or more, of the filtering options. A blue snowman indicates the number of people with whom the item has been shared. TO ADD A REFLECTION ARTIFACT: A reflection is a student's comment on his/her learning, experiences, goals, or accomplishments. Select the Reflection link from the graphical toolbar Enter a title for the reflection. Include the date. Type a reflection into the editor area. Click on the... button to show more formatting options. (At least font size 2 is recommended for text) Click on the button. Choose the dropdown arrow beside the reflection name Choose Add to Collection Click on the button. Select the collection by clicking the checkbox to the left of the Collection name. To complete the process, select the button followed by the button. (You may have to scroll down.) eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 6 of 15

7 ADDING ALREADY CREATED ARTIFACTS TO ALREADY CREATED COLLECTIONS First click the door on the graphical toolbar. It will disappear from the Toolbar. Click on the down arrow beside an artifact in your list under My Items. Choose the Add to Collection option from the drop-down menu. (You cannot add a collection to another collection.) Check off the collection to which you want that artifact added. Click on the button NOTE: You cannot add a collection to another collection. To return to the eportfolio icon graphical toolbar, click on System then eportfolio eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 7 of 15

8 TO ADD A URL OR WEBSITE LINK Select the New Website link from the graphical toolbar. Enter a name for the site. Enter the URL. (Copy/Paste from another tab works well, but be careful to have only one at the beginning.) Enter a description if you wish. Select the button. Adding a Website Link to an Already Created Collection The Title of the collection will change to a link. Choose the dropdown arrow beside the link name Choose Add to Collection Select the collection by clicking on the checkbox to the left of the Collection name. To complete the process, select the the button followed by button. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 8 of 15

9 TO UPLOAD AN ARTIFACT: You may add files created in other software, to collections. Many, but not all, file types can be viewed inside eportfolio. Those that can't, will open in external software. For example, if you uploaded a video file to eportfolio, it would open in Windows Media Player or similar software. Click the Upload button on the graphical toolbar. Select the Upload button on the pop-up. Navigate to and select your file, then click Wait to let it upload. Click the Add button and then Modify the Name to include the date. Enter a description if you wish. Select the Save button. Add an Uploaded File to an Already Existing Collection Select the Dropdown arrow beside the file name Choose Add to Collection Check off the Collection Name to which you wish to add the file To complete the process, select the button followed by the button. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 9 of 15

10 TO ADD AN HTML OR WEBPAGE ARTIFACT: Adding a Web Document lets you create work within eportfolio. You can type in the HTML editor much like they would in any word processing program. Once you have given your artifact a file name, click on the pencil icon to open the editor. The tab gives you many more options to customize the look & layout of your work. If you want to add items besides text to your artifact, the Insert Stuff button can be used. It will allow you to add in any type of file from your computer, links to websites, YouTube videos or images, or it will allow you to add in an embeddable object from another website. Once you have created your artifact, click the Next button. You will be able to add a description to your artifact on the next page. (Optional) HTML web pages can be added to collections following the same procedure as used with other artifacts. TO ADD AN AUDIO ARTIFACT: As many of the school computers have not had flash updated in Chrome, Internet Explorer is recommended for use when creating audio artifacts. If you are working on a desktop computer, you will need to have an external microphone plugged in. Select the Audio Recording tool A Flash pop-up should appear. Allow it to have access to your computer's microphone and then select Close If the pop-up does not appear and the red recording button does not appear, click Flash Settings. Making the Recording Select the record button and speak into the microphone. Click the red button again to end the recording. You can keep recording from the spot you left off by clicking the red button again. Click play to hear your recording. Click Clear if you wish to try again. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 10 of 15

11 When you are happy with your recording, click Next. A.wav file will be created. Edit the Name to include the date. Add a description. Select the button. Audio artifacts can be added to Collections in the same manner as other artifacts. TO CREATE A PRESENTATION: (Optional Use) A presentation allows you to showcase your artifacts, collections and reflections in a polished final product. A presentation is very much like creating a website. To create a new presentation, click the New Presentation link on the graphical toolbar. Give the presentation a name. The description is optional. Click on Save. You can then add content, work on the layout, create a banner or change the theme. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 11 of 15

12 When you click on the Content/Layout tab, you will see that you can add components to different locations on the page. The layout of your page can be changed, if you do not like the default setting. You initially start with a single page in your presentation, but you can add as many pages as necessary. In the Pages box, click on the page icon to add a new page. The green arrows allow you to reorder the pages in your presentation. The dropdown arrow next to New Page allows you to set the properties for the page, including changing the title of the page. If you click on either of the Add Component buttons, the following items can be added: Artifacts & Reflections The first types of content on the list (artifacts or reflections) must be created and added into your eportfolio before they can be added to a presentation. If you click on any of the first 4 links, a list of existing items for you to add will pop-up for you to select your content from. Text Area This allows you to add text, like an introduction, quotation or caption, that you do not want to add an artifact or a reflection in your eportfolio. Information from my Profile This takes the information from your profile and inserts it into your presentation. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 12 of 15

13 Changing the Appearance of Your Presentation Under the Content/Layout section you will see two blue links. The Edit Presentation Navigation link takes you to an area where you are able to change the location of the navigation bar. This is like the Table of Contents for your presentation and contains the links to let you access each page. Use the radio button to make your choice. There are two choices under the Edit Page Layout link. You must have the one large content area on each page, but you can choose to have a second smaller area as well. Use the radio button to make your selection. In the Banner tab, you can set the title that will appear at the top of each page of your presentation, as well as the optional description. Adding Collections to your Presentation Finally, in the Theme tab, you can pick the colours and fonts that are used for your presentation from a list of pre-made themes by clicking on the Select button for the theme you want to use. If you want to preview what the presentation will look like with the content and theme you have selected, click on the magnifying glass icon (circled in red). Click on the Select button to apply the theme to the presentation. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 13 of 15

14 Artifacts can be imported individually or by their collection. Collections may be imported by selecting. Select a collection. Select the items from their collection you wish to display by using the check box to the left of each artifact, and then clicking. Items may be reordered via the green arrows. VIEWING YOUR COLLECTIONS IN THE vle Select You will see your collections and artifacts under the My Items area. The Explore tab allows you to see items shared with you. Filter by Collections. Open a collection by clicking its title. Image, video, audio, urls, or other Artifacts that are digital files will have an Open File link. Click the link to open the file. Click the Artifact's title to open Reflection artifacts. eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 14 of 15

15 ADDING TEACHER COMMENTS TO COLLECTIONS Under the tab, open a student s collection by clicking on the title. Scroll down to the bottom and select Click into the comment field and enter your thoughts Use the... button to access additional formatting features. (At least font size 2 for text is recommended) Select the button. To see the added comment, scroll to the bottom. To see student comments, return to the Explore tab, then click on the speech bubble under the student's name at right. Comments will be displayed near the bottom of the screen. If you want to comment on a particular artifact, use the dropdown arrow beside the student's collection name. Then, click on the artifact name and click on the Add Comment button (as described above). eportfolio Teacher Instructions Student Created and Controlled Page 15 of 15