Guide to using Myshowcase.me and Canva for your Reflection

Transcription

1 Guide to using Myshowcase.me and Canva for your Reflection If you are planning on using an e-portfolio for your Futures reflection then we recommend that you use myshowcase.me. However if you are familiar with another e-portfolio system you are welcome to submit your reflection using an alternative online platform. E-portfolios are a great way of showcasing yourself in a really innovative and visual way, and creating your account is free and easy. Just go to create an account, then follow this guide to get you started. Creating items You can add all different types of content to demonstrate the things you have been involved in, the experience you have and the skills you have developed. You do this by clicking on create new item and selecting the type of item you would like to create this can be a range of things including images, videos, text notes, YouTube videos, Vimeo, Flickr images, files and web links. Creating Showcases You create a showcase by simply dragging items you have created into a showreel and you can create different showcases for different purposes, allowing you to tailor each one for a specific purpose, depending on who you will be sharing it with and why. Once you have created some items and are ready to start building your showcase, click on create a new showcase and give it a name and description we suggest you call it Futures Skills Award. Once you have created your items you ll then drag them into the showreel (the long dark strip across the top of the page) to add them to that particular showcase, as shown in the screen shot below:

2 So once you have created your content it s really easy to build and arrange your showcases by just dragging and dropping the items you have created! Make it Yours: Once you have created your showcase you can customise the look to make it your own and to suit the purpose for which you have created it. To do this, click on the customise button in the top right of the screen as indicated below: Customise button Then simply choose the colour scheme, fonts and background you prefer. Once you have got it customised and looking how you d like, make sure you save the changes (top right) then return to the Showcase Builder to publish.

3 Save Changes Return to showcase builder when you have saved your changes You can continue to add things to your showcase at this point, but if you re ready to publish simply click the publish button in the top right: Publish button To submit your reflection, click on the option to view published showcase you should then copy and paste the link to the showcase in the submit field in My Career Hub to submit your portfolio when you are ready.

4 Tips - Myshowcase.me You will find an example reflection at: In the example we have used image items and a video item for the skills snapshot. The reflection has been uploaded as a file item (pdf). When copying and pasting information into the description field when creating items (you will probably be copying from a Word or similar document) the formatting is often affected, so make sure you reformat and remove the extra paragraphs created. Myshowcase.me uses American spellings, so you might notice that something you have spell-checked in Word now has red underlining. Don t feel the need to amend spelling if it is just wanting you to change it to the America version. An example of this is specialise (UK spelling) and specialize (American). You can edit items to tailor them to a specific showcases by clicking on the item in the film reel in the showcase. If you want to change an item across all showcases, you should click on the item in the My Stuff section below the showcase. If you want to use Myshowcase.me to build a full personal portfolio for other uses, the following portfolios give a good example of exactly how it can be used: o o o o o

5 Using Canva to create your reflective submission Canva gives you access to a massive range of graphic design layouts to help make anything you are creating look beautiful and professional. From social media posts right through to presentations and blog graphics, you can do so much with this on-line tool. Here is a brief guide on how to use it: Visit the website at and sign up. Click create a design in the top left-hand corner to get started, then choose the type of design you would like to create. In our example which you will find here: we have used the presentation type, but there are others to choose from which you might want to try. Design your presentation submission. There are a number of tools you can use to select and edit the design and content as follows: Layouts: This section offers you a number of options on the available layouts and designs which you can use, so chose one which you like and will best present your content. If you selected to use a presentation design you will then have the choice of a number of different page designs within this section, so each page can have a slightly different layout whilst keeping with the same theme and design. Elements: This tool allows you to insert photos*, shapes, lines, charts and other elements you may want to include. You can also search for photos by keyword, but this will usually sort photos by those which have a charge, so you ll have to scroll to find free images. * You can also upload your own photos see uploads below.

6 Text: This section allows you to import text types and layouts, and there are some really funky choices to choose from! Background: This section allows you to change the background colour of your design. Uploads: This tool allows you to upload and include your own images once uploaded you can just drag and drop into your designs. Once you have finalised your design make sure it is saved by clicking on save under the file button in the top left of the screen. You can then chose to make it public, share it or download it. For the purpose of submitting this for the award you should click on Share then the link tab in the pop-up box, and then copy the url. You should then paste this url in the submit field in My Career Hub to submit your reflection when you are ready. Example: We have created an example which you can access through the following link: