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PLAR e-Portfolio Instructions

This is easier and faster than it looks! To create your e-Portfolio, you will need to move through the following steps.

First, here is a “big picture” overview of what you are actually doing:

1. Uploading all your PLAR documents onto the portfolio site.

2. Customizing your e-portfolio using a pre-set template. Your portfolio will consist of four distinct pages—Front End Pieces, Learning Statements Documentation, Letters of Attestation and Supporting Documentation.

3. Creating and providing a link to your portfolio so it can be assessed.

It is important to note that the e-Portfolio is not an ‘interactive’ environment; rather, it acts as a repository for the information that you have organized and presented in a particular manner. Therefore, once you have uploaded your documents, it is not possible to edit them, except for the title. We recommend that you DO NOT upload any materials to the e-Portfolio until your portfolio pieces are all completed and have been approved by your mentor. Your mentor should also approve the organization of your portfolio pieces before you upload them.

[Note 1: If you want to begin by looking at our mock e-Portfolio as an example, follow the directions in Note 1 at the end of this document.]

As you move forward through these instructions, please read each step in its entirety and view the screenshots before enacting the steps. This may help makes things clearer to you and easier to accomplish.

Getting started

1. Login to the Athabasca University E-Lab Portfolio site using your AU username and password (this will be referred to as your MyAU credentials): https://portfolio.elab.athabascau.ca/ If you experience difficulty getting onto the E-LAB Portfolio site, please contact the Helpdesk: http://helpdesk.athabascau.ca/

2. Create a short profile for yourself. You will be asked for your name, and email address. All site users must do this.

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3. If after carefully reading and following the steps outlined in these instructions (in order), you are still experiencing difficulties, please contact the Portfolio Development Coordinator at gleicht@athabascau.ca for assistance.

Next: Uploading your files, video clips or pictures

1. To upload your files that will make up your portfolio, go to the Files tab located underneath the Content tab near the top of the screen.

2. A new page will be displayed called Files (see screenshot following). Follow the procedure outlined below to upload all your portfolio documentation. You may do your uploads all at one time or return to the process whenever you choose.

a. First, click on the box to the right of upload file indicating that the files you are uploading are your own and not in breach of any copyright legislation.

b. To upload a file(s), click on the Browse box (to the right of the File line). Search your computer to upload the file(s) and select open (same as if you were attaching a file(s) to an email as an attachment).

c. Repeat this process until ALL your portfolio documentation has been uploaded to your Files page.

Next: Accessing and formatting the PLAR portfolio template collection

We have created a collection of pages (grouping all 4 pages of the portfolio into one template) for you to use to ensure your portfolio is presented in the necessary format and contains all the necessary pieces.This collection is called the Portfolio Table of Contents Template. You will be creating your electronic table of contents as you ‘name each content block’ and import your documents into the portfolio template.

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1. Click on the Portfolio tab now and then the Collections tab (located near the top of the screen as identified in the screenshot below).

2. To access the Portfolio Table of Contents template collection, click on the grey box

entitled Copy a collection in the upper (mid) right corner of the ‘Collections’ screen (this is the screen you are on – see screenshot above).

3. Click in the search pages box and type in Portfolio Table of Contents template. Click GO to the right of the search pages box (see screenshot below).

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4. The portfolio collection pages will appear below on the screen. You will see four of them. Click on the grey Copy Collection box to the right of the “front end pieces” title (see screenshot following).

5. Now you can edit the title of your portfolio and give it a description if you wish to. Click on the grey “Next: Edit collection pages” box at the bottom of the screen (as in screenshot following).

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6. Now click the DONE box on the bottom left of the screen (see screenshot following).

7. You will be directed back to the Collections view and your newly created Portfolio template will be displayed as you have titled it:

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Next: You will personalize each of the four pages in your portfolio template.

8. Click on the portfolio title (as in the example in the screenshot above) and you will see the following screen (these are the four pages that make up your portfolio). Note: You will be immediately taken to the Front End Pieces page as the starting point to create your portfolio. Click on the “Edit this page” grey box to the upper right of the screen to begin personalizing this first page of your portfolio.

9. Click on the Edit title and description tab to edit the “Page title” and “Page Description” (as indicated in the screenshot below). Remove the words “copy of” from the title of each page and edit the description (in the text box that is displayed) to include your name, student id# and portfolio title. Click the Save box at the bottom when you’re done!

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10. You will be returned to your portfolio template. Now you can add the appropriate files to this page of your portfolio! You will be importing one file to each content block (delineated by each ‘title’ in the right column of the page, e.g. cover page, portfolio declaration page, etc.). Click on the pencil icon across from each content block to import each document where it belongs. (Note: Remember that you uploaded your documents to the portfolio site earlier in this process).

11. You will be directed to the Content page to “select” each file to import. The title of the content block you are working with is displayed at the top of the screen. To select the file to import into the portfolio, click the grey Select box to the right of the document title (see following screenshot). Click on the grey Save box at the bottom left of the screen. Continue this process (steps 10 and 11) until all your front end pieces are uploaded.

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NOTE: After you’ve imported all the files for this page of your portfolio DON’T click on the grey DONE box at the bottom of the screen just yet – you will edit all four pages of the portfolio before you click the grey DONE box.

12. Click on the heading for the next page of the portfolio – “Copy of Identification and Verification of Learning” to personalize the next page of the portfolio.

13. Click the “edit this page” box and repeat steps 9 – 11 to add your learning statements documentation. IF YOU ARE CREATING A COURSE-BASED PORTFOLIO, you will have to add more content ‘blocks’ up to the number of competency worksheets you are including. To add more content blocks (If you have more files to import in a particular page as in a course-based portfolio or if you have more letters of attestation and supporting documents than the template provides for) you will need to add more content ‘blocks’ to house each of your other files. You do this by dragging a content block (i.e. the first icon under “Files, Images and video”) down to the bottom of the right column of the template. A new screen will appear where you can appropriately ‘title’ (Tab XX: document title) your new block and select a file to add to it (see next 2 screen shots).

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Your new block will now be part of the portfolio (see shot below):

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When you have edited all four pages of the portfolio template as outlined in the steps above, hit DONE at the bottom middle of the screen and you will return to this screen:

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To view your completed portfolio, click on the Collections tab. You should see your portfolio displayed now:

Next: Create your secret URL to your portfolio

To create your secret URL, click on the Share tab. Next, click the pencil icon under the heading “Secret URLs” to the right of the portfolio title.

Click the Add box to generate a new secret URL for your portfolio:

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You are done – now just e-mail your secret URL to your mentor!

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Note 1

To make some sense of all of this, take a look at our e-Portfolio for fictitious “Gabrielle Harvey”:

https://portfolio.elab.athabascau.ca/view/view.php?id=4720