ePortfolios – Set-up Guidelines and Resources

Included on this page are basic guidelines and a set of resources and links that will help students be successful in creating and managing their WordPress ePortfolios throughout their 4J tenure. Students will use their ePortfolios to artifact and reflect on assignments and work samples from their classes.

Students are also encouraged to use the “Blog” and “Community” pages/sections of their ePortfolios for general commentary related to their school experience, and to highlight activities in and around school, community service and volunteering, and other extra-curricular activities such as sports, the arts and performing arts, etc.

WordPress Resource and Tutorial Links

Note: WordPress is currently at version 5.03. The set-up described below is based on previous versions of 4.X and older. The UI (user interface) and dashboard in the newest version is significantly different than prior versions – much of the same functionality, some new, and nuances that take a little discovery. To that end, 4J has kept the previous UI, although users can choose to work in the new UI if they choose. By clicking on the WordPress logo in the upper left hand of the window next to “My Sites” users can access extensive help menus and other documentation.

Also note that 4J has its own WordPress installation, so this is NOT WordPress.com or WordPress.org although they are inherently the same program, the difference is 4J controls and customizes its installation for its user base.

Basics, beginning to advanced working with WordPress – WordPress.org Help

Cal Young ePortfolio Set-up: Required Student ePortfolio Components

Follow these comprehensive steps in the PDF below:

Detailed Step-By-Step Set-up Directions (PDF)

Abbreviated overview of ePortfolio set-up structure:

1. Main Navigation/Hierarchy – Created and ordered using PAGES

Select: Pages ->Add New (Page)

Primary Pages/Menu Navigation must include and is limited to the following and in this order (some themes also include a Home Page):
1. About
2. Classes
3. Blog
4. Community

Students will list their actual classes in order by period as sub-pages (children to the parent classes) under the main page Classes.

Students may choose to create sub-pages under the Blog and Community main pages to break out commentary and activities in a more structured hierarchy as they deem necessary.

2. Post Categories – Setup

In Post panel:

Select : Post -> Category

Add a New Category for all of your classes or topics that you anticipate posting about. Example – Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Band, Broadcast Media, etc.

Write a Post to welcome visitors to your ePortfolio.

Give your post a Title in the Title field.

Type in your content, taking care with spelling and grammar.

Check privacy setting under Visibility.

Check a Category in the lower right corner (Uncategorized for this one is fine)

Click on the Publish button on the far right.

Take a look at your site to see your post on the home page.

POST Weekly Updates – Posts -> Add New

3. Weekly Updates
Students will post weekly updates as Posts. Students will have already created a designated category for the class they are providing a weekly update. When students add their new post, they will make sure to check the category associated with that class.
Weekly Updates will include a brief summary of the activities and work completed in classes, and formatted with the following title in boldface style:
Sample: Week 5 – Journalism

4. Assignments and Artifacts Requirements
Assignments are presented on the page designated for that class.
Students must include the following components and formatting for posting and archiving assignments:
1. Assignment name and date submitted in bold face type style.
2. Brief assignment description and intended outcome (narrative).
3. Assignment artifact (images, movies – streamed from Vimeo, PDFs of written work, music files, etc).
4. Reflection – a brief 3 part summary: (1) re-statement of the assignment goal/outcome, (2)description the step-by-step process to complete it, (3)reflect on how the student feels about the outcome, the process, and any comments.

5. Privacy
Student ePortfolios, by default, are set to NOT allow indexing by search engines. This provides an initial level of Internet privacy. Students have also been shown how to set Posts and Pages to varying levels of privacy which include password protecting content and making content completely private.

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