ePortfolio News

You can further customize your ePortfolio by using WordPress plugins.  Some of these will add more functionality to your dashboard.  Others can change the ways your readers interact with your ePortfolio.

• BuddyPress My Friend Widgets. Allows you to see your friends on your ePortfolio.
• Video Widget. Adds video (from YouTube, etc.) to the sidebar of your ePortfolio.
  
• Comment Rating. Lets your readers rate the comments posted on your ePortfolio. 
  
• My Page Order. If you activate this plugin, you’ll be able to choose the order of your Pages.
• Flash Gallery. Turns your regular photo gallery into a slideshow.
• BuddyPress Like. Similar to “like” in Facebook.

To use these plugins, you first have to activate them for your own ePortfolio.  To do this:

1. Go to your dashboard
2. Scroll down to click the menu item Plugins (on the left-hand side of the screen)
3. On the next page, you can click “Activate” under each plugin you’d like to use
4. OR you can check the box next to several, select “Activate” from the drop-down menu, and click “Apply”

If you’re working on a blog post or page, you can save your work in two different ways: by saving it as a draft or by publishing it.

On the right-hand side of the dashboard screen, there is a window called “Publish.”   Here, you can click “Save Draft” to save your work, so that you can continue it later (from any computer).  Doing this keeps the work private — you can only get it by going back to your ePortfolio’s dashboard.

If, on the other hand, you’re ready to make your post or page public, you can click “Publish.”  Once you’ve published your writing, it’s as public as the rest of your ePortfolio and/or blog.

Even if you’ve published your work, you can still make changes.  If you’re logged into your ePortfolio, you can click “edit” under a blog post or page, or go to the post from the dashboard, to revise things.  The newest version is the only one your readers will see.

Finally, you can delete a post or page in much the same way.  Be careful, though — once you’ve deleted your work, it’s gone forever!

Linking your ePortfolio to your profile makes it easier for your instructor and classmates to find your work.  It only takes a few quick steps.

1) Go to your ePortfolio by hovering your mouse over “My Blogs” and then clicking the blog title in the drop-down menu
2) Once your ePortfolio is open, copy the URL by selecting it and clicking Ctrl-C
3) Hover your mouse over “My Account” (in the grey bar at the top of the page)
4) Hover over “Profile” in the drop-down menu
5) Click “Edit Profile” in the menu that appears to the side
6) Paste your ePorfolio’s URL into the space headed “E-Portfolio”
7) Be sure to click “Save Changes”

The eWriting Studio will be open as of Tuesday, Feb. 16. Our hours are as follows:

Monday, 10-5
Tuesday, 1-8
Wednesday, 12-7
Thursday, 10-5

Please stop in and visit us in AC 1C18.  We are able to help students and faculty with any ePortfolio-related issues.

Did you know that you can change the profile associated with your ePortfolio?  To do this, follow these instructions:

1) Hover your mouse over “My Account” in the grey menu at the top of the page
2) In the drop-down menu, hover over “Profile”
3) In the new menu that appears to the side, click “Edit Profile”
4) You can change your username to reflect your full name, and can add information to your profile

To change your avatar (the image that is associated with your profile):

1) Follow steps one and two above.
2) Instead of clicking “Edit Profile,” click “Change Avatar.”
3) You will be prompted to browse your computer for a JPG, GIF, or PNG file.
4) After you have chosen the file, click “Upload Photo.”
5) You will prompted to crop the photo for both thumbnail and full-size versions.  You can make the crop-box bigger if you like.