Wk1 Reading - Copyright

Final Project - ETC

1.    Target Audience – Students in the Bachelor's of Science DAD program at Full Sail University.
2.    Materials –
    a.    Laptop (instructor and students)
    b.    Projector
    c.    Printed handouts
3.    Objectives – By the end of the project the students will be able to demonstrate the necessary
       capabilities to use online portfolio creation tools. They will have the beginnings of
       their very own portfolio.
4.    Procedure –  
    a.    Sign up for a new account. (Free vs paid.)
    b.    Create unique portfolio address.
    c.    Under About tab, edit personal information.
           (Name, image, skills, contact info, freelance availability, etc.)
    d.    Create a new project on the backend page.
    e.    Add files to the new project.
           (Supports jpeg, gif, bmp, tiff, ico, and png images.)
    f.    Edit the various project details.
           (Title, description, client, layout, etc.)
    g.    Personalize tab, where the look of the portfolio can be altered.
    h.    On the Projects tab, create a new thumbnail for the project.
    i.    View the online portfolio, and how it will be shared and viewed.
5.    Web 2.0 Tool – Carbonmade.com (allows the simple creation of an online portfolio.)
6.    Social Participation/Social Learning – The lesson will take place in a very collaborative manner.
       While demonstrating the tool, the students will be working on it at the same time,
       providing feedback and guidance for one another.
7.    Making Connections – Most college age students have worked with Web 2.0 tools
       before, so they will be recalling their own efforts with other tools and sites.
       They will also be revisiting past work of theirs, and calling upon their design skills for the
       (albeit limited) display customization. The resulting online portfolio will allow the students
       to reach out to a much broader audience (potentially the entire world) and especially
       the professional world.
8.    Create/Produce – Each student will walk away with an online portfolio.
9.    Assessment – I will be asking for feedback directly while guiding through the process of
       creating the portfolio.  There will be a discussion at the end of the project as well.
       I will experiment with making this simply a completion project, instead of grading it on a
       rubric in an attempt to take pressure off the students and hopefully encourage them to
       experiment with it more.
10.  Reflection – After the entire process is done, and all questions have been answered,
       I will hold a Q&A sessions with the class as a whole, and on an individual basis.
       This will allow me to determine how comfortable they were with tool, and give me an
       opportunity to see each student's portfolio.

      This whole process was fairly enjoyable, as I had fun researching into the different online
      portfolio creation is available.  It was nice to see the students react positively to
      Carbonmade.com, even saying it was the best portfolio tool they had experienced.  When asked
      if they felt it would be a good thing to introduce to future classes they said yes.

      The following video recalls the lecture I provided for the students:

PE5 – Carbonmade

Inside your Carbonmade backend page, you can create your projects simply by clicking the 'Add a project' button.  Inside the project it’s simple to add image files by clicking the ‘add’ button (everything is spelled out pretty well for the user.)

This brings up the familiar file selection window, and it only allows the user to select the supported file types.  Once the image has uploaded, you can give it a caption, describing what it is.

Scrolling down you can edit details about your project, including the title, the description, and the client it was done for, among others.  You can also change the layout of the project as seen by those viewing it.

Scrolling back to the top of the page there is a personalize tab, in which the user has a few options with which to further customize their portfolio, such as if they want a black or white color scheme, and if they want a serif or sans serif type face.

Back on the projects tab, each of the projects will appear, using the first loaded image as the default thumbnail; this can be easily changed with a click of a button and the selection of a new image.  When you’re done loading you images, to view your online portfolio simply click the link at the top left of the page.

This is the portfolio that others will see when you share your link with them.  From there the person can click on which project they want to view, which leads them to a gallery of the work you have uploaded.
And it really is that easy to get a free and simply portfolio on the Web.

On a side note, a similar website I found is MyFolio.com.  While working with this site, I actually felt it offered more and better options, however it is currently being upgraded, and the ability to publish one’s portfolio is working, thus rendering the site (temporarily hopefully) essentially useless.  I will be keeping an eye on MyFolio, and if it begins to function properly, I will probably make the transition to it.

PE4 – Carbonmade

I have begun exploring Carbonmade.com as the Web 2.0 tool to use for my Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario that I will be doing in my classroom.  Carbonmade allows for the easy creation of an online portfolio.  I am choosing this because I feel that most of my students would like to have a way to show their work on the Web, but don’t necessarily have the technical know-how to create their own website.  As these students get closer to their graduation date, this becomes even more important, and can be a valuable tool for each and every one of them.

Starting on the home page, it’s easy to either sign in if you are an existing member, or to sign up for a new account.  On the sign up page I noticed there are two options, a free one and a $12 a month option.  For free you get 5 projects and the ability to have 35 total images, while for money you get 50 projects along with 500 image and 10 videos.  Obviously the paid option gives a lot more, but the individual will have to determine if he or she feels it is worth it.

I went ahead with the free option, which only requires you to supply your name, email, a password, and to agree to the terms and conditions.  At this point you also create the name of your portfolio and create a web address for it (which will always end in .carbonmade.com)

At this point you have created your account and your portfolio, and your ready to get started uploading work.

BP7 - Google Docs Commercial

The following is a one minute commercial for Google Docs I created using screen captures, ScreenFlow, and iMovie.

BP6 - Link to Fari's blog

Click this link to see my post on Fari's blog about the Web 2.0 service Livemocha.

 

BP5 - Link to Liz's blog

Follow this link to see my comment on Liz's blog post about the Web 2.0 site Little Bird Tales.