Wednesday, February 23, 2011

February 23, 2011

Good Afternoon Instructors,

To continue with my discussion on eFolio from two weeks ago, I have created a Screencast Tutorial for your use (feel free to share with your students also) on how to set one's eFolio account to be shared with others either Publicly or Privately.  Within this tutorial I also guide users to the eFolio Log-in Troubleshooting steps if individuals are having difficulty accessing an already created account (most likely computer settings simply need to be reset, which is very easy to do).

Please feel free to use this tutorial however you feel is best.

Thanks and have a great rest of the week!

Heather Thomton-Stockman
Online Instructional Specialist

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

February 16, 2011

Good Morning Instructors,

This week I'd like to discuss a great resource within Skillsoft that allows us to share brief expert lectures with our students; it is something called QuickTalks on Skillsoft's Learning Channel. These brief expert lectures are under 10 minutes in length (and often under 5 minutes in length) and can help to connect with our audio and visual learners.

First, click here to access the SkillPort log-in page. Your username and password should be the same: firstinitiallastname (i.e. jdoe). If you have any trouble logging in, contact the GEN Helpdesk. Then access Books 24X7 to search the Learning Channel repository. Click here to access a tutorial on navigating around the Learning Channel within Skillsoft.

If you have any questions on this resource, please let me know. And if you find a great QuickTalk to use in your online course(s), please let me know that as well!

Thanks,
Heather Thomton-Stockman
Online Instructional Specialist

Thursday, February 10, 2011

February 9, 2011

Good Afternoon Instructors,

The eFolio Instructor Training course in Blackboard started this week, and there have been a couple of really good questions raised during this course.  I wanted to share this information with all of you in case you have wondered the same things.

Question 1:  Students often mention they cannot log back into their eFolio accounts once they are set up.
Answer:  In 99.9% of situations where this has occurred, students have forgotten their password and have become frustrated and often try to just re-create a new account.  If they already have an account, a new account cannot be created. 

Instead, as the instructor, you'll want to direct them to do the following:
  • Click on the eFolio log-in page located at: 
https://login.efolioworld.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fOwner%2fAdminUI.aspx&ui=mouse
  • Direct students to then enter their student email account into the User Name box (it is important students use their student email account - and they are directed to do this in all eFolio instructions - but as instructors please reinforce this requirement with students).
  • Click log-in and the password box will appear.  Directly below this box students can click on a password reminder button.
  • This is an automated process and once the Password Reminder link has been clicked, the student's password is temporarily reset and the information is instantly sent to the student's school email account.
  • Once the email is received, the student can use the temporary password to log-in; upon initial use of this temporary password, students will then be required to reset their password.
As mentioned, this will remedy 99.9% of student log-in difficulties.  If this does not work, you can definitely direct students to the eFolio Help Site, which can be accessed on the eFolio log-in page, but I would recommend directing students through the above automated process first.

Question 2:  There is a reminder in the course shell for students to upload an assignment to their eFolio account, as the instructor, what should I be doing with this? 
Answer:  Throughout each program or course of study at GEN, specific assignments have been identified as end products for students to upload to their eFolio portfolios.  There are reminders and instructions on how to do this within the specific courses and they are tied to the specific assignments required.

Toward the end of a student's academic career, he/she will take PD250 Career Development.  It is within this course that, among other projects, students will pull together the final product and culmination of their eFolio portfolios.  To assist students in developing and fine tuning their eFolio portfolios throughout their time at GEN, we have added in the above mentioned assignment submission reminders and instructions.  It is in the student's best interest to work on this throughout rather than wait and scramble at the end.  

As the instructor, it is encouraged that you also remind students of these submission requirements when they are located within a course shell you may be teaching.  I'd also recommend that you encourage students to implement any suggestions and feedback you have offered in the grading process of the assignment/project before a student uploads it to his/her eFolio account.  That way the finest product can be displayed in their electronic portfolio. 

If you have any questions on eFolio or on anything I've mentioned above, please do not hesitate to let me know.  Earlier this week Kelly Schmidt sent out the below information on the URL change for eFolio's log-in page so wanted to include that here again as well.

If you are teaching a course with an eFolio component, please note that the URL for the eFolio login page has changed to:

Please update the eFolio Login link in your section(s).
If you have any questions about how to do so, the directions are below, otherwise you can contact me for help.

How To…Modify An External Link (eFolio Login link)
1.       Open the Course you want to work with
2.       Click on the Control Panel Link (left side of your screen, at the bottom)
3.       Click on the Unit Content Link
4.       Scroll to the unit that contains the eFolio Login link and click on that Unit to access the contents
5.       Find the eFolio Login link and click the Modify Button (to the right of the link)
6.       Delete the current URL and paste in the new eFolio Login URL: https://login.efolioworld.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fOwner%2fAdminUI.aspx&ui=mouse
7.       Click the Submit Button (bottom, right side of the page)
8.       Click Ok 

Have a great rest of the week!

Heather Thomton-Stockman
Online Instructional Specialist