As you start the ePortfolio that you will build throughout your time at UNE, you will not only begin shaping a professional digital identity, but you will also be constructing a website. For most students, web-building is a new skill set with an unfamiliar interface, so it may take some time to feel familiar. At the beginning, your site’s purpose may be shaped by course requirements, but you should also select and add experiences and reflections to demonstrate your learning and growth. This is your space on the web to create a professional, digital representation of your growth, accomplishments, and goals.

Your UNE ePortfolio site is part of the UNE ePortfolio network and will be built using WordPress software. Like Wix or Weebly software, WordPress allows users to add multimedia content and customize their sites. WordPress software is used to build 1/3 of ALL sites on the Internet, so you are likely to encounter sites built in WordPress for many different uses. Many people write blogs using WordPress, but organizations and corporations also use WordPress. For example, UNE’s library services site is built with WordPress as are many company sites and blogs.

Launch Sequence

After completing the launch sequence, users should:

Understand the purpose, terms, and expected usage of an ePortfolio site
Be familiar with the WordPress dashboard
Begin personalizing the site by adjusting site settings, deleting sample content, adding an About page, and customizing the site.

After you have launched your site, you may make adjustments to any of the above at any time. The basic launch sequence is outlined in the steps below and should take about a 45 minutes to complete. You do not have to complete it all at once. You may also choose to customize your site in small ways, such as adding a tagline or changing font color, or in greater ways, such as changing the theme, adding categories to keep your content organized, adding featured content, or building out a menu.

Purpose of ePortfolio, the Dashboard, and Settings

UNE ePortfolio Introduction Video (3 min)

2022 Grad Explains the Values of ePortfolio (5 min)

ePortfolio Setup Checklist

Watch the introduction to ePortfolio video and 2022 Grad video (above) to understand the purpose and value of building your ePortfolio.
Log on to your ePortfolio site by clicking the “uneportfolio.org” chiclet from the Okta dashboard (click here for more detailed instructions).
Read the Terms of Use.
You will use the WordPress Dashboard to add content and customize your site. View this written overview (see sections “The Dashboard” and “The Admin Sidebar”) or video tour of the Dashboard (6 minutes) to get familiar with it before you begin building your site.
Adjust your site settings, and delete sample content. Click here for instructions.
Create an About page and learn the difference between pages and posts. Click here for instructions.
Make a menu and learn about categories. Click here for instructions.
Customize your site to make it your own.

Settings Tutorials and Resources

Link to Settings time zone video tutorial — Go to Dashboard > Settings > General: Change to New York

Link to Setting: Visibility Video Tutorial — Go to Dashboard > Settings > Reading: Visibility to Determine Audience (video = 60 seconds)

The site visibility setting refers to the entire site. Users may choose to limit the audience of individual posts or pages of the site, but this setting is the default for the whole site.

Allow search engines to index site: your site is a public site. Anyone with the URL may view the site. Typically ePortfolio sites do not generate enough traffic to be noticed by search engines unless the URL is being shared widely (ex. on a LinkedIn profile or other social). This is the default setting for an ePortfolio site. (Recommended)
Discourage search engines from indexing this site: your site is a public site. Anyone with the URL may view the site. As noted in the settings, search engines are discouraged (but not required) to honor your request. (Recommended)
Visible only to registered users of this network: your site is visible to other UNE ePortfolio users. Only those users who are part of the UNE Portfolio Network may view the site. This typically includes classmates and professors, but only those who are registered users of the UNE Portfolio Network. Others will get a login screen. (Recommended)
Visible only to registered users of this site: your site is visible only to UNE Portfolio Network users whom you have chosen to have access to your site. If you only want your site to be visible to specifc people in the UNE Portfolio Network, you will add them individually. This option is not recommended since you will need to adjust it frequently (at least every semester), including adding specific professors.
Visible only to administrators of this site: your site is visible only to you and a few UNE IT and SASC administrators. Your site is not visible to professors, classmates, advisors, etc.

The site visibility setting may be changed at any time. Students who choose to share their ePortfolio site with grad schools or potential employers should be sure to set their site visibility to one of the public options.

Click “Trash” for the Hello World post and the Sample Page

Content (10-15 min)

Publish an About page to your ePortfolio. The video tutorial below, provides technical instruction and ideas for content. For more detail on audience consideration and professionalism, see Constructing your About page.

How do you make an About page, and what should you include on it? (4 min.)

Add the About page to your menu. To see written instructions with screenshots click here, or watch the following video tutorials for customizing your navigation menu.

Add categories to organize your site. Similar to hashtags, categories connect content on your site. Multiple categories could be added to the same post. Note: categories can only be applied to posts.

Categories can be used to connect:

course content by course number or learning objective (ex. DEN 100 Posts, peer review)
types of media (ex. video, audio, podcast, blog)
skills (ex. collaboration, leadership)
experiential learning (ex. service learning, global, internships)
or co-curricular experiences (ex. UNE hockey blog, environmental club).

How do you add items to the menu, and how do you change your site title? (4 min)

How do you add categories to a post? (2 min)

Customize Your Site

Your ePortfolio site will reflect your professionalism and your goals, but it should also highlight your creativity and interests. Selecting your theme and customizing your site is like decorating your home — it reflects your personality and suits the purpose of the space. Although you may be using your ePortfolio for course work initially, you may also add pages and posts about your interests and experience.

Theme, Header Image, and Tagline

Themes are website templates. They are designed by professionals, so the colors and text styles work together, but you may customize to your liking or needs. When choosing a theme, remember that your content will not only include the text you are adding to your site but also the images. Some themes include stock images for the header or featured content.

Most themes include a header (or banner) image at the top of the page and a tagline. To change your theme, go to Appearances > Themes. You may preview a theme before selecting it. You may change your theme as often as you would like. Content (such as posts, images, pages) is saved on your site, but it may be displayed differently from theme to theme. Some themes also include tutorials to demonstrate customization choices, such as the default Ashe theme.
To change your header image and tagline, go to Appearances> Customize or click the customize button from the short cut menu at the top. Some students use the tagline to share their philosophy about learning or life, while others select a thought-provoking quote. Others simply welcome visitors or state the student’s major or year of anticipated graduation.
You may customize your header image to include a photo you took or image you created, or you may want a professional Creative Commons or royalty free image. Consider using unsplash.com for your header image (select “small” image size when downloading and copy attribution to acknowledge the creator by adding a paragraph widget).

Widgets

Widgets are meant to help visitors navigate the site or to offer additional global content (content and navigation that is visible from the home page as well as on all posts and pages). All themes allow customization of widgets from Appearances>Widgets or from the short cut menu at the top.

Different themes have different options for the location of the widget. Select a location (sidebars, footer, etc). Click the + sign in the top left to add a block, such as Paragraph text, Search, or Categories. New widgets are added to the bottom but can be adjusted by selecting and toggling them up or down (see image below). Click “update” to save the change. If you change your theme, you may need to adjust your site’s widgets.

Have you completed all the launch steps? Want to learn about making your content more visually interesting?

Link to tutorial for customizing a quote block — **How do you customize a quote block? (45 seconds)**

Link to Media & Text block video tutorial — **How do you customize a** **Media & Text Block? (45 seconds)**

Questions or feedback?

Students should visit SASC; faculty should contact CETL.