Portfolios allow students and teachers to collaboratively organize content outside their Classes and Spaces: not only copying posts from multiple spaces into one place, but also creating new posts directly within Portfolios.
Whether it's to gather a collection of students' best work, meet district objectives for communication of learning, or to achieve multiple goals at the same time, working with Portfolios is easy.
Accessing Portfolios
For both students and teachers, access to Portfolios is through a tab at the top of the Home screen:
If you don't see the Portfolios tab, click the back or home button at the top left of your screen until you've exited any Classes or Spaces, and you've returned to the Home screen with the SpacesEDU logo at the top left
You can also transfer posts into a portfolio from within a class, by clicking the m,u button (three dots) on the post, then Copy Post
Within the navigation for each Portfolio, there is a Home section at the top which displays all posts within that Portfolio, then up to 20 sub-sections with their own titles:
Portfolio templates are assigned by your district administrators and the section names are pre-set by them
If you notice any errors or revisions needed with the section names, attachments, or other pre-defined elements within Portfolios, please contact your school district's lead/administrator for SpacesEDU
This article outlines how to access district-level configuration options, including additional information about how SpacesEDU determines which Portfolios are active or archived for teachers and students
The only options that are customizable by teachers and students within Portfolios are the selection or creation of posts to include, and the Summary Statement at the top of the main portfolio page (max. 5000 characters)
Posts can be created either by copying them from within Classes, or directly within Portfolios
Any portfolios where a student has added content will remain visible in the Archived tab, but students cannot add new posts within archived portfolios
If a student previously had access to a portfolio but never added content, it will not appear in the archive
For example, if a school has a portfolio template for Grade 8s: in Grade 9, a student who added posts last year would see their Grade 8 portfolio in the archive, but another Grade 9 who never used the portfolio would not.
Copying Posts
For teachers and students with active Portfolios, new options are unlocked any time they copy a post.
Selecting the Portfolio option at the top of the screen will adjust the selections available :
Instead of posting to a Class and Space, you are now prompted to select a Portfolio and Portfolio Section where to add the copy, and select a student
Posts can only be copied to Portfolios for one student at a time
The copied post will include any original attachments, but not any comments or Curriculum Tags from the original post
We recommend saving the Post Selections right away after changing from Class to Portfolio or vice versa - drafts cannot be saved until you do, in the event you make any edits to the post before creating the copy
Creating Portfolio Posts - Students
To create a new post directly in a Portfolio as a student:
Log in to your account, and click the Back or Home button at the top left if needed to reach the home screen
Click Portfolios at the top of the screen
Click on a portfolio name in the Active tab
The first time you open a portfolio, you'll see a full screen view of the portfolio description, with links to any attachments - click Get Started at the top right to begin adding new posts
You can go back and access this description and attachments later by clicking the i near the top right of the portfolio
You can either click Create at the bottom right to start adding a post right away, then choose which portfolio section to add to, or you can open a section first, then click Create from there
You can add a title (max 100 characters), description (max 5000 characters), and up to 10 attachments per post; drafts will be auto-saved every 30 seconds, or can be saved manually with the Save Draft button at the top right
Click Post when you're ready to post to your portfolio!
After creating a post, you'll be returned to the Portfolio. You can go back and edit the post, or create a copy by clicking the menu button (three dots) on the post. You also have the option to add comments with additional attachments!
Creating Portfolio Posts - Teachers
As a teacher, you can access the same portfolio view as each student, but you also have a class view allowing you to easily add content for students, and track which students have content in each section.
Log in to your account, and click the Back or Home button at the top left if needed to reach the home screen
Click Portfolios at the top of the screen
Even without a class, teachers can always access Portfolios where the visibility is set to allow teachers to view ALL students: by turning OFF the filter to 'Only show my students,' you can view and add to portfolios for any students at the school
To access Portfolios where the admin has set visibility to only view students in your classes, you will need to have students added to your class via rostering or Class Code
If a class has not been pre-populated in your account via rostering, or sharing from another teacher, you can click Add Class to create a new class manually
Click any portfolio name
For portfolios where teachers can only view students in their classes, you'll only see them listed if you have an active class with students in the grade(s) that portfolio is visible for
Portfolios where teachers can view all students at the school will be visible regardless of whether you have classes with students, but you will need to toggle OFF the 'Only show my students' setting to view content
On the next page, you'll see a list of student names along the left-hand side, and columns corresponding with each portfolio section:
You can click on a Student Name to open the same view of the full portfolio as what the student sees, or search for students by name at the top left
If the portfolio allows teachers to view all students at the school, you can toggle the 'Only show my students' filter off at the top right to view students that are not in your classes
You can see the total number of posts added in each section, if some have already been added to that section, and click the page button to jump directly into that section
You can click the ➕ button to start creating a post in that Portfolio section for a student, or click the Create button after clicking on a student's name
You can add a title (max 100 characters), description (max 5000 characters), and up to 10 attachments per post; drafts will be auto-saved every 30 seconds, or can be saved manually with the Save Draft button at the top right
Click Post when you're ready to add the post for that student - if you started creating the post from the main student list, you'll be returned there so you can dive right in and add posts for another student!