School and Career Electronic Portfolio Project
Reference Guide: Setting Up the Portfolio

1. Create a folder for each student on the school network or on classroom computers or, if available, on VES (Virtual Education Space). The teacher should have read/write access to student folders. The teacher should also have his/her own folder.
   
   
2. Put the following files into the teacher's folder:
   
   * The master copy of the portfolio program, called SCPortfolio.mdb or SCPortfolioMyClass.mdb or a similar name.
   * The file called SCTeacherView.mdb which facilitates viewing student files.
   * The PowerPoint presentations about the project.
   * Any sample files that you might want to show the students.
   
   Note: When you copy a file directly from a CD, the file will be "Read-Only." If the SCPortfolio and SCTeacherView files are "Read-Only", right click on the filename, choose Properties from the popup menu, and then uncheck the Read-Only property.
   
   
3. If you have not done so already, open the portfolio file and use the Skills List Worksheet to customize the Skills List to match the goals of your course or pathway.
   
   
4. If you want to add to or edit the Structured Essay Questions (available under Portfolio Tools on the Main Menu) you may do so now.
   
   
5. Close the program and use My Computer or Network Neighborhood to copy and paste the master copy of the SCPortfolio file into each student folder. To be safe, either you or the students should rename the file (with the student's initials - such as SCPortfolioMLM.mdb) to prevent anyone from accidentally overwriting the files.
   
   
6. Later, the teacher may open the SCTeacherView.mdb file and create a list of all the students' names, folders and portfolio filenames.
   
   
7. At least once or twice during the year, students will need to copy their portfolios to a CD. Make sure there is some way to move the portfolios to a computer with a CD writer. You can move the portfolios via a shared network folder, zip disk, VES, or even email if necessary. The portfolio files are large and will be too large to fit on a diskette, even if compressed.
   
   

Where to get portfolio files: During the electronic portfolio workshop, participants created their own CDs with customized copies of the portfolio software. * The files are also available on the workshop CD or from http://www.skillslibrary.com (see BPS Electronic Portfolio).

For information about the project, contact Linda Younis at the Boston Public Schools School to Career Office or Jennifer Leonard at The Skills Library.