Creating Your e-Portfolio

Hear ye, hear ye: Creating an e-Portfolio is only for students seeking a Certificate in Weather Forecasting.

Everyone likely has a scrapbook that documents a significant event or period of their life. You should think of the e-portfolio, which you will build and publish on your free Penn State personal web space, as an electronic scrapbook that commemorates your knowledge and hard work in the certificate program. Your e-portfolio will contain accounts of case-studies that highlight your learning in the certificate program. In the end, you will have an electronic scrapbook that you can keep to document your passion for weather or as a vehicle to improve your academic or professional standing. Regardless, you will become a skillful producer and discerning consumer of weather information that you digest from the courses and information published on the World Wide Web. As a bonus, your coaches (instructors) and fellow students (your teammates) can view your work, paving the way for collaboration and thereby enhancing your overall learning experience.

Of course, you must first begin by creating your presence on the web. To do this you have two options. If you are experienced in authoring HTML (HyperText Markup Language) documents, and in using secure file transfer utilities to upload HTML documents to Web servers, then you may choose create your own web pages for your e-portfolio. However, if you are new to Web publishing, realize that the learning curve for publishing your own web pages can be significant. Therefore, we strongly suggest a different path -- The Penn State Blog Tool. More on this choice in a minute, but first things first.

Step 1: Activate your personal web space account

The first step is to have some web space in which to place your e-portfolio. If you already have web space, that's great -- feel free to use it for your e-portfolio as well. However, if you need to web space, Penn State provides 500 Mb personal Web space accounts to any student on request. Complete directions are published at http://www.e-portfolio.psu.edu/build/create/50min02_apply.html. Expect your personal Web space account to be activated within three days of your request (sometimes less). Do not expect to receive notification by email that your application has been processed. Your URL will be "www.personal.psu.edu/abc123", where "abc123" is your Penn State Access Account ID.

Step 2: Choose how you will create web pages

As we have previously indicated, if you have never created a webpage before, learning to do so can be quite a challenge. In the past, we felt that students spent more time (and frustration) on the technical aspects of their e-portfolio than understanding the science aspects. Therefore, we started looking for an option that lets you create nice looking web content using a very simple interface. The Penn State Blog tool lets you do precisely that. Therefore, we encourage everyone to use this method of web publishing (even if you been using the "old school" method, you are welcome to give this a try).

To prepare to use the Penn State Blog Tool you first need to register at the "The Blogs at Penn State" website. After your blog has been set up, you're ready to publish your first entry.

Important note: If you still want to publish your own pages, I have given you some helpful links at the bottom of this page. However, please understand that we will not provide technical support for self-published pages. If you choose this path, please make sure that you are comfortable with web-publishing and the trouble-shooting that can accompany it.

Step 3a: Create a blog

The software that runs the Penn State Blog site is called "Movable Type 4" (MT4). It has the ability to create both blogs and static web pages. A "blog" is short for "Web log" and technically is an online journal. We won't be using it in exactly that capacity, although you can have multiple blogs so you could keep your own "Weather Blog" in addition to your e-portfolio. To create a blog follow the instructions listed under the heading "Create Blog" (page 5) of this handy instruction manual (a PDF file). After you've done so, create your first entry (instructions, page 10). Here's my first entry. The URL to your blog will be similar: http://www.personal.psu.edu/your_id/blogs/your_blog_name/. Notice that you can format text, make links (page 13) and add pictures easily (page 14). Lastly, feel free to customize your page with a particular "style" (page 8). As you are getting used to the interface, don't be afraid to try various things. And, as always feel free to ask any questions that might arise.

Step 3b: Create a static page

As an alternative to a blog (which contains a series of entries), it might be more appropriate to place your e-portfolio on a static web page. You can create static web pages using the same interface in MT4 (easy and they look just as nice). Referring to our handy-dandy user's guide, you can learn to create static pages on pages 21-22. Give it a try.

Links for publishing your own pages

As stated previously, we will not provide technical support for web pages created outside of MT4. However, you are free to do so if you have the appropriate skills. Once you've edited and tested your personal home page, you need to upload it to your personal Web space on the Penn State Web server. You can copy and paste your files to your Web space using either SSH (a secure file transfer application) or the PASS Explorer (a web-based secure file transfer application). Many users find SSH to be a more powerful tool but a little harder to use than PASS Explorer.

To use SSH, see http://portfolio.psu.edu/build/publish/ssh.html
To use the PASS Explorer, see http://portfolio.psu.edu/build/publish/portal.html

Note: Use of "FTP" (File Transfer Protocol) utilities that do not encrypt user IDs and passwords is not permitted on the Penn State system.

Now that you've uploaded your content, go and check out your page.

Go to: http://www.personal.psu.edu/~abc123/ where "abc123" is instead your AccessID.

If you named your file "index.html" it will show up automatically (this one file name is the default file name for any website and is not needed). If, for example, you had another page called "my_pets.html" then you would need the full address: http://www.personal.psu.edu/~abc123/my_pets.html.

NOTE: A special word about file names... Web servers like nice simple file names (no SPACES or special characters). This is different from what Windows accepts. So if you had a file that was "Hurricane Dean IR 00Z.gif" would should rename it to "hurricane_dean_ir_00z.gif" (note I also got rid of the capital letters as a personal convention).

Note: Keep in mind that anyone who can access the World Wide Web can view your e-portfolio; be careful not to publish personal or copyrighted material that might allow others to violate your privacy or other's intellectual property rights. (If in doubt, ask)