Some ideas on how to make a digital portfolio more visually appealing

1. Spice up your Digital Portfolio

2. This presentation refers to the use of Blackboard to create a Digital Portfolio. A Digital Portfolio should showcase your best practices but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring to look at. Here are a few suggestions to help add some visual appeal.

3. Menu Bar To change the look of the button panel, click here

4. Select Course Design

5. Select Course Design

6. Here you can decide whether to have buttons or a panel of colour with text Select a colourand style here. It is a good idea to decide on a colour scheme to be used throughout the portfolio

7. Banner Create a banner for your Digital Portfolio. You may wish to use your name or create a word cloud using www.wordle.netand add text which is relevant to your interests.

8. You can create a banner image many different ways. PowerPoint is a good alternative because it is quick, easy and effective. These slide dimensions work well for a Title Banner Width: 35 cm and Height : 10cm Save the image as a .jpeg file. Here is an example of a word cloud which you could take from information in your portfolio

9. To add a Course Banner, follow the same steps through the control panel and select Course Banner.

10. Browse and upload your Banner image

11. At the top of each section or for a new folder you can add a banner image with a title. You can add it as an item or add the image to a folder. An example of a Title Banner

12. An example of folder fanners, where you can click on the link and see the section indicated

13. Embed items You can add interesting items to your Virtual Classroom. This can be done with basically anything that has an embed code. Copy the embed code from the website and then click on Toggle HTML Source Mode icon, Then Paste the code and then click on submit

14. Talking Avatars Create a talking avatar. Add text and the voice is generated. You can give a welcoming address. http://www.voki.com/

15. Add a map by going to Google maps, click on Links and copying the HTML code Maps

16. Convert your documentation of your Professional experience into an interactive time line. Timeline http://www.xtimeline.com/

17. Slides Embed relevant slides or presentations you have created. http://www.slideshare.net/

18. Videos Embed a videos or upload your own. http://www.teachertube.com/

19. Mind Maps Convert your Belief Statement into a diagram. You can save as a jpeg or do a screen shot. http://www.mapul.com/ http://mywebspiration.com/ http://www.gliffy.com/ http://www.mindomo.com/ http://www.text2mindmap.com/ http://www.bubbl.us/

20. Ebooks Create your own ebookshowcasing evidence of your practice. http://www.scribd.com/ http://www.myebook.com/ Created by: S. Hendy 2009 http://www.wobook.com/