Creating and Working with Blackboard Portfolios for Users (How-to)

Two Options for Portfolio Creation

Option 1: Create Portfolio from Provided Template

1. From the Blackboard Homepage under the Tools, choose Portfolios. 
2. Under the My Portfolios select Create Portfolio.
3. Give the portfolio a Title. Then, click on the Select Portfolio Template button and choose the appropriate template option.
4. Submit.

Option 2: Create Portfolio without Template

1. From the Blackboard Homepage under the Tools, choose Portfolios. 
2. Under the My Portfolios select Create Portfolio.
3. Give the portfolio a Title.
4. Submit.

Designing Your Portfolio

Portfolio Tour

The first time you create a portfolio, you have the option of taking a brief guided tour of the portfolio authoring canvas. If you choose to skip or replay the tour, you can access it later from the orientation bar. Choose the tour's Compass Icon next to Help. 

Header and Footer

You can customize your portfolio's header and footer. After creation, select the Pencil Icon to edit the header and footer.

Portfolio Layout

A portfolio consists of pages and sections. Pages provide structure to the portfolio. Each page must have at least one section.

The menu on the left shows all of the portfolio's pages and sections, which you can use to manage them. Select the plus icon at the top of the menu. To delete pages, select the trash can icon to the right of a page. Use the drag-and-drop function to rearrange pages and sections in the menu.

NOTE: Deleting a page also deletes all of the sections and content on that page. Artifacts associated with a section remain in the My Artifacts repository, and you can reuse them.

Tips

• When you're authoring the portfolio, use the menu to move among pages to edit them.
• After you create a page or section, select the pencil icon next to a section title to edit it. Each section has an editor for creating free form content. The editor appears dynamically when you click in the editor box. You can associate one or more artifacts with each section. Typically, you add artifacts to a section and use the editor to reflect on those artifacts. Save when you have completed adding information.
• The Settings option allows you to change the settings' decisions made when creating the portfolio, such as the portfolio title and description.
• The Preview and Customize option allows you to see how the portfolio will look, and make layout and color palette decisions that affect the final design of the portfolio.
• The Done Editing option allows you to exit the portfolio authoring canvas. If you try to exit without saving new and updated content, you are warned of unsaved changes.

What are Artifacts?

Artifacts are reusable content items that you can attach to a portfolio.

Course artifacts are graded content from your course. They are available to you even if you no longer have access to the course. Personal artifacts are any content items-text, files, links and multimedia-you create or upload.

You can create artifacts in three ways:

1. Create artifacts ahead of time in the My Artifacts repository so that they are available to use in your future portfolios.
2. Select items from coursework you have completed via Blackboard (see next topic).
3. Create artifacts while authoring a portfolio. The artifacts are still stored automatically in the My Artifacts repository. You can also reuse them in other portfolios.

Convert Course Assignment Submissions into Artifacts

You create course artifacts by converting a graded submission to an assignment in a Blackboard Learn course into an artifact. Course artifacts not only include the submitted file/content, but they also include metadata about the assignment such as the assignment details, the grade the student received, and any feedback provided by the instructor. After students convert assignment submissions into assignment artifacts, they have permanent copies of their assignment artifacts in their My Artifacts repositories. If the assignment or its course are later made unavailable to a student or even deleted, the assignment artifact still remains in the My Artifacts repository.

1. On the My Artifacts page, select Add from Course.
2. Find and select the graded assignments in your available courses.
3. Select Submit.

When you add a course artifact to a portfolio, you must select which metadata to show when displaying that course artifact in that particular portfolio.

Example: For a portfolio you are creating for a prospective employer, you may not want to include the grade/feedback information about artifacts.

Share Your Portfolio with Others

Once you have completed your portfolio, you will likely want to share it with others. There are several options for sharing, if you are completing this for a class or other requirement, please reach out to your instructor or leader for information on what method you should use for sharing. Visit Instructions for Sharing for further information of how to share a snapshot of your portfolio.