Help!! Electronic Portfolio Confusion

[DressageLady]

I am so sorry for disappearing from my own thread. It has been a busy week.

I will continue to check out recommendations, so keep them coming if you have one to add.

HeartDrama, the requirements for my portfolio is structured almost entirely around my state's teaching standards. There are ten of them. Each standard requires an artifact (either a lesson plan I have used that meets that standard, along with pictures of me teaching it or an example of student work that resulted from that lesson, or a document that shows I have met that standard). Along with the artifact, I need to write a reflection that touches on the lesson, the product and/or the standard itself. Each standard requires an entry slip that explains why I consider each included artifact to be indicative of each standard.

For instance, one standard spells out how the teacher is to communicate effectively with other teachers, students and parents. So I have included the letter of introduction to the families in the room I have been student teaching in, an example of my weekly classroom newsletter and my reflection on that process.

I am required to provide a section that covers my classroom management plan and process, and a section that spells out my "Philosophy Of Education". And of course, there is a section for professional development and letters of reference.

I have probably forgotten something, but that is a basic overview of the required elements. I think if I had a host site that I was comfortable using, that provided me with the look I have in my head, this would almost be a pleasant activity.

Up until now the portfolio has been a hard copy, put together in a binder and lugged around from interview to interview. But we are now required to do an electronic portfolio now, and it has been so difficult to find a host site that is user friendly on both ends, and able to upload documents and pictures.
Sheilah

[ku_alum]

I was going to suggest Weebly. It is, by far, the easiest to use.

[DressageLady]

Maybe I should continue to play around with a practice portfolio on these various sites. I get so frustrated, though, when I start to really get into it and then hit a speed bump and can't figure out how to recover.

I want to be able to have pictures and clip art and scanned documents and some basic design elements tying it all together. I want tabs for each standard and required element, along with subtabs for the artifacts and reflections that fall under that standard or element. And I want it to be easy to navigate for the user. Ideally I would like to be able to include the portfolio's web address on a business card or brochure, with the invitation to hiring principals to visit for an in depth look at my work. So I need for them to be able to plug that address in to their search engine and go directly to my portfolio, without many steps in between. I would also like to be able to burn CDs of my portfolio and hand those out at interviews, too.

I really wish that my university provided more support for this.
Sheilah

[TeacherGroupie]

I'm told that one can save one's portfolio on a CD as what amounts to a Web site: then the viewer's browser plays it like a site that happens not to be on the Internet. One needs to be careful in one's choices in fonts, however, or one needs to convert fancy fonts to images.

[Teacher Gii]

For our electronic portfolio, my university used a site called LiveText. It is fairly user friendly..more so on the end of the viewer when you give them a guest pass to view your portfolio. They have made great improvements to the site though if you haven't found anything yet, it may be worth checking out.