path: root/source/portfolio.markdown

% Portfolio
% 
% 

About
=====

The Portfolio Activity creates a slide show from Sugar Journal entries
that have been 'starred'.

Where to get Portfolio
======================

The Portfolio activity is included in OLPC images and available for
download from the [Sugar Activity
Library](http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4437)

The source code is available on the [Sugar Labs Gitorious
server](http://git.sugarlabs.org/portfolio).

Using
=====

Before you launch the activity, use the ☆ on the left of each Journal
entry to mark that entry for inclusion in the portfolio. The Portfolio
Activity will use the entry title as well as the preview image and
description.

The title text, the preview image, and the description text from Journal
entries is used in the portfolio presentations.

In the Thumbnail View, you can reorder the slides in your presentation
by dragging.

With the Edit-description Button, you can directly edit a Journal
entry's description field.

When running the activity, use the ◀ and ▶ buttons to step one-by-one
through the slide show. Use the auto-play button to start/pause a slide
show. The delay between slides can be controlled by the interval chosen
in the combo box. (The default is 10 seconds.)

**Did you know that:**

-   you can record audio notes for each slide; the notes are played back
    whenever the slide is viewed;
-   the colors used in the background are taken from the XO colors of
    the user;
-   a warning is displayed if there are no starred entries in your
    Journal;
-   the slide show can be saved as an PDF document that can be shared;
-   in the thumbnail view, you can reorder your slides (by dragging
    them); and
-   you can edit the descriptions for each slide (and save your edits to
    the Journal).
-   for group projects, try using the Bulletin-board Activity.

The Toolbars
============

Main toolbar
------------

from left to right

**Activity-toolbar Button**
:   (toolbar described below)

**Previous-slide Button**
:   returns to the previous slide shown (also activated by typing
    \<Ctrl-p\>)

**Next-slide Button**
:   goes to the next slide in the sequence (also activated by typing
    \<Ctrl-n\>)

**Auto-play Button**
:   starts a slide show with a user-settable pause between each slide

**Customize-toolbar Button**
:   (toolbar described below)

**Record-toolbar Button**
:   (toolbar described below)

**Portfolio-view Radio Button**
:   used to switch to portfolio view (default)

**Thumbnail-view Radio Button**
:   used to switch to thumbnail view, where you can reorder the sequence
    of the slides by dragging them

**Full-screen-view Button**
:   hides the toolbars (Return from full-screen by hitting the Esc key.)

**Update-description Button**
:   Used to edit the description of the entry currently being viewed
    (Note: use the Save-annotations Button to make these edits
    permanent).

**Stop Button**
:   used to exit the activity

Activity Toolbar
----------------

**Activity name field**
:   used to change the name of the activity (The name is used by the
    save-to-PDF Button.)

**Share Button**
:   as shown, disabled (Portfolio Activity version since v27 support
    sharing: joiners can add comments)

**Reflection Button**
:   used to write descriptions for the Journal entry of this instance of
    Portfolio

**Save-to-PDF Button**
:   used to save a copy of your presentation to the Sugar Journal as an
    PDF document

**Save-annotations Button**
:   used to save updates to the Journal entry descriptions

Options Toolbar
---------------

**Timer Combo-box**
:   lets you select a delay time between slides when using auto play
    (Choose two-seconds, ten-seconds, thirty-seconds, or one-minute
    delay).

**Refresh Button**
:   scans the Journal to pull in any changes made since the Portfolio
    activity was launched.

Recording Toolbar
-----------------

**Record Button**
:   used to record an audio note associated with the current slide

**Playback Button**
:   active when there is audio associated with the current slide

**Save Button**
:   active when there is a new recording to save

Saving to PDF
=============

Each time your launch the Portfolio activity, it will update to reflect
the current contents of your Journal. If you want to save a portfolio
that represents a particular moment in time (or you want to share your
portfolio with someone else), you need to save it as a PDF document.
Click on the "Save as PDF" Button from the Activity toolbar menu and the
content of the portfolio will be saved as a document in the Journal.

**Tip:** Open your Journal to make sure the portfolio has been saved.

**Tip:** You may want to copy the PDF file to a USB to open it in a
different XO, or any other computer, using the Browse or Read activity.

Learning with Portfolio
=======================

Most education experts agree that the best approach to learning involves
doing and then stepping back to reflect on the doing: What did I learn?
How can I use that? What questions do I have?1 By helping children to
ask good questions about the things they’ve done, as opposed to
remembering the right answers, we are helping them to build the critical
thinking skills that enable them to be independent problem solvers.
Without reflection, learning is an open loop, and an open-loop system
can neither identify and correct errors nor adapt to change.

Sugar facilitates reflective learning by ensuring that everything a
child does is recorded in an electronic journal which includes screen
capture of a child’s work. After every activity, children are encouraged
to share their observations, which are recorded in an electronic
portfolio. From this record of activities, children can expand their
portfolio into a multimedia narrative that shows what they have done,
how they have done it and what their thoughts are on what they have
created—children essentially become curators of their own work. The
child’s process of telling about what they have learned as a “story” is
a simple way to help reflection become a norm in their education.

By building upon the automatic accumulation of work in the Sugar
journal, the portfolio process can readily be integrated into the
classroom routine. It can be used as an assessment tool to help
teachers, parents, and school administrators understand better the depth
and breadth of what a child has learned.2 At a “portfolio social”,
parents could be invited to view presentations and ask children about
their learning. The classroom teacher can add addition assessment slides
to the portfolio addressing themes such as work habits and personal
growth. This can become part of an archive that travels with a child
across grade levels. Through juxtaposition, the child and teacher can
see what has changed over the course of the years, trends, and areas for
improvement.

It is recommended that periodically (once per week, month, semester)
that the children are asked to select and edit items for a portfolio
presentation. For example, a weekly presentation could be made to
classmates; a monthly one to parents; and perhaps once per semester, a
school-wide presentation that makes all of the learning visible to
administrators and community members during a social event.

Periodic PDF snapshots are also a great way to preserve a record of each
child's work, and as a vehicle for assessing progress.

Extending Portfolio
===================

In addition to using Portfolio as a tool for reflection, it can be used
as a more general-purpose presentation tool. For example, a collection
of photographs can be annotated (by using the title and description
fields in the Journal detail view for each photo) and then made into a
slide show. The order of the slides can be modified from the Thumbnail
view. Modifying Portfolio

Manuq made some mock-ups of other layouts. It would be fun to add
alternative layout options (or even add support for style sheets).

See
[http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Portfolio](http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Portfolio)

Another idea would be to add the ability to export video from Portfolio.

Your suggestions for enhancements and/or use cases...

A word to developers
====================

Reflection is an important part of learning and a good habit to
establish in general. An analog to writing descriptions in the Journal
-- the text that is shown in the Portfolio presentations -- is writing
commit messages in git. It forces you to stop, reflect, and then
articulate to others what you have done and why.

Where to report problems
========================

You can report bugs and make feature requests on our bug-tracking system
(You need to create an account first). To list all open tickets of
Portfolio you can use query component=Portfolio. You are also welcome to
leave comments/suggestions on the Talk:Activities/Portfolio page.

Credits
=======

Portfolio was written and is maintained by User:Walter. He was inspired
in part by the work of BU Prof. Stefanakis.