Online Portfolio with Google Sites

Why use an online portfolio
Creating an online portfolio is a convenient method of posting materials for assignment submissions or team projects. Google sites are very flexible, which makes them easily adaptable to suit the needs of the student.

Example Google Site
An example Online Portfolio using Google Sites can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/cis777sabin/.

Google account
Google Sites requires a Google account to use. For instructions on account creation and signing in see Access to Google Services

How to set up a portfolio
After signing in go to https://www.google.com/accounts. Under Try something new there is a link that says: more >> Follow that link and look for the Sites link in the Communicate, show & share section and click on Sites. If you are already logged in you will see the Create site button. Click on that to begin the process of creating a new site. You are then presented with several options for site creation. The basic settings are:
 * 1) The default template is automatically selected. Leave that setting as it is without making any changes.
 * 2) The choice of name is either what the course instructor has suggested (such as CourseIDLastname) or what the student team has decided.
 * 3) The theme is optional and can be changed later if desired.
 * 4) By expanding More Options you can specify a category. Education should be the category for any course related site.
 * 5) Site Description should be written to accurately state the purpose of the site. Example: CIS505 Red Team project site
 * 6) The last section specifies who has permission to view the site.
 * 7) For a student portfolio it should be only the student and the instructor.
 * 8) For a team project site it is the instructor and all the team members.

Note: Google will only allow each user account to create five sites a week.

How to make use of portfolios
The very first page is the home page. There you can explain the purpose of the site and what is available on the other pages that will be on the site.

Create a new page

 * 1) To add a page to the site, click the Create page button in the top-right corner of the page.
 * 2) There are a few templates available to use. Web Page, being the most useful, is the recommended template.
 * 3) Name the page according to its purpose.
 * 4) Put it at the top level to have its own page link in the sidebar.
 * 5) Finally, click the Create Page button.

Move a page
Navigate to the page you want to relocate. On the top right corner of the page you want to move select More actions. Click on Move page in the drop down menu. A small window appears where you can change where pages are located and how to navigate to them.

Delete page
Navigate to the page you want to delete. In the top right corner of the page you want to delete select More actions. Choose the Delete page and a window will appear to verify the deletion. If you are certain that you wish to delete the page, press the Delete button.

Organize pages
Under the sidebar is a small link named Edit sidebar. Click to modify the organization of the sidebar. It will take you to the Customize your site layout page. You will see four sections that comprise the layout of the website. Two of them can be altered.
 * Header
 * This gives you the option to change the current site logo from the default and upload your own. You can also change the size and alignment of the sections, instead of keeping the default.


 * Sidebar
 * You have the options to edit, delete, or Add a sidebar item. These let you customize what appears on the sidebar for each page on the website.

After making any changes to the layout design, be sure to click on Save changes to prevent losing your work.

Notify upon change
On the top right corner of the page, select More actions. Then click on Subscribe to site changes. At the top of the page you should see a message that says: You will be notified when changes are made to this site. Note: This is a useful action because when comments, tests, pages, etc are added to your site, you will receive an email advising you as to what changes were made to your site.

Attachments and comments
Navigate to the page you want to allow attachments or comments on. On the top right corner of the page select More actions. Click on Page settings A window pops up with the options to allow attachments and comments. Check the boxes that you want to enable and press the Save button to apply your changes.

How to share a portfolio
This will add the person as co-owner to your site and sent the co-owner an email advising them of your site.
 * On the top right corner of your site page, click the Share this site button (or got to More->Share Permissions.
 * A new window shows the Permissions settings of your site.
 * The first permission listed is the Visibility options. Your online portfolio should be set to Private. This is because your online portfolio contains confidential information such as grades and feedback from the course instructor.
 * If your portfolio is set to a different visibility option, select Change, change your visibility to private and save.
 * To add a co-owner, under Add people type in the email address of the person you would like to add as co-owner (in most cases this would be the course instructor).
 * Next to the email address is a drop-down box where you select what permission you would like the person you are adding to have. Select Is owner.
 * You can type in a optional message to be sent with the invitation to the co-owner.
 * Make sure the box Send email notifications is checked and select Share.

Using page templates
Clicking Create page presents the user with five options for a new page template. Web page is the default and appropriate for most purposes, but there are four others that have their applications as well.
 * Announcements
 * Announcements are set up to let you and your collaborators make posts to the site.


 * File Cabinet
 * File Cabinet serves as a place for storing files.


 * List
 * Create lists for tracking a variety of things.


 * Start Page
 * A start page that can only be seen by the user that created it.