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Answers to help you!
A complilation of the answers to date that can help in your xFolio explorations. Search by product " eFolio Version 2.0. Watch your admin login location for more information!
Watch for the tag "This answer is for eFolio Version 2.0"
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Test Drive User Guide
Everything you thought you knew about eFolioWorld and eFolio Minnesota is about to change… and it is not only because the look and feel of the interface is different.
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Version 2.0 - the Tool - the Transition
The power point linked shows a "Version 1.0" screen shot and the corresponding "Version 2.0" screen shot. This is especially helpful for those very comfortable with the Version 1.0 product to help ease the transition.
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Codename - xFolio
Good Question! While many of our current users are discovering that the next version of eFolioWorld™ (and eFolio Minnesota™) is in final development and almost ready for pre-deployment testing, others keep asking what the “X” means.
The technically correct response is that “xFolio” is simply the codename for the next “individual portfolio” version and it means nothing more than that.
My answer, as the newest member of the eFolioWorld™ team, may be a little more playful and hopefully captures your interest. To me the “X” is exponentially unlimited in expressing the excitement of exploring the extra features we have added to a toolset based on the user experiences that you have shared with us through the years.
In fact, each venture into the new features of xFolio™ reminds me of the travel game often played by families during a road trip called “I see something!”
In the game, when someone says, “I see something!” it prompts others to observe their surroundings in more detail. In that spirit, we look forward to what a new generation of users will uncover because of the technology improvements and the feature-rich interface they will be using when “xFolio™” is deployed as the new “eFolio™” in first quarter of 2009.
eFolioWorld™ is a Web-based content manager to create online portfolios for students and professional users. By today’s statistics:
* 90,000+ individual/ personal eFolio Minnesota™ owners have accounts
* Owners provide mostly free-form content to populate their site
* Limited use of “Toolkit Questionnaires” for competencies & online forms (currently available only for eFolio Minnesota™ users)
Serving the electronic portfolio wish list of our ever-growing user base includes the need to address the expectations of a new generation of learners. Developers and portfolio practitioners have capitalized on the new version of eFolioWorld™ as an opportunity to specifically target Web 2.0 compatibility and integrate the capacity for media-rich learning objects as viable data types. Users will now be empowered to include these as artifacts without the workarounds necessary in earlier first-generation versions.
What does this mean for student, graduate and professional users of the “new” eFolioWorld™ interface? As we propose features designed around usable practices in the context of electronic portfolio applications, xFolio™ developers have closely examined the current version.
There were definitely some pros…
Powerful system for creating and maintaining an “online showcase” for others to visit
Extensive tools for personalizing the public-facing portfolio, via images, custom HTML, and a library of “skins” to apply to the site.
…and, there were observable cons…
Difficult, parallel tool for competencies and online forms
Not designed for personal content management
After five years, we had an aging interface
“Too free-form” for some applications, markets, and partner systems
Inability to “connect” portfolios for searches, information sharing, grouping, etc.
“New Version” goals set development priorities:
1. Provide powerful tools to manage & organize content (forms, records and artifacts) related to education, employment, skills, activities and other relevant information
2. Balance the combination of “bottom-up” (or “freestyle”) and “top-down” (or “form-based”) content entry
3. Construct am intuitive, flexible system to selectively present content to online visitors, using public and/or private online site(s)
4. Allow collaboration and search tools to work across portfolios, making legacy boundaries transparent
5. Program a contemporary infrastructure with improvements featuring better performance, easier expandability, and modularity of interfaces and systems
Many users at our virtual launch of “xFolio™ Live!” in mid-June were concerned about what they would keep or lose…the following responses may be helpful to you.
Profile Management
Profiles have provided users with a context and, in the future, eFolio™ owners will continue to select a “profile”, which will flavor the user experience appropriately.
Examples of profiles include Student and Professional
Profiles will provide:
Customized online help
Faster access to appropriate forms and features
Site templates & placeholder content specific to the goals of the profile
Owners can change their profile as they evolve from “student” to “professional” without losing content or starting over.
Content Management
Current eFolio™ owners will not experience a loss of their content. Everything will transfer to the new version within the context of seelcted data types.
* Users add content to their eFolio™ using a variety of methods:
o Voluntarily entering content, using templates or typing “free-form”
o Uploading electronic files & artifacts (images, video, PDF, MS Office, etc.)
o Completing online forms & questionnaires from the system’s “Forms Library”, such as Skills Assessments or industry-specific competency reports
o Integrating 3rd party system content is more efficient within the modular architecture
o Importing and exporting content to or from other systems honoring the IMS portfolio specifications is a direct benefit of new version complian
* Specific support designed for:
Public RSS feeds
YouTube and similar services
IMS Portfolio Packet
IMS SSC-SCORM
LodeStar
HRXML
School transcript systems
Once entered, a user can share their content in a variety of methods:
• A public site
• An interactive blog
• A private, topic-specific site or online resume
• An RSS news feed
• A “digital life plan” site
Each eFolio contributes to the growing repository of student & worker details
The system will provide a search portal where sponsors can perform basic and advanced searches by name, geographic location, free-form content, specific responses to online forms, and more
Additionally, the system is enabled to produce automated “summary reports” of usage metrics, visitor traffic, and more
Intuitive Interface Management
The new “next generation” interface provides:
Live previews of changes
Drag-and-drop editing for page management
Data type forms to create content objects whenever possible (replacing earlier version “Basic” or “Section Introduction” placeholders)
While maintaining full customization for portfolio owners to uniquely express themselves, users will also discover:
Simple, clear, informed entry for new owner
Powerful, intuitive controls for returning owners
New, “WYSIWYG”-style editor to construct their eFolio
Ability to create multiple sites for specific purposes. Each site can be public or private, have its own navigation and design, and more.
Learning more about the “X” is easy. We are maintaining a current set of FAQs and updates and opened the “BETA account” phase to allow you an opportunity to “test drive” the new interface in a limited-time offer that closes in December 2008.
What do you think the “X” will mean to you or your organization as you connect life and learning?
We appreciate hearing from you, our users, and will continue to keep you informed with “up-to-the-minute” reports about the new eFolioWorld!
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xFolio Seminar - June, 2008
Recording provides a brief walk-through of the user interface features that are part of the next version of eFolioWorld and eFolio Minnesota.
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