Using ePortfolio Introduction to this guide

This guide was compiled to highlight the uses and benefits of ePortfolio - Newcastle University’s online workspace for students. It is designed so that you can either read the guide as a whole or access the specific section you’re interested in using.

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ePortfolio Newcastle University ePortfolio Guide 2016

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

FIND US ONLINE Click here to take you to the ePortfolio homepage

GET MORE OUT OF YOUR ePORTFOLIO Use the tool to support the ncl+ award and Careers Modules

SKILLS FOR LIFE Access the Graduate Skills Framework here

REFLECTION ePortfolio is a perfect platform to identify

areas of development.

1EMPLOYABILITY

Be well prepared for application questions

and interviews.

2SKILLS

Evaluate your current skill set to see where

you can improve.

3

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

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CONTENTS

Using ePortfolio……………………………………………………….01

Contents………………………………………………………………..02

Introduction to ePortfolio…………………………………………….03

Blog ..………………………….………………………………………..04

Skills…………………………….…………………………………..…..07

CV Builder…………………………….………………………………..10

Communities…………………………………………………………..13

Sharing…………………………………………………………………15

Calendar……..………….……………………………………………..17

Meetings…………..…….……………………………………………..18

To Do Lists………………….………………………………………..…20

File Store……..……………….……………………………..…………22

Next Steps………………………………..…………………………….24

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

DID YOU KNOW? Your ePortfolio is designedto be a flexible tool youcan use in ways that bestsuit you. Your ePortfolio isabout much more thanscheduling meetings with your tutor, it’s about you taking control of your own learning and skill development.

What is ePortfolio? Your ePortfolio is an online workspace that is designed to support you d u r i n g U n i v e r s i t y . e Po r t f o l i o encourages you to build up a collection of evidence that can be stored in one safe place and accessed at any time.

From recording skills to building a CV, ePortfolio is easy to use and will help you work towards your personal and professional aspirations. There are p l a c e s f o r y o u t o r e fl e c t o n experiences, collaborate with other students and manage your time effectively.

N e w c a s t l e U n i v e r s i t y c re at e d ePortfolio to help students make the connection between what you’re learning, how you’ve learnt it and why it’s useful. ePortfolio is specifically designed to support reflective learning and it has long term benefits, not just whilst at university.

Why use ePortfolio?

1. Improve your reflection skills and become a more proactive learner

2. Develop enhanced communication skills.

3. Save time on job applications. 4. Access all important documents in

one secure location. 5. Be a step ahead of the rest - have

your CV ready to go and feel more prepared for interviews.

“90% of students surveyed agreed ePortfolio is easy to

use.”

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DID YOU KNOW? The Blog organises and dates all of your blog entries in one easily accessible location. This makes it simple to

find important information when completing job applications.

WHERE CAN I FIND MY BLOG?

My Blog can be accessed via the

ePortfolio homepage. It can also be accessed from any page on the

site by clicking ‘Portfolio’ on the drop-down menu at the top

of ePortfolio and selecting ‘Blog’.

What is the Blog? The hub of all the activity on your ePortfolio – you can write about anything you’d like to on your blog. From recording notes on a topic to documenting your work experience - your blog can be used for a whole host of things.

What are the benefits of using the Blog? • Develop key skills – The blog is designed so that you can

link each blog post with skills from the Graduate Skills Framework (jump to page 8 to read about the GSF in more detail).

• Reflection – Reflecting on your studies and achievements through blog entries can help you identify skills you need to work on. Reflection and self-awareness are highly sought after by employers.

• Document Everything – Build up a thorough record of everything you’ve done through your University experiences – it’s not limited to academia.

• Save Time – With lots of examples of your skills in one easy accessible place, it saves time on job applications.

• Increased Collaboration and Communication – Chat with your tutor or peers about a topic of interest to share ideas and enhance your understanding or skill set.

• Clarify Learning – Making notes on topics and revisiting them later can help clarify learning and understanding.

The Blog NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

MY BLOG NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use the Blog?

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It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost.

Gibbs, 1998

To Add a New Blog Post • Click ‘Add Blog Post’. • Insert an accurate ‘Title’ - this will make it easy to

find if you need to refer back to it. • Write the main body of text in ‘Blog Text’ such as

the activity you carried out and how you demonstrated key skills.

• Use the formatting tools to help information stand out.

Sharing Your Blog Post • Tick the boxes next to the green sharing icon to

share your post with everyone, your tutor or other sharing groups.

• Make the post visible to only you by un-ticking all boxes.

Make Your Blog Post Easy to Find • Tagging enables the blog entries to be

organised and helps you search for posts. • Add several tags to describe the content of the

post e.g. nclplus, communication. • To make the most of tags, they should be

relevant and easily identifiable.

Uploading a File With Your Blog Post • Adding a document to support your blog post is

another effective way to provide supporting evidence of skills mentioned.

• Such as a certificate, presentation or a job description (file limit: 150mb).

• Use the ‘Skills’ section to lsink your blog entry with some of the skills outlined in the Graduate Skills Framework. The GSF represents the skills you should write about, so it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with those skills in advance.

MY BLOG NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

Linking Blog Posts and Skills It’s your choice how often you blog, what you blog about and whether you share your blog posts. But, by linking your blog entries with skills, you are providing evidence for how you have developed that skill.

For example, imagine you have written about how you developed teamwork by collaborating on a group project. You would link the blog post to the Team Working skill in the Graduate Skills Framework.

This makes it easy to provide an example if you were asked a question about teamwork in applications. Providing evidence to support a claim is much more powerful than simply stating you are a team-player without demonstrating how you are.

Reflective Learning Models Reflection is something you’re likely already doing as a student. Reflective Learning Models (RLM) provide a clear, structured approach which help you to be proactive.

Using a Reflective Learning Model on the Blog is useful as you can identify the skills you need to establish and create an action plan to develop them.

Reflective Learning can also help you to challenge yourself by identifying your own strengths and weaknesses. In turn, this can improve your skill set as it encourages you to explore new approaches and ideas.

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REVISITING AND REFLECTING By revisiting your learning in the blog, you can record effective learning methods and techniques. Doing this will help you improve upon and clarify ideas.

Gibbs and Moon provide excellent reflection models that are easy to use. For more information visit here.

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Recording skills against the Graduate Skills Framework provides powerful and

specific examples of skills you can demonstrate to employers in applications

and interviews.

What is the Skills section? The Skills section on ePortfolio stores the skills you’ve evidenced in your blog posts. It allows you to see the skills you have developed, as well as whether there are some skills you need to work on. (attaching other evidence to skills)

What are the benefits of using Skills? • Provide Evidence – Prove to employers you’re a well

rounded, highly employable individual. It’s easy to say that you have great communication skills and are IT literate but it’s more powerful when you use evidence to support your claims.

• Be Prepared for Applications and Interviews – You'll have a wide range of achievements to choose from to show off how suited you are to the role.

• Monitor your Skill Set and Stay on Track – Evaluate which skills you already have, and those you still need to work on. Keeping everything in one easily manageable place makes it easy to record and monitor.

• Work Towards Goals – Once you know which skills you need to work on, take control of your own career progression and challenge yourself to develop further.

WHERE CAN I FIND MY SKILLS?

My Skills can be accessed via the drop-down menu at the top

of the ePortfolio homepage.

Skills NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

MY SKILLS NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

The Graduate Skills Framework The Graduate Skills Framework is a set of skills developed by Newcastle University with employers, that when added to the knowledge gained from your degree programme, will give you the skills you will need for life.

The skills are separated into the following categories: • Subject Knowledge and Understanding • Literacy Skills • Self-Management Skills • Interaction Skills • Application of Knowledge Skills.

Recording your evidence of skills against the GSF will give you a selection of powerful and specific examples to choose from to demonstrate your suitability to future employers. This invaluable tool allows you to easily manage evidence for the skills you have acquired and set goals for skills you are yet to acquire. For a more detailed look at the GSF visit: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ltds/assets/documents/str-gsf-framework.pdf

Subscribing to the Graduate Skills Framework Skill Set You will already be subscribed to the GSF skill set. You can view which sets you are subscribed to by clicking ‘Your Sets’ in the left-hand toolbar which enables you to view each skill set in more detail.

There are a number of different skill sets, because they each require students to develop a unique range of skills. For example, the skills required in Career Mentoring will differ from Computer Science.

To subscribe to the GSF skill set, select ‘Manage Subscriptions’ from the top-right of the Skills section. From here, you can find the GSF skill set by using the search function or scrolling manually. By clicking ‘Subscribe’ you will automatically be subscribed to the skill set and able to

view the individual skills it encompasses by clicking ‘View’.

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WHAT ARE SKILLS AND WHY DO WE NEED THEM? A skill is having the competency to know how to perform a task. Skills are an essential part of your University learning but they’re not only linked to your degree. Developing skills such as planning and organising, budgeting and critical thinking are also important. These skills can be linked to anything you’ve achieved whilst at University such as budgeting your money to last throughout the term or planning your part-time job around your workload.

MY SKILLS NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use My Skills? My Skills enables you to view all the evidence you have attached for individual skills (e.g. planning and organising) which is really useful for job applications. It also highlights any skills you have yet to work on.

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DID YOU KNOW? You can view all of your summary of evidence posts by visiting the Skills homepage where each skill will be categorised. The skills are organised by date so you can view

your most recent examples first.

To Understand the Skill Criteria • Before adding new evidence, it’s important to

ensure you have fulfilled the skill criteria. • To do this, select the skill you are interested in

developing and click the tab that is labelled with the particular skill.

• Here you’ll find a full description of how to demonstrate your competency in this skill.

What is a Summary of Evidence • A summary of evidence is a useful way to reflect

on how you obtained the skill you are writing about. It also allows you to monitor your skill level and consider how the skill could help you in the future.

Top Tips • Write about a variety of specific examples, both

academic and non-academic, to demonstrate you are a well rounded and highly employable individual.

• Update your skills regularly to have current examples to impress employers.

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The Careers Service runs daily drop in clinics with CV advisors between 10 am and 4:30pm in the King’s Gate building.

For further advice, see their website: www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/jobs/applications/

cv.php

WHERE CAN I FIND CV BUILDER?

CV Builder can be accessed via the drop down menu at the top

of thePortfolio.

What is CV Builder? The CV Builder on ePortfolio allows you to build a template for a professional looking CV, section by section. You can edit any category at any time, documenting your most recent experiences and use the ready built CV template to take along to the Careers Service for one-to-one advice.

What are the benefits of using CV Builder? • Save Time in Applications – With everything already in

one, easily accessible place you won’t need to rush in job applications as you'll have one ready to adapt.

• No Need to Remember Everything – You no longer need to have a last minute panic whilst trying to remember all the experiences you’ve had whilst at University. You can store everything including extra curricular activities and awards.

• Support Applications – It can assist when applying for all kinds of roles from part-time and graduate jobs, to placements, internships or further study. You can refer to your CV builder for plenty of examples.

• Print a Copy Immediately – Once you’ve added all of your experiences, you can print a copy of the final CV. Use it as a template when designing your CV in Word or save yourself the hassle of formatting and use it as it is.

CV Builder NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

CV BUILDER NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use CV Builder? It’s really simple to start adding detail to your CV. The CV Builder is separated into easy manageable categories or sections that you might see on a typical CV. You can edit any section at any time - don't feel like you have to update everything all at once.

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DID YOU KNOW? Recruiters spend an average of 8.8 seconds looking at CVs according to National Citizen

Service, making it even more important to ensure your CV stands out for the right reasons.

To Update Your CV Information • To add new or update existing information, select the

section from the options to the right e.g. ‘Awards’. • Depending on which section you’ve selected, each

page will differ slightly but each section allows you to add plenty of detail about your experiences.

• You can even attach blog entries, files and links to provide evidence to support your CV.

• Once you’ve added everything you wish to, click ‘Add’ at the bottom of the page to ensure your experiences are saved and documented.

To Download a Copy of Your CV • You can download a summary of each section in the

CV Builder by clicking ‘Download’ in the top right corner of whichever section you want e.g. ‘Work Experience’.

• This is useful to give yourself a reminder of all your amazing experiences in detail.

• You can also generate and download a copy of your whole CV including all the information you’ve added.

• You can then print this as it is, or use it as a skeleton when designing your CV in Word.

Top Tips • Be sure to include all relevant experience, regardless

of whether it was paid, unpaid, short-term or part-time.

• It’s important to remember that different job applications may require different CVs so tailor your’s accordingly.

• Keep it up to date - it’s important that you keep adding your most relevant experiences. Your job doesn't have to be relevant to have gained relevant skills.

CV BUILDER NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

What does a sample CV look like? Here’s an example of a CV generated by the CV Builder. You can either download a sample of the whole CV or just specific sections in both PDF and Word format.

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DID YOU KNOW? You can choose whether or not you want certain sections in your CV by ticking or

un-ticking the ‘Show in CV’ box when editing each section.

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SUPERVISION GROUPS You may be added to a supervision group on ePortfolio by a module leader or a

lecturer for example. They’re a great way for you to keep in touch with lecturers to discuss work and arrange meetings with minimal effort to you as students. Supervision Groups can be found in the ‘Supervision Groups’ tab on the homepage of ePortfolio.

What are Communities? The Communities section is an online space for groups of people to communicate and collaborate with each other. Communities can be used for any purpose, such as discussing an interesting topic, sharing articles or arranging group work. There may already be communities set up for your degree programme or school, but you can also create your own community and invite members to join.

What are the benefits of using My Communities? • Coordinate Group Work – My Communities is a great way to

communicate with your peers, especially for group work. You’re able to see exactly what all group members have contributed, and access everything in one place.

• Increased Collaboration – Communities enables you to to read other people’s blog posts and post comments on them which encourages sharing ideas and feedback.

• Stay Focused – It’s a lot more professional and far less distracting than using Facebook.

• Accessible at Your Convenience – Unlike holding a meeting in person, communities encourages group discussions at any time and members can read blog posts and post comments at a time convenient to them.

Communities NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

WHERE CAN I FIND COMMUNITIES?

Communities can be accessed using the drop-down menu at

the top of the ePortfolio,

MY COMMUNITIES NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use Communities?

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To Join a Community • You can search for existing communities by

using the search function in the ‘Create/Find Community’ section.

• Search for communities such as your society, seminar group or module.

• Once you have found the community you'd like to join, click ‘View’ and request to join.

To Create a New Community • Sometimes there might not be an existing

community that fulfils your ePortfolio needs. • To set up a new community click the ‘Create/

Find Community’ button. • Add a title and relevant description to the

community – remember members will be able to see this and it may encourage others to join.

• Choose the privacy sett ings of the community – public or private.

• Click the ‘Create’ button to confirm.

To Invite People to Join a Community • Communities are all about collaboration - it’s

important to invite other members to share ideas.

• To do this, from the Communities page, select the ‘members’ button.

• Select the ‘Find a user’ button. • Search for new members by name or email. • Once you have found them, select the tick

next to their name to confirm their invitation.

Top Tips • You can comment and add files to a

community blog post easily by selecting the relevant post.

• It’s a great way to interact with members without having to be online at the same time.

70% of students surveyed agreed that it was useful to see other perspectives in community discussions.

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DID YOU KNOW? Sharing groups can be used for a wide variety of purposes, not just with your personal

tutor. For instance, share summaries with your lecturer or module leader or share lecture notes with your course-mates.

What is Sharing? Your ePortfolio is set up to benefit you and it can be useful to share specific content with selected members of staff or other students. The sharing function is tailored to smaller groups and puts you in charge of how your content is shared. Unlike communities, sharing is one directional. This means you can share your blog posts, CV or skill summary with your tutor for example, without the need for a group.

What are the benefits of using Sharing? • Communicate with Your Tutors – You are automatically

placed in a sharing group with your personal tutor. This easy communication method means you can update them easily and they can offer guidance from the beginning.

• Share Current Versions of Your Work – Sharing guarantees that everyone in your share group is accessing the most up to date version of a document, unlike with emails.

• Gain Feedback – Getting opinions from staff and students on what you’ve written is a valuable tool. From students in your seminar group to lecturers and module leaders, sharing is multi-purpose.

• Stay Private – Another key benefit of sharing groups is that they are hidden from search functions. This means only you can view the group and only members can view the content and offer feedback. Unlike communities where other people may request to join the group, which makes it perfect for task specific content.

Sharing NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

WHERE CAN I FIND SHARING?

Sharing can be accessed via the drop-down menu at the top

of the ePortfolio

SHARING NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use Sharing?

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To View Your Share Groups • To view who you are sharing information with,

select ‘My Share Groups’ from the left-hand tab. • To view who has shared information with you,

select ‘Sharing With Me’ from the same tab.

To Create a Share Group • Select ‘Create Share Group’ from the left-hand

tab, this brings up a new page. • You need to enter a Title for the Share Group. • The ‘Default’ box is automatically selected, this

means that each time you create a post, it will automatically be shared amongst group members. If you don't want this to happen then un-tick this box.

To Invite Members to a Share Group • Once you have created your share group, click

into the share group. • From here, select the ‘Manage Members’ tab. • You can search for new members by name,

programme code or module code. • A list of names will be brought up depending

on your search that can be added via the green ‘+’ button and confirmed by selecting ‘Y’.

To Share Blog Posts • When you have created a blog entry and are

looking to share it, ensure the box is ticked relating to the correct share group. For example, you may wish to share information with your study group but not with your tutors.

Top Tips • You can create a share group and make it

inactive, rather than deleting it. This might be useful if your tutor temporarily changes for a semester. It is much less permanent than deleting and avoids having to create a share group again. It ensures that you don't have to manually change share settings for individual posts. It also ensures you can control who is able to view parts of your ePortfolio. To make a share group active or inactive, select the ‘Edit’ tab and change the tick accordingly.

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What is Calendar? As a student it’s likely that you’re already using some form of calendar to keep track of your schedule. ePortfolio’s Calendar can be viewed in a daily, weekly or monthly format and encourages you to manage your time effectively. By having everything you need to access in place, it helps to balance your workload and alleviate a hectic schedule. It can be accessed via the ePortfolio homepage.

What are the benefits of using My Calendar? • Accessible on the Go – ePortfolio’s Calendar is portable and easily accessible

anywhere via your mobile or tablet which means you don’t need to carry around a paper planner.

• Coordinate Everything – Send documents, schedule meetings and avoid clashes by coordinating all of your responsibilities in one place.

• Arrange Meetings – Avoid double booking yourself and allow enough time in between meetings with tutors or peers, by easily scheduling and tracking meetings.

• Make Changes Easily – If you need to cancel a meeting or reschedule a one to one, you can easily adjust the calendar on ePortfolio to update as necessary rather than having to scribble it out in a diary.

Calendar NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

DID YOU KNOW? You can export your

calendar from ePortfolio and keep the most up-to-date

version with you at all times.

You are going to have a lot of meetings at university, this section of the ePortfolio allows you to easily manage these meetings so that you don’t miss any. You can also

add notes to the meeting which can be viewed by all attendees, this will set the agenda for the meeting which will help the meeting run as smoothly as possible.

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What is the Meetings section? The Meetings section helps you keep track of your meetings with staff, namely your personal tutor. It allows both students and staff to schedule meetings at a mutually convenient time, date and location. It also encourages you to be fully prepared for meetings by providing an area for pre-meeting notes where students can create a meeting agenda to decide what will be discussed.

What are the benefits of using Meetings? • Be Proactive and Feel Prepared – If your meeting is about

something specific you may want to record some notes ahead of the meeting for the attendees to read. Similarly, they may add notes for you to read ahead of the meetings.

• Organise Your Time – Your meetings will be more productive if you’ve prepared something in advance and keep a record of it afterwards.

• Set a Purpose – Meetings can act as a reminder for the meeting and help you to direct the meeting itself through particular talking points.

• Stay on Track – Your tutor is there to support you during your university experience and scheduling regular meetings can ensure you stay on track and address any issues.

• Keep Track of Attendees – Attendee confirmation can easily get lost in emails but with all meeting information in one place, this is easily avoided.

Meetings NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

DID YOU KNOW? If you’re unsure of who your Personal Tutor is, there is a reminder on the ePortfolio homepage. It

provides all of their contact details. If the details aren’t up to date you can contact your school office for the information to be updated.

WHERE CAN I FIND MY MEETINGS?

My Meetings can be accessed via the drop-down menu at the top

of the ePortfolio homepage.

MEETINGS & CALENDAR NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use the Calendar to Schedule Meetings?

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Being able to track your time at university is vital. Meetings with your tutor and societies are organised more efficiently using the Calendar. Agendas can be sent to all attendees by attaching files to the meeting, allowing everyone to know what needs to be discussed.

To View the Calendar • Click the Calendar option in the drop-down menu

at the top of ePortfolio. A monthly view of your calendar will appear but you can change this to a weekly or daily view, depending on your preference.

• You can easily jump back to today’s date by selecting ‘Today’ in the top left-hand corner.

To Book a Meeting • Both students and staff can set up a meeting – the

meeting organiser will have a star next to their name making them easily identifiable in the case of multiple attendees.

• Double click on the preferred meeting date, a pop-up box appears asking you to confirm, select ‘OK’.

• Add key meeting details such as the time, location, and agenda. To confirm select ‘Save and View’. Remember that any notes you make will be read by all meeting attendees.

• The meeting will then appear in your calendar with the details you have added.

To Invite People to a Meeting • Complete the form with date, time, venue, etc. • Once saved, use the ‘Add/Remove Attendees’

functionality to add people to the meeting.

Top Tips • Only the meeting organiser can delete a meeting. • Notes can be edited or removed up to 24 hours

after they have been added to the system. • If there is a schedule clash ePortfolio will notify

you with a warning message immediately. Similarly, if there are meetings within 30 minutes of one another, it will notify you.

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HAD YOU THOUGHT ABOUT…? Using the to-do list to coordinate all aspects of your life? Why not use the to do list to get yourself organised in every aspect such as a reminder to get the food shopping or

for household chores.

What is To-do List? ePortfolio’s To-do List is a simple solution to help you plan and prioritise tasks. As a student, it’s likely you already use lists in some format to help keep you on track. This tool allows you to effectively monitor activities and deadlines by ordering them by importance, date or title. It avoids random pieces of paper, relieves you of having to remember everything and is accessible from one easy to access online space.

Why should I use To-do List? • Monitor Deadlines – Keep track of upcoming deadlines

and tasks, the to-do list highlights tasks that are upcoming or overdue helping to develop effective time management skills.

• Avoid Random Pieces of Paper – Keeping your to do list online is easily accessible, easy to update and a simple way of ticking off tasks.

• Add Detail – It’s not always possible to add detail to written to-do’s but you can add as much information as you need to help you remember and complete the task fully.

• Search for Tasks – There’s nothing worse than not being able to find that piece of paper with your notes on. To avoid manually scrolling through pages on your online to-do list, use the search function to find your task quickly.

• Set Task Priority – Prioritise the most important tasks first by setting each task with a high, medium or low priority to help you get organised.

To-do List NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

WHERE CAN I FIND TO DO LISTS?

To Do Lists can be accessed via the drop-down menu at the top

of ePortfolio.

TO-DO LISTS NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use To-Do Lists?

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Some of the key benefits of to-do lists are said to be prioritising your time, holding you accountable to completing the task and feeling productive and accomplished

once the task is complete and ‘ticked off’.

To Add a New ‘To-Do’ • Select ‘Add To Do’ in the left-hand tab. • Insert a description of the task you need to

complete. This can be as detailed or as little information as you like.

• Set the task priority - either high, medium or low.

• Select a due date for when the task needs to be completed by.

• Click ‘Add’ to ensure the task is added to your to-do list.

Upcoming Tasks • When a task due date is imminent, a yellow

warning message will appear to let you know that the due date is approaching.

• Similarly, when a task is overdue, a red warning message will appear.

• For the sake of avoiding these messages, it is useful to mark a task as complete once you have finished it.

Once the Task is Completed • Click the box in the ‘Done?’ column for the

relating task. • The task will now change to a tick and be

marked as complete. • It can be useful to keep a record of tasks, just

in case you need to refer back to it. However, if you are certain that you no longer need your task in the to-do list, it’s easy to delete it.

• Select the task and click ‘Delete’ and then ‘Confirm Delete’ in the pop-up box. The pop-up is to ensure you don't accidentally delete important tasks, as the action cannot be undone.

FILE STORE NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

How do I use File Store? Your File Store is similar to other cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox and Google Drive that you have likely used before. You can store unto 150mb of files on your file store (roughly around 300 medium word documents - with a maximum of 10mb per document).

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THE BENEFITS OF CLOUD STORAGE… Include being able to access your documents anywhere and at anytime, taking advantage of vast storage space and securing multiple backups of important

information.

To Upload a Document • On the file store homepage, scroll

down to ‘Upload A File’. • C h o o s e t h e fi l e f r o m y o u r

documents on your computer. • Select Upload.

To View Your Files • On the file store homepage, all

existing files will be listed under ‘Your Files’.

• If you cannot immediately see the file, select ‘Next’ to manually scroll through the pages or alternatively use the search function.

• Always remember to name your files accurately as this can save time and make it easier to find files quickly in the future.

• You can then download the document from the file store to view it.

Top Tips • It’s easy to delete files you no

longer need by selecting ‘Delete’ next to the file.

• This moves files to the recycling bin, which acts as a safeguard incase the incorrect file has been deleted.

• You can organise files by title or date.

• Your file limit can be viewed every time you go to upload a new file, at the bottom of the page.

Start building your ePortfolio in six easy steps

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GET STARTED Go to https://portfolio.ncl.ac.uk and

just get stuck in!

1BLOG

Write an entry on anything you’d like! What’s you’re favourite module? Are

you volunteering? What are your career aspirations?

2

LINK ENTRIES TO SKILLS Tag blog entries with key skills and

monitor how your skills record is developing.

3COMMUNICATE

Start a community and invite people in your group task to join. ePortfolio is

a great way to share information easily.

BUILD A CV Have an easily accessible CV ready to

go whenever you need it.

KEEP GOING One entry a year won’t give you a well-rounded view of what you’ve

been up to but blog every week or two and watch your skills grow.

4

5 6

What to do now? NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY