BUILDING YOUR SITE

Setting up the bones of your website

We advise that you set up the bones of a website in Term 1. Decide what platform you (or your advisory) will use. We can recommend

Wix
Padlet
Google Sites

These are all free and reasonably straightforward to use. In fact, this website was built with Google Sites. You may know of others that you’d like to use. Go ahead. Many of the general principles that we are talking about here will probably apply to other platforms.

Pros & cons

Wix is easy to navigate, offers plenty of templates to use, looks professional and is easy to add your advisor to as a collaborator. However, you are limited to 5 pages in the free version.
Padlet is very easy and intuitive to use. It’s more like a display board than a website. You can drag n’ drop all kinds of files onto it as ‘posts’. But it can get cluttered very quickly. Collaborators such as your advisor will need to have an account before you can invite them.
Google Sites are also easy to use and if you’re already working on the Google platform at school then it can make sense to use it. It has a streamlined aesthetic but it doesn't have a big variety of themes.

top tip:

However, no matter which platform you choose, make sure that you set it up with a PRIVATE ACCOUNT and not your SCHOOL ACCOUNT.

Why?

This is so that once you have left school your website containing your Online Portfolio stays active. (Most school accounts are de-activated after you have left.)

Also, sometimes there are settings used in school systems that prevent you embedding videos, or making your viewing permissions public.

getting started

Have a look at the visual instructions for signing up and setting up a Wix, Padlet or Google site below:

wix

padlet

Google Sites

top tip:

If you’re an advisor, have a go at setting up a site for yourself so that you have first-hand knowledge that will help your students.

mapping your menu:

It really helps if you have an overall structure in mind for organising your content, long before you start uploading the actual content.

On a whiteboard, on your tablet, or in a big A3 scrapbook, sketch your ideas for the types of MENU tabs PAGES and you think you will need in your portfolio.

Hopefully these will be quite similar to the folders in the directory that you set up on your computer.

wix

For example, in Wix you can have 5 pages, so you might sketch something like:

ABOUT ME
Senior Project
Leaving to Learn
TAFE Courses
More Evidence

padlet

In Padlet, there is no limit to the number of sections, but you should choose a layout template that is easy to navigate for your audience. The video below goes through how to add to and organise your sections.

Google Sites

In Google Sites, you have plenty of flexibility with the how you organise your pages. As you can see, Fion has chosen to organise hers by grade and sources of evidence. This makes it easy for the viewer to navigate.

planning your pages

Further down the track when you are getting ready to load content into your Online Portfolio, sketch out each page or section in more detail.

Make it really visual and easy to see and understand. You might like using icons, pictures, or plain text dot points. Use whatever works for you. Make your plans big so it’s easy to follow and for your Advisor to also see.

For example,

What HEADINGS will it need?
What CAPTIONS or BLURBS does it need to orient the end-viewer?
Do you have any PHOTOS or VIDEO to include?
Will you LINK to text documents or type directly into a text box on the platform you are using?

top tip:

Now build your basic structure in Wix, Padlet, Google Sites or any other platform that you are using.

Congratulations! You have just made your life easier for Terms 3 and 4.

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