Foliotek Blog

We turned loose another new feature.  One of our partners wanted more options when creating a community in Foliotek Presentation.  The request was to be able to make the portfolios in a community only visible by the moderator, that is, the person who created the community.  It sounded like a great idea, so we got to work on it.

Now, community moderators have the ability to select Moderator Only, Members Only, or Public for the visibility of the community.  Here’s how it works:

1. With Moderator Only, the portfolios are viewable only by the person who created the community.
2. When Members Only is selected, anyone who has joined the community can take a look at the portfolios.
3. If the community is Public, anyone on the internet can find the community and view the portfolios.

This addition allows moderators more flexibility in the purposes for which they create communities.  If you would like more information about this new feature, contact your Foliotek Consultant or our support team at (888) 365-4639, option 2.

Well, our portfolio contest is over and the judges have settled on the winners. There were three categories:  best career portfolio, best life story, and best design.  We want to send a big thank you to all who entered the contest; we had many amazing portfolios.

So, if you’re sitting down, we’ll announce the winners…

In the category for Best Career Portfolio, the winner is…Robert Williams.  Way to go, Robert!  Check out his portfolio:

The First Runner-Up is…David Andrew Jiles.  You can view his portfolio here.

The Second Runner-Up is…Kelly Wheaton George.  Take a look at her portfolio.

Our Career portfolio winner will receive an iPad, a 5-year license extension, and a badge graphic.  The two runners-up receive 5-year license extensions and badge graphics.

Now for the Best Life Story Portfolio…the Go Pro Camera goes to…Jessica DeWall!  Congratulations, Jessica.  Feast your eyes on her portfolio:

The First Runner-Up is…Bevan Llewelyn.  Check out his portfolio here.

The Second Runner-Up is…Michelle Stebens.  You can see her portfolio here.

Our Life Story portfolio winner will receive a Go Pro Camera, a 5-year license extension, and a badge graphic.  The two runners-up receive 5-year license extensions and badge graphics.

Finally, the Beats by Dr. Dre for Best Design goes to…Tom Fox.  Nice job, Tom!  Take a look at Tom’s work:

The First Runner-Up is…Hannah Williams.  See what she submitted here.

The Second Runner-Up is…Monica Walker.  Her portfolio can be seen here.

Our Design winner will receive the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, a 5-year license extension, and a badge graphic.  The two runners-up receive 5-year license extensions and badge graphics.

Thank you to all who entered a portfolio in our contest.  Congratulations to all our winners!

Ah yes, the phrase we all want someone to answer for us. Not find me a job, but find me a career. Jobs come and go, but you can sink your teeth into a career and gain satisfaction from it. So what are the secrets to finding a career, not just a job? Well I’m no job hunting expert or the author of a seven step path to success, but I can offer up a few snippets of advice that I have adopted over 10 years of working with higher education.

Over a year ago I ran across a TED talk by this guy named Simon Sinek. He was touting that the key to a business being extremely successful is to invest in what they are passionate about. He said that the greatest businesses of our time are those that love what they do and feel as though they are contributing to a greater cause. Hmmm…. interesting. I certainly would like to work for a business where I believe in what they do.

Fast forward a year, I ran across another TED talk by a guy named Scott Dinsmore. Scott was preaching that for individuals (not businesses) to be successful at what they do, they need to be passionate about their work. It needs to be something of which they can take ownership, something where they feel like they are making a difference.

Two different guys, one talking about business, the other talking about individuals (you), both speaking about the same topic: passion. So it would seem that the key to finding that elusive career is discovering your passions and then working for someone who shares those passions, or working for yourself pursuing those passions. Now there are two simple steps in this process, step 1 – discover your passions (easier said than done) and step 2 – find a company you can work for that shares those same passions.

Well, I think I can help with some of that… at least step 1.

There is a process you can go through to discover your passions, a process that will help you discover your drive. Educators call it “reflection.” It is the process of actively thinking about the experiences you have gone through and looking at how those experiences have shaped you as a person. There are a number of ways to to do this, but I would argue that one of the more engaging methods is creating a portfolio.

A portfolio is simply a collection of experiences. However, taking the time to organize that information and reflect on those experiences will help you more deeply understand your passions, and the intrinsic characteristics that make you who you are today.

So, find a career? Absolutely! But first you have to figure out your drive. Building a portfolio will facilitate this process. Oh, and you’ll have this cool online representation of your successes that can be used to demonstrate to an employer how you share the same passions, making you a shoe-in for the career (not job) you can dig into for a long time.

Geoff on g+

Sad news: our portfolio contest is over.

Good news: the portfolios are being judged and the winners will be announced soon!

The deadline for entering portfolios passed on May 13th.  Now the fun begins.  Over the next couple of weeks we will be going through all the submissions and figuring out which ones are the best.  Sometime in mid-June, once the hard work is done, we will award the  prizes, which include  an iPad mini for the Best Career Portfolio, Beats by Dre headphones for the Best Portfolio Design, and a Go Pro camera for the Best Life Story.  In addition, we will be awarding two runners-up in each category.  All winners and runners-up will also receive a 5 year license extension and badge graphic.

If you entered a portfolio in the contest, thank you and good luck!  If not, start working on your portfolio now and if we run another contest, you’ll be ready.  While you’re waiting for the winners to be selected, check out the sample portfolios below.

Our portfolio contest ends at midnight tonight!  It is open to anyone who has used Foliotek to build a presentation portfolio.   To enter the competition, go to our Foliotek Presentation Facebook page, click “like”, and post a link to your portfolio as a comment on our Facebook page.  This will enter you in the contest and share your portfolio with a community of Foliotek users.

We will be awarding awesome prizes including  an iPad mini for the Best Career Portfolio, Beats by Dre headphones for the Best Portfolio Design, and a Go Pro camera for the Best Life Story.  In addition, we will be awarding two runners-up in each category.  All winners and runners-up will also receive a 5 year license extension and badge graphic.  Judging of portfolios will begin this week and winners will be announced the first part of June

All Portfolios must be submitted to the Foliotek Presentation Facebook page by midnight on May 13th, 2013.  If you have any questions or would like more information about this contest, please contact support@foliotek.com or 1.888.365.4639 ext. 2.

Send us your portfolio…maybe win a prize.

Only one week left to enter our presentation portfolio contest!  It is open to anyone who has used Foliotek to build a presentation portfolio.  To enter the competition, go to our Foliotek Presentation Facebook page, click “like”, and post a link to your portfolio as a comment on our Facebook page. This will enter you in the contest and share your portfolio with a community of Foliotek users.

We will be awarding awesome prizes for exemplar portfolios in three categories Best Career Portfolio, Best Portfolio Design, and Best Life Story. In addition, we will be awarding two runners-up in each category. All winners and runners-up will also receive a 5 year license extension and badge graphic.

Prizes include  an iPad mini for the Best Career Portfolio, Beats by Dre headphones for the Best Portfolio Design, and a Go Pro camera for the Best Life Story.

All Portfolios must be submitted to the Foliotek Presentation Facebook page by midnight on May 13th, 2013.  If you have any questions or would like more information about this contest, please contact support@foliotek.com.

If you need technical support while building your portfolio, please contact support@foliotek.com or 1.888.365.4639 ext. 2 for technical assistance.

We are looking forward to seeing some excellent portfolios…

Our latest Hangout with Dr. Shellie Myers was another great discussion.  Her insight on building team morale while changing the portfolio process is extremely beneficial to anyone using portfolios.  If you missed it, you can watch the recording here:  Park University – Dr. Shellie Myers

You can also access the Hangout in our Google+ community.  If you haven’t joined our community, you need to so you can watch these discussions live.  Just click the following link: Friends of Foliotek Community.   If you already have a Google+ account, simply sign in and click the red “Ask to join” button toward the top of the screen.   Don’t have a Google+ account?  You can click the red “Join Google+” button within the previous link or click here to sign up (it’s free).  You can make connections with others in the electronic portfolio community and stay up-to-date on the latest news from Foliotek.

…until our next Hangout Discussion.  This time we are talking with Dr. Shellie Myers from Park University in Parkville, Missouri.  The discussion will begin at 12:00 pm CT.

Dr. Myers has recently led an initiative to restructure portfolio assessment processes and can offer a great perspective on how to do so successfully.  She is a delightful individual and we are proud to have her as an educational partner.  Change your plans for tomorrow and listen in on our discussion with Dr. Myers – you’ll be glad you did.

Presentation Portfolio Contest

Next week, we are kicking off a contest for anyone using Foliotek who has built a presentation portfolio.  To enter the competition, go to our Foliotek Presentation Facebook Page, click “like,” and post a link to your portfolio as a comment on our Facebook page. This will enter you in the contest and share your portfolio with a community of Foliotek users.

We will be awarding awesome prizes for exemplar portfolios in three categories (listed below). In addition, we will be awarding two runners-up in each category. All winners and runners-up will also receive a 5 year license extension and badge graphic.
 
 
BEST CAREER PORTFOLIO
[ Prize: iPad mini ]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BEST PORTFOLIO DESIGN
[ Prize: Beats by Dre headphones ]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BEST LIFE STORY
[ Prize: Go Pro camera ]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Contest Details

The contest begins  on Monday, April 22^nd.  All Portfolios must be submitted to Foliotek Presentation Facebook Page by midnight on May 13th, 2013.  If you have any questions or would like more information about this contest, please contact support@foliotek.com.

If you need technical support while building your portfolio, please contact support@foliotek.com or 1.888.365.4639 ext. 2 for technical assistance.

We are looking forward to seeing some excellent portfolios..

It just keeps getting better and better.  A few weeks ago we added to the powerful arsenal already available in Foliotek Presentation.  For quite some time, faculty members have been able to create their own private community in which their students can share portfolios.  Now, faculty members have the ability to create their own, specialized templates for students to use when creating a portfolio for those communities.

Here’s how it works:

1.  The faculty member converts any portfolio they have created into a portfolio template.

2.  That template is assigned to one or more communities which the faculty member has created.

3.  It is then available for use by the students in that community.

With this new addition, faculty members can easily specify the type of information they want students to provide in the portfolios they create.  What a powerful tool!

If you would like more information about this new feature, contact your Foliotek Consultant or our support team at (888) 365-4639, option 2.