Frequently Asked Questions


For Students
	Sample ePortfolios
	Getting Started
	Guides and Tutorials
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About Student ePortfolio:

Q. What is Student ePortfolio?

A. The QUT Student ePortfolio is an online tool designed to enhance your learning experiences and assist you with the transition from university to graduate employment. It provides a Web-based environment in which you can document and present different aspects of your academic, professional and personal development within the format of a personal ePortfolio. [ TOP ]

Q. What is an ePortfolio?

A. An ePortfolio is a Web-based repository of information, examples and evidence related to your skills, interests, personal attributes, and achievements. [ TOP ]

Q. What are the benefits of using Student ePortfolio?

A. Building a personal ePortfolio can help you to develop a deeper awareness of yourself and your abilities. Reflecting on and recording your experiences will help you to recognise and review the knowledge and skills that you've developed as a result of those experiences. You'll also be better able to identify any skill areas in need of improvement.

When prospective employers ask you for evidence of the skills and attributes they're looking for, you'll be able to draw on the examples documented in your ePortfolio to answer interview questions and respond to selection criteria. Having this information ready and organised will make the job application process easier and less daunting. The wide variety of information in your ePortfolio will convey a far clearer and more complete impression of you than your resumé or academic history could alone.

QUT's commitment to preparing you for the 'real world' involves helping you to acquire specific skills in a range of areas including communication, teamwork, leadership, etc. These skills are defined in a set of graduate capabilities that have been established by QUT with reference to the skills and attributes typically sought by employers. Regularly reflecting on your course-related academic experiences in relation to the graduate capabilities will help you to understand the relevance of your coursework, recognise your achievements, and refine your educational goals. You'll be better able to assess your overall progress, which will help you to gain confidence in yourself as an emerging professional. [ TOP ]

Q. What are the conditions of using Student ePortfolio?

A. You must abide by QUT's Information Facilities Rules at all times when using Student ePortfolio. Please ensure that the content of your ePortfolio is appropriate with respect to 'acceptable use' as defined in 'Schedule 1 - Acceptable Use of Information Facilities'. You should avoid using inappropriate language or any other material that could be deemed offensive. If you are in any doubt about the suitability of your proposed content, please email qutvirtual@qut.edu.au for further advice.

The Your Responsibilities section of this website contains further information about the conditions of use. [ TOP ]

Q. Can I customise the appearance of my ePortfolio?

A. Currently, no. The facility for students to customise the colour scheme and other basic elements is under consideration as part of plans for future development.

You have complete control over which information (if any) in your ePortfolio is visible to others. [ TOP ]

Q. How do I save a copy of my ePortfolio to file?

A. The Export function allows you to save a copy of your ePortfolio text to file. You can then open this file in a word processing application (e.g. Microsoft Word) for further editing or printing. [ TOP ]

Q. How do I print from my ePortfolio?

A. To print a particular View, preview the View and then click on the 'Printer friendly version' link in the top right hand corner. (For instructions on previewing a View, please refer to the Student Portfolio Quick Reference Guide.) A new window will open, containing the content of your View. Click on the 'print' link.

Alternatively, you can use the Export function to save a copy of your ePortfolio to file, and then open and print that file.

You can also print from the browser window using the browser menu (File -> Print). [ TOP ]

Q. Where can I get help with using Student ePortfolio?

A. For a detailed introduction to using Student ePortfolio, see the Getting Started section. You can also view sample ePortfolios, guides and tutorials, and a glossary.

You can access help resources from the main page of QUT Virtual by clicking on the 'Sample ePortfolios, guides and resources' link in the Student ePortfolio section.

If you need further assistance, see the enquiries page for contact details. [ TOP ]

Q. What are employers saying about Student ePortfolio?

A. The response from employers to Student ePortfolio has been very positive. Different employers have expressed the following views:

Student ePortfolio will be of significant benefit during the recruitment process, both to employers and to applicants.
Building and maintaining an ePortfolio will help students to be better prepared for the recruitment process, meaning that the quality of employment applications will improve. Students will be able to answer interview questions and selection criteria more effectively by drawing on a wide variety of real life examples. This will make it easier for employers to accurately assess the qualities and suitability of each applicant.
An applicant's personal ePortfolio will help to present a clearer, more complete picture of the person behind the resumé.
Student ePortfolio has the potential to be very useful as a second-level selection tool; an applicant's ePortfolio could help to distinguish them from other candidates in the later stages of the recruitment process.

Employers have also commented favourably on the fact that Student ePortfolio is based on a framework of ten key skill areas that most would consider in selecting their candidates.

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Accessing Student ePortfolio:

Q. Who can use Student ePortfolio?

A. All QUT students and staff have access to Student ePortfolio. [ TOP ]

Q. How do I access Student ePortfolio?

A. Student ePortfolio is accessible from the main page of QUT Virtual (i.e. the first page displayed after login). [ TOP ]

Q. Which Web browser should I use when accessing Student ePortfolio?

A. Student ePortfolio has been tested in recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox. There may be slight differences in the appearance of Student ePortfolio across different browsers. [ TOP ]

Q. Do I need to specially configure my browser to use Student ePortfolio?

A. You may need to set your browser preferences to enable JavaScript (JavaScript is usually enabled by default in most browsers). [ TOP ]

Q. Who can access the information in my ePortfolio?

A. The information that you enter into your ePortfolio (in the form of experiences and artefacts) will NOT be visible to anyone else unless you choose to include those elements in a View and then release that View to another person (see the FAQs about Views for further details). [ TOP ]

Experiences:

Q. What sort of experiences should I document in my Student ePortfolio?

A. You can reflect on and record any experience that you feel has contributed to your academic, professional or personal development in some way. These experiences can be drawn from situations at university, at work, in the community, or in your personal life. The Getting Started section of this website provides more information about selecting experiences for your ePortfolio. [ TOP ]

Q. What is STAR L, and how can I use it to help me reflect on my experiences?

A. STAR L stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result and lessons Learnt. The STAR L acronym can help you to structure your reflections and more clearly convey the meaning and outcome of an experience. Information about using STAR L is provided in the Getting Started section of this website. [ TOP ]

Q. Why do I have to enter each experience against a particular Skill Area?

A. The Skill Areas have been defined with reference to generic employability attributes, industry group standards, and the QUT graduate capabilities. As such, they represent core areas of learning and development.

Job interview questions and selection criteria are often based around the core skill areas (QUT Careers and Employment can provide you with further information about interviews and selection criteria). Organising your reflections with respect to these areas will be of benefit when you begin applying for employment. [ TOP ]

Q. What should I do if my experience relates to more than one Skill Area?

A. If an experience you are reflecting on seems to relate to more than one skill area, the scope of the experience may be too broad. Try considering different aspects of the situation as separate experiences. For example, your participation in a team project could be broken down as follows:

If you were appointed as team leader, you could reflect on the project as a Leadership experience. (What were your responsibilities as team leader? How did you address those responsibilities? What did you learn about leadership?)
If you helped to develop an oral presentation as part of the assessment, you could reflect on this as a Communication experience. (What techniques did you use to ensure that the presentation was clear and informative? Were there any problems? How did you resolve them? What did you learn about giving an effective presentation?)
If you were responsible for managing project documentation, you could reflect on this as a Managing/Organising experience. (What type and volume of documentation did you manage? What systems or processes did you put in place to help you with the task? Is there anything you'd do differently next time?)
If you volunteered to design a webpage as part of the assessment, you could reflect on this as a Creative/Design experience. (What were the aims of the webpage? How did you try to fulfil these? What was your creative process? Which design principles did you follow? If you intentionally disregarded any design conventions, what were your reasons?)

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Artefacts:

Q. What is an Artefact?

A. An Artefact is a document that supports an experience or provides evidence of your skills and achievements. It might be:

an example of work that demonstrates your skills (e.g. a written assignment, a website you've developed, a scanned piece of artwork, a video recording of a performance piece, a photo of something that you helped design or build, etc.)
evidence of your achievements (e.g. a scanned certificate of merit, a photo of a trophy, etc.)
something which supports an experience that you've reflected on in your ePortfolio (e.g. a photo of you participating in a sport or hobby, a letter of appreciation from a community organisation, etc.)

Note that a Student ePortfolio Artefact must be in digital format (i.e. a file that can be viewed on a computer). [ TOP ]

Q. Where can I store my Artefact files?

A. QUT has provided each student with 128MB of digital storage space, accessible via the File Manager application. Alternatively, you can choose to store your Artefact files in any Web-accessible location (e.g. in an account on a faculty-based student web server, or a commercial ISP's web server). [ TOP ]

Q. Why don't the links to my Artefacts work?

A. Check that the location of your Artefacts has not changed. If you move your files to a different location, you will need to update the links to those Artefacts in your Student ePortfolio. [ TOP ]

Q. When creating an Artefact, how can I find out the URL of my file?

A. To create a link to an Artefact, you will need to provide the website address (URL) for that Artefact. This URL can be easily obtained by opening the Artefact in Internet Explorer and then copying the URL from the address bar. To do this:

Highlight the address, click on EDIT in the toolbar, and then click COPY in the drop-down menu.
In the Artefact entry section of Student ePortfolio, click in the URL field, then click EDIT in the toolbar, followed by PASTE in the drop-down menu.

Note: If the Artefact is moved, the link will no longer work. You will need to update the Artefact's URL using the steps above. [ TOP ]

ePortfolio Views:

Q. What is an ePortfolio View?

A. An ePortfolio View is a particular selection of the information in your ePortfolio. When you release an ePortfolio View to another person, you grant them access to the content included in that View. You can create different ePortfolio Views, tailoring each one to a specific audience or purpose.

The Getting Started section of this website provides more information about creating and releasing a View. [ TOP ]

Q. Who can I release an ePortfolio View to?

A. Currently, you can release ePortfolio Views to QUT students and QUT staff members. The facility to release Views to external visitors (e.g. potential employers) is included in plans for future development. [ TOP ]

File Manager:

Q. What is File Manager?

A. File Manager allows you to upload and manage files in the digital file storage space provided to you by QUT. You can use this space to store files that you want to make available on the Web (e.g. your ePortfolio artefacts). [ TOP ]

Q. How do I access File Manager?

A. File Manager is accessible from the Student ePortfolio section on the main page of QUT Virtual (i.e. the first page displayed after login). [ TOP ]

Q. How much file storage space do I get?

A. As a QUT student, you get 128MB of storage space. [ TOP ]

Resumé Builder:

Q. What is Resumé Builder?

A. Resumé Builder is an online tool that enables you to create a resumé. Once you've created a resumé using this tool, you can choose to include that resumé when creating a View in Student ePortfolio. [ TOP ]

Q. How do I access Resumé Builder?

A. Resumé Builder is accessible from the Student ePortfolio section on the main page of QUT Virtual (i.e. the first page displayed after login). [ TOP ]

Graduation:

Q. Will I still be able to use Student ePortfolio after I graduate?

A. You will have access to Student ePortfolio for 12 months after you graduate. QUT is currently working towards providing Alumni with life-long access.

Remember that you can save your ePortfolio content to CD at any time by using the export function. [ TOP ]

Q. How long will QUT store my ePortfolio data after I graduate?

A. QUT will retain your ePortfolio data in storage for 10 years from the date of your graduation. [ TOP ]

Q. What happens if I return to QUT to undertake further study?

A. If you start another degree within 12 months of graduating, your Student ePortfolio access will continue as before. If you return after an absence greater than 12 months, but less than 10 years, you will be able to request the retrieval of your ePortfolio data from archival storage. [ TOP ]