The Profile web-site has been set up to assist you in achieving the requirements of the Professional Practice Module (PPM) while out on placement

A Quick User’s Guide to the Profile e-portfolio

	Overview: Profile and work placements
	Profile is a generic, flexible and secure system for managing any task remotely. One way of using the features of Profile is as an electronic-portfolio (e-portfolio) system to assist students in gathering evidence of learning. One way we use Profile is to track students learning on the Professional Practice Module (PPM). Students go on a one-year work placement which is assessed for academic credit through the PPM. Each student on placement is provided with his/her own e-portfolio and the student completes forms and uploads evidence of learning. The e-portfolio is highly secure and, apart from the student, only people invited by the student (eg the Work Supervisor and Academic Tutor) are allowed to view any student's portfolio and comment on the material. Please bear in mind that the example below is how we use the system. If you were to use Profile, the flexible nature of the system means that you would use your own forms containing the information you wish to capture. The information provided below helps you navigate through the system
	Contents Types of form to be completed The Communication Tool Interactions with the Profile e-portfolio Initial email from the Profile system Activating your account on the Profile web-site Accessing your Profile e-portfolio Logging off from Profile Sharing access with Work Supervisors and Visiting Tutors Conversations Accessing Forms Filling in Forms ‘Signing off’ Forms
	Types of form to be completed There are four types of form that need completing, primarily by the student. They are: · The Placement Details form that provides contact information about the placement. · The Health & Safety form confirms training in basic procedures. · The Learning Agreement form that identifies a number of learning opportunities, termed ‘tasks’. Each task needs to represent learning at Final Year level (Level 3 or L3) and be supported by evidence of that learning being achieved. Examples of tasks are provided. · The Task Template form is used to describe the learning associated with an individual task in terms that allow academic credit to be awarded. Examples of what to include are provided. Each task needs to be submitted on a separate task template form.
	Although the student is responsible for filling in most of the forms, the last three forms need to be signed-off by the Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor when they have been completed satisfactorily. In order to do this, students need to 'invite' their Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor to view their on-line forms, which the members of staff can then sign-off by clicking on checkboxes that only they have permissions to access. Return to Contents

	The Communication Tool In addition to the e-portfolio, a communications tool is provided which allows a student and his or her invited Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor to exchange messages. These ‘conversations’ are logged and serve as a record of discussions. Return to Contents

	Interactions with the Profile e-portfolio
	You will be able to interact with the Profile e-portfolio in a number of ways:

	Initial email from the Profile system When your account is initially set-up you will receive an email; you will not be able to access your e-portfolio or other functions until you receive this. The email will confirm your username (ie your email address, see below) as well as your designated role (eg student) and how to activate your account (see immediately below). Return to Contents
	Activating your account on the Profile web-site Like any secure system, you will need a username and a password to use Profile. Your username is your email address; if you have more than one email address, then use the email address Profile used when it first contacted you. Your password is not emailed to you until you go to the Profile web-site and activate your account. Do this as follows: Go to http://www.profile.ac.uk/ and click on the 'login' link; then enter your email address as your username and press the 'enter' key. Enter some ‘secret’ information (eg your mother’s maiden name) plus a visible reminder or hint; this is part of the password self-management system on Profile that you can use to generate a brand new password if you ever forget your password. Click the ‘email my password’ button. Your password will be sent to your email address; it will have the form of an adjective-noun combination (eg dry-banana). Return to Contents
	Accessing your Profile e-portfolio Go to http://www.profile.ac.uk/ and click the 'login' link; enter your email address as your username and press the 'enter' key. Enter your password (eg dry-banana; don’t forget the hyphen in the middle!) and press ‘enter’. When you successfully logon to Profile you will enter your own private e-portfolio and you will be presented with a list of ‘action links’ on the left of the screen.
	'Action' links at the left of the screen following successful logon Notes: For maximum security, do not disable Javascript in your browser. Your session on Profile is managed through a session cookie'. This is not saved to your disk and disappears once you log off; however, session cookies must be enabled within your browser (this is usually the default). If your username is not recognised, make sure you are entering the full email address as contained in the original email from the Profile web-site. If your password is not recognised, try again; you have three opportunities after which you cannot try again for a couple of minutes. Alternatively, if you have forgotten your password, you can get a new one sent to you if you provide your ‘secret’ word. Return to Contents
	Logging off from Profile To close your e-portfolio properly, click the ‘Logout <your name here>’ link underneath the Profile logo before shutting down the browser (see above figure, Logout Donald Duck). Return to Contents
	Sharing access with Work Supervisors and Visiting Tutors Students When you are logged on to your Profile e-portfolio, you have exclusive access to part of the web-server where, for example, you can fill in various forms (see below) and upload ‘evidence’. However, your Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor will also need to access the forms and uploaded evidence, as well as wanting to communicate with you. So, you will need to ‘invite’ these users to share access to your material. This shared access is a very important aspect to the successful development of your PPM during your placement year; shared access cannot be set up by anyone else but you - it’s your responsibility and you should arrange it as soon as you can (do not wait until you have started filling in forms). You arrange shared access as follows: · Logon to Profile, then click the ‘Invitations’ link under the ‘Sharing’ heading at the left of the screen. A list of users will be displayed indicating their roles.

	· Find your Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor and, in turn, click on the ‘Invite’ link against each name; the entries under the ‘Status’ column will change to ‘Pending’ and an email will automatically be sent to each person. The email allows the person to accept or decline the offer to share.

	· You can check the status of users you have invited by clicking the ‘Invitations’ link when you logon. Once someone accepts the offer, the ‘Pending’ under the ‘Status’ column will change to ‘Sharing’. In the unlikely event of the user declining the offer, then the ‘Status’ entry reverts to ‘-‘. You will also receive an email informing you of the decision made by the person you invited.

	· If you make a mistake, you can revoke a share at any time by clicking the 'Remove' link in the Remove column.
	Work Supervisors/Visiting Tutors It is important that your students ‘invite’ you to share access to their e-portfolios as they contain forms and uploaded evidence of learning that count towards the assessment of the PPM. · You should, therefore, receive an automated email from each student inviting you to share access to their part of the Profile web-site. · The email will contain two links; click on one to accept the offer to share, or the other to decline. · Once you have accepted (and why should you do anything other than accept!) and are logged on to the Profile system, you can click on the ‘Show Forms’ link (under the ‘Forms’ heading to the left of the screen) in order to view your students’ material (see later). Return to Contents
	Conversations Students Once you have invited your Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor to share access to your e-portfolio, you can also send messages to them via the ‘My Conversation’ link under the ‘Sharing’ heading to the left of the screen. Simply click on this link, then type your message into the ‘New Message’ box, then click the ‘Post’ button.

	Your message will be added to the running ‘conversation’ at the bottom of the screen (along with your name and the date and time).

	Emails will also be sent automatically to your Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor informing them of the message and allowing them to view and respond to it. As and when they add something to the ‘conversation’, you will receive a similar email alert! Just click on the link in the email to access the conversation. Work Supervisors/Visiting Tutors
	You can have running ‘conversations’ with students who are ‘sharing’ with you by clicking on the ‘My Conversations’ link under the ‘Sharing’ heading to the left of the screen. This will display a list of your students.
	Click on the appropriate name to access the conversation page for that student. Type your message into the ‘New Message’ box, then click the ‘Post’ button.
	Your message will be added to the running ‘conversation’ at the bottom of the screen (along with your name and the date and time).
	An email will also be sent automatically to the student informing them of the message and allowing them to view and respond to it. As and when a student adds to the ‘conversation’, you will receive a similar email alert! Just click on the link in the email to access the conversation. Return to Contents
	Accessing Forms Students Forms are a vital part of the way the Profile e-portfolio supports your PPM! There are four forms that you need to access and fill in… The Placement Details form. The Health & Safety form. The Learning Agreement form. The Task Template form. You can access these forms by clicking on the ‘Show Forms’ link under the ‘Forms’ heading to the left of the screen once you logon. You are required to fill out one Placement Details form, one Learning Agreement form, one Health & Safety form, and as many Task Template forms as you have individual tasks agreed within your Learning Agreement. To begin with, none of these forms are present in your e-portfolio, so you must click on the appropriate link to ‘create an instance of the form’ that you can then view and fill in. For the Task Template form, the ‘create an instance of the form’ option remains on screen so that whenever you need a fresh form for the next task, you can create one easily. To access a particular form, just follow the appropriate link once the form has been created. Screenshot for the student, Donald Duck, who clicked on the Show Forms link at the left. Donald can create a version of the 'Basic details' form by clicking on the top link in the main window. He has already created versions of the other three forms, ready to fill in. Note that he can create another, blank copy of the Single Task Template form when needed by clicking on the bottom link. The screen will then appear as follows... Donald can access and fill in a form by following the appropriate link starting with 'View'.
	Work Supervisors/Visiting Tutors Click on the ‘Show Forms’ link under the ‘Forms’ heading to the left of the screen once you logon. This will give you access to the forms created by the students with whom you are ‘sharing’ and to which you can contribute; for each student just click on the appropriate link to see the form itself.
	Return to Contents
	Filling in Forms Rule number 1: Forms are not much use unless you fill them in! Detailed information on the entries needed for each form is available via links within the form itself, but there are some general issues you should be aware of… Each element within the form (ie checkbox, radio button, etc) will have either a green tick or a red cross next to it. You are allowed to modify anything with a green tick next to it, but any change you make to a form element with a red cross will not be saved. Don’t forget to click on the Submit button at the bottom of the form in order to save any changes you make to the form. You can tell if the form has been successfully submitted as an ‘Updated as Shown’ banner appears at the start and end of the form with either a green or blue background (the colour alternates on repeated submissions to indicate successful submission).

	Part of the 'Health & Safety' form, as viewed by the student Donald Duck. Bits of the form that Donald can fill in have green ticks next to them. Note that Donald cannot change the two checkboxes labelled Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor 'sign off'. Also note the 'Submit' button; this must be clicked in order to record any changes made. Successful submission is confirmed by a redisplay of the form, with an 'Updated as shown' banner at the top and bottom...


	Some forms will contain a ‘File Upload’ form element (a textbox with a ‘Browse’ button next to it). This allows you to upload files (eg ones containing supporting evidence towards the claims made in the form); simply click on the ‘Browse’ button, then locate and double-click on the name of the file you wish to upload. The ‘path’ for the file will be recorded in the textbox.

	When you then click the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the form the file will be uploaded and stored with the rest of the form details. You can upload as many files as you wish by repeating the above; a link to each one uploaded will appear next to the ‘File Upload’ form element – clicking on the link will display the uploaded file (it’s always useful to do this in order to check that the upload was successful). Note also that an email is sent out to anyone with whom you are 'sharing' your e-portfolio; the email contains a secure link that allows the person to view the uploaded file. You do not have to completely fill in the form before ‘submitting’ it. As long as the form is not locked (see below) you can submit it, then return to the form later and add to or change it. Return to Contents
	‘Signing off’ Forms There may be a number of ‘sign off’ checkboxes at the bottom of the forms. Generally, once the student, the Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor have checked these boxes the form is ‘locked’ from further change (this is indicated by all the green ticks being replaced by red crosses!).
	This form has been signed off by all three parties, so is 'locked' from further change. For example, although the student (Donald Duck) is logged on, he cannot change the items to which he previously had access. So, once the student has completed the form, including any file uploads, s/he should check any ‘student sign-off’ checkbox and click the Submit button; s/he should then inform the Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor through the Conversation function that the form is complete. If satisfied with the form and any uploaded files, the Work Supervisor and Visiting Tutor can check the appropriate boxes, after which the form is regarded as being ‘signed off’ and cannot be changed further. If it is felt that a form cannot be 'signed off', then the 'conversation' tool can be used to mediate discussion about what needs to be done to complete the form successfully. Return to Contents
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