Private If you are new to Folio, you have the Student Guide available to you. This is an infographic that summarises the key aspects you must be aware of to be able to use Folio.
1.1 The Folio module (widget)
a. What is a module (widget)?
Whether you are a member of the UOC teaching staff or a student, it is important to for you to know that Folio is available through a module on the Virtual Campus.
A module, or widget, is a small application or programme that provides access to the most commonly used features and, once activated, is integrated into the Campus.
b. What is the Folio (widget) module for?
The Folio module on campus makes it easier for you to perform three of the most common actions:
- Visit the home page of your Folio.
- Create a new entry.
- Access the desktop to manage your Folio.
c. First steps for teachers
Folio is also a resource for teachers that explains a working model for using this tool in the classroom. It is a personal blog for students and members of the UOC, based on WordPress. It is linked to the UOC model and collects data from the classrooms where members are enrolled. Folio was to publish and share activities in a collaborative learning environment. For this therefore, the activities and continuous assessment activities that are submitted to Folio are projects based on each student’s personal development.
What does the model allow?
- Identify: Centralise the submission of all courses in a personal space.
- Socialise: Publish content in the Agora for colleagues and strengthen communication and community.
- Professionalise: have the potential to become a professional portfolio.
- Learn network publishing skills.
- Show and evaluate work in an agile way.
→ More information: Instructions for teaching staff
TIPS: If, as a teacher, you are interested in including Folio in your program, we recommend that you start by reading this short resource (in Catalan) that indicates the different steps to make the request, understand the different uses of Folio and how to implement it.
1.2 The Agora
a) What is the Agora?
UOC classrooms that use Folio have an Agora. You will find the following elements:
- The title of the Agora according to the classroom to which it belongs.
- The right side with the participants of the Agora. Participants are those who have already entered the Agora.
- Central area: the latest content posted by classmates and teachers.
The entries shown are those that have been published and tagged with an ActiFolio of the subject and have classroom, campus or public visibility permission. The Agora displays different elements depending on the permissions that have been and who is visiting the space. For example, it will not be displayed if you are not online on the campus or are not a member of the classroom.
TIPS: If you are a teacher and interested in using the Agora in your in your classroom, there is a Teacher’s Guide (in Catalan) which describes the steps to add Folio Agora into the classroom.
b) Agora entries
The following elements are shown in the entries published in the Agora:
c) Agora design
The Agora, as part of the classroom, uses a corporate theme and maintains this style over the design the student has chosen in their own Folio. It also retains the elements and certain aspects of the original layout, but applies the Agora design, so the appearance of the post may differ from the original Folio publication.
1.3 Proposed activities
a) Activating Folio with a widget
There are 4 steps to activate the Folio widget in the Virtual Campus:
- Enter the Virtual Campus with your username and password.
- On the right side you will find a function called “Add information” which will allow you to add some interesting widgets to the Virtual Campus, including Folio
- Once you have found it, click on “Add”.
- Now you can go back to campus and check that the Folio widget has been added automatically. You can now access the Folio desktop, create a new entry or manage your Folio with a single click.
b) Visit the Agora of the courses
This activity is designed to help you get to know how Agora is used in every classroom that uses Folio. If you look at the right side of the Campus Classroom, you will find a link to the Classroom Agora. If you follow the link and there is content published by the rest of the students, you will be able to see it, as long as it meets these requirements:
- The content has been tagged with a course ActiFolio.
- The visibility permission is classroom, campus or public visibility.
This is a personal work space for a student of the Open University of Catalonia. Any content published in this space is the responsibility of its author.