[Teacher/Admin] - Creating and managing templates

In Portflow, authorized users can create templates. A template is a scaffolded structure of sections, collections, goals and activities that can be offered to students through a unique code. This might serve as a starting point for students in building their portfolios. This makes it possible to offer learning goals and learning outcomes that students might, at their own discretion, use in their portfolios. 

Important! Students can edit and delete any elements from an imported template. 

Creating templates

To create templates, template privileges need to be assigned by the Portflow Admin. If you are authorized, the "Templates" tab will appear within the Portflow environment, which allows for creating templates. You will only see the templates associated with your department and templates associated with no specific department.

How to create a template?

1. Click on '+ New template'

2. Give the template a name (this cannot be changed) and an associated department (this can be changed).

3. Add the desired elements
   

   1. Goals

      1. Click on '+ add goal'

      2. Give the goal a short name (required), long name and description

      3. If preferred, edit or delete goals by clicking the 3 dots (⋮)

      4. It is possible to convert a template goal to a repository goal. This action cannot be undone.

   2. Sub-goals

      1. Once you have added a goal, you can add a subgoal. Click the three dots (⋮) next to a goal title

      2. Give the sub-goal a short name (required), long name and description

      3. If necessary, edit or delete sub-goals by uncollapsing the sub-goals and clicking the 3 dots (⋮)

      4. Note: The order of the sub-goals is reflected in the student portfolio. Use the 'move goal up/down' function to make necessary changes. 

   3. Repository goals (repository goals make it possible to re-use goals in multiple templates)

      1. Click on '+use repository goal'

      2. Search and select a goal. If you are not able to find a goal, it may be because it is associated with a department you are not a member of.

      3. Click 'add'. You can check the number of goals you are adding.

      4. If necessary, you can 'remove from template'

   4. Collections

      1. Click on '+ add new'

      2. Click on 'collection'

      3. Give the collection a name and a subtitle

      4. Use the description field to provide more information about the collection

   5. Sections

      1. Click on '+ add new'

      2. Click on 'section'

      3. Give the section a name

4. Structure the collections within a section

   1. Click on the 3 dots on the left side of the collection card (⋮)

   2. Choose 'Move to above section', 'Move to below section', 'Move left', or 'Move right'

   3. Repeat until the desired result is accomplished

5. Link goals to collections

   1. Click on 'link goals' on the collection card

   2. Select goals to link to that collection

   3. Note: The order of the goals is reflected in the student portfolio

6. Add activities to collections

   1. Click on the collection card. Choose 'Add activities' at the top.

   2. Click on '+ add activity'

   3. Give the activity a title and description. Select the relevant goals (either template goals or repository goals)

   4. If necessary, change the order of the activities using the arrows '^' or '∨'.
      

Changes to the template are saved automatically.

Note: Making changes to an imported template

If you make changes to a template that is shared with and imported by students, the students' portfolios will not be updated automatically!

Sharing templates

Templates can be shared via the 'share ID', a 6-character code. This ID can be found on top of the header of the template page and in the template overview (4). Share this code, for example, via an LMS course or a message to students. 

Students enter this code (ID) in their portfolio environment to import the template.

Importing an already imported template

A student could import a template again, using the same code they have used before. If you have altered the template in the meantime, the result will be as follows:

Changes in existing elements and new relations between existing elements are NOT updated in the student portfolio after a re-import. New elements are added to the portfolio of the student, but new relations to old elements are not created. 

Examples

1. When adding a new collection under an existing section, the collection will be imported in the portfolio without any relation to a section.
2. When adding a new relation between an existing goal and an existing collection, the portfolio will have no relation between them.
3. When adding a new goal to an existing collection, the goal will be imported without any relation to the collection.
4. When adding a new collection with relations to existing goals, the collection will be imported without any linked goals.

We advise to work with modular templates, since you are able to 'stack' templates. When changing or adding a couple components, especially if already linked to existing components, it would be wise to ask the students to make these changes manually.

Converting template goals to repository goals

If a student has already imported a template with goals, and you would like to re-use those goals in a new template, this is what you could do:

In the already-imported template, convert the template goals to repository goals. In the new template, add the repository goals you have just created. Link the repository goals to collections and activities as required. Now, for students who had already imported the previous template, the existing goals will be added to the newly imported collections and activities. 

Managing templates

The 'templates' tab lists all templates the user has access to (1). These are all the templates from the departments you are part of, and all templates without an associated template. This overview shows the template name (3), ID code (4), author (5), the last editing date (6), amount of times and last time it has been applied (7), and the department it belongs to (8). A template can be deleted, shared, edited or duplicated via the 3 dots (⋮) (9). If desired, it is possible to only view your own or a specific department's templates (10) or search for a specific template or author (11).