My Reflections (on the process of using Yola)

This is the 39th tool that I have used to re-create my electronic portfolio. The process moved fairly smoothly. The tool allowed me to reconstruct my portfolio in less than two hours, copying the information from my Weebly portfolio where I had the URLs on the page (and the links). All of my other artifacts are web links. 

I prefer to have the links open a new window (and the portfolio remains open), which was option when you create a link.  When an artifact is opened, the reader can then close the window to go back to the portfolio.

To aggregate assessment data, a spreadsheet could be created to collect quantitative data. There is some interactivity to this program, because it has a blog with comments. Therefore, this tool would work very well for an interactive presentation portfolio but other tools will need to be used for summative assessment.

The real advantage of Yola is the many different tools, gadgets and widgets available: Flickr Gallery, Flickr Search, SmugMug Gallery, YouTube Video, File, MP3 Player as well as custom HTML and password-protected pages. A custom domain name can be purchased for $29.95 a year. The Pro (paid) version includes a custom domain name and other design features (for $99/year... a little pricey). I created a Table of Contents on the upper left side of the page (the Navigation, with links to each section on the site, which automatically shows on each page). I am impressed with this tool. I was able to create this hyperlinked set of web pages, with no knowledge of HTML. 

This program would work well for a presentation portfolio, and Weebly would work well if the goal is a learning portfolio, with interactivity and feedback through the blog. Each blog entry can have comments added (using a 3rd party program) and can have categories in addition to tags (like WordPress), and any page can be hidden in navigation menu.  The whole site can be password-protected.

This free website was made using Yola.

No HTML skills required. Build your website in minutes.

Go to www.yola.com and sign up today!

Make a free website with Yola