How do I...

View an example MyCPDSpot porfolio?

There is an example user on the MyCPDSpot system which displays an example portfolio blog and professional body audit presentation. Please note that this user has set all aspects of their portfolio to be publicly viewable.

Set up an account?

Click on the Register link displayed in the grey sidebar on the right of the MyCPDSpot homepage, under the login box. Provide your name and email address and click the Register button. MyCPDSpot will then send you an email which you can use to set up your account.

Find my way around the MyCPDSpot interface

There are 4 parts to each page within MyCPDSpot:

  1. Toolbar - located at the top of the page when logged in this provides menu buttons to your main MyCPDSpot areas (your blog, profile, presentations etc) and also links to your account settings (where for example you can change your password), a help link and also a log out link.
  2. Sidebar - on the right side of the main page content is the sidebar which once logged in displays your icon on the system and provides links to your blog posts organised by keyword (the Tags link) and also lists your Friends, recent activity and Presentations. When you are viewing another MyCPDSpot users profile or blog this sidebar will provide links to their shared content.
  3. Search - in the blue header bar lies a search box which allows you to quickly search the whole MyCPDSpot system for blog posts that are available to you (all MyCPDSpot users can choose to make each of their posts and uploaded files available or private). The Browse and Tag cloud links provide two other mechanisms for exploring the available posts.
  4. Main content - depending on where you are in MyCPDSpot and whether you are logged in, the local content and related functionality are displayed in this main section of the page.

Labeled screenshot of the MyCPDSpot interface

Return to the welcome page

You can return to the welcome page presented after you login from any place in MyCPDSpot by clicking on the large MyCPDSpot logo displayed in the header bar.

Write my profile

Once you have logged into MyCPDSpot click on the Your profile button in the toolbar at the top of the page. Your profile is where you can describe yourself for other users of MyCPDSpot and the level of detail you provide in your profile is completely up to you. Initially this profile page will be blank. Click on the Edit this profile link to add information to your profile.

MyCPDSpot provides for a very comprehensive profile including interests, employment, education and location. You can control who can see each aspect of your profile using the Access restriction selection box. This access control facility is available on many aspects of your MyCPDSpot content and its use is described in more detail below (sharing your content).

You should be careful about making too much personal information publicly available. Initially it is recommended that you provide only a short introduction and your areas of professional interest and share these only with other MyCPDSpot users (by selecting Logged in users in the Access restriction selection box for each of these sections).

Change the image that represents me on MyCPDSpot

You can use your Account settings to change various aspects of your MyCPDSpot. Click on the Account settings link which is displayed in the Toolbar at the top right of the page. Then click on the Your site picture link provided in the main content. The page displayed allows you to then upload any picture file from your PC and use this to represent you (as your icon) on the MyCPDSpot system. You may wish also to enter an appropriate icon description with our image (e.g. "photograph of Jimmy Smith"). Click the Upload new icon button at the bottom of the page to upload the image.

Tip - ideally you should provide an image about 100 pixels by 100 pixels in size. You can create such an image from a photograph by cropping and then resizing the image. A free tool you can use to do this Snipshot.

Change my password

You can also use your Account settings to change your password. Click on the Account settings link which is displayed in the Toolbar at the top right of the page and then enter your new password into both the Your password and the Again for verification purposes text entry boxes. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to save the change to your password.

View my blog

You can always return to your blog in MyCPDSpot by clicking on the Your blog button in the tool bar at the top left of the page.

Make a blog entry

Adding to your blog will be your key activity in creating a portfolio and participating in the MyCPDSpot community. In each blog post you can record and reflect on (describe what you think and have learned) events and activities that occur in your professional life.

To make a blog post, go to your blog (click on the Your blog button in the tool bat at the top left of the page). Then click on the Post a new entry link provided in the main content. This reveals a page with 3 text entry areas, 2 buttons and a drop down box:

The key steps in creating a new blog post are:

  1. For the Post title enter a short descriptive title for the post (e.g. Shoulder acupuncture course presented by Nigel Jones – 16th July 2007)
  2. In the Post body describe the activity and its influence on your professional practice. You can write as much or as little as you like. This is written primarily for your own benefit rather than for others to read (NB - you can choose to share this post with others and in this case you should take the audience into account in your writing). Use the formatting buttons to format your post text as you would in a word processor.
  3. Use the Add file button to upload and link to any evidence you may have to support this post (e.g. course assignments, scanned certificates, photographs etc)
  4. The Keywords text entry allows you to associate particular words (called tags) with this blog post. This is primarily for your own benefit so in the future you can quickly view all posts relating to courses attended, incidents at work, research read etc. When you chose to share this post with others, these tags will help them to find this post through an appropriate search. So for example if this post records a particular course attended you may add the keyword “course” in this box. You could also add other keywords to describe the subject matter of the course (e.g. you may enter keywords “course, shoulder, acupuncture, jones” for a course attended presented by an instructor called Jones, that covered the practical application of acupuncture in treating shoulder conditions). Other typical keywords could include:
    • course
    • in-service
    • training
    • research article
    • lecture
    • critical incident
    • assignment
    • peer review
    • interview
    • promotion
    • feedback
  5. Finally you can choose who can view this post with the Access restrictions selection box. By default MyCPDSpot will set all your posts to be Private (i.e. they can only be viewed by yourself when logged in). You can choose to share this post with all other MyCPDSpot users by selecting Logged in users. If you select Public then this post can be viewed by anyone on the Internet if they can find this page. You can also permit only selected MyCPDSpot users to view this post by making these users your Friends in MyCPDSpot. Sharing your content with selected MyCPDSpot users is described in more detail below.

Click the Post button to save and publish this new blog entry.

Edit an existing blog entry

When viewing your blog you will see an edit link displayed under each post. Click on this edit link to edit this post.

Add a comment to a blog post

MyCPDSpot as with other blogging systems, allows blog readers to add comments to their own posts or those of other MyCPDSpot users. The process of finding interesting information on other people’s blogs and adding comments is a key way of making connections with other health professionals and also building a shared understanding.

When you find a blog post of interest, click on the post title or the comment(s) link below the post. This displays a page displaying only that post with an Add a comment text entry box at its foot. Enter your comment in this text box and click the Add comment button. Please note that comments can only be left by users that are logged into MyCPDSpot and all comments are traceable back to the user that made them.

View my blog entries by keyword

Click on the Tags link in your sidebar (this link is displayed below your user image). This will display all the keywords you have used to categorize your blog posts. Click on the keyword of interest to view all blog posts that have been tagged with this word (e.g. click on “shoulder” to view all your posts you have previously used the keyword shoulder on)

This method of exploring your blog will be particularly useful when creating a presentation for an interview or CPD audit.

Upload a file

Uploading and linking to files is a key method of recording evidence to support your portfolio. There are two methods to upload files:

  1. Click on the Your files button on your toolbar to view a page that allows file uploads and the creation and use of a folder structure to organise these files. The file upload section of this page is displayed near the bottom of the page. To upload a file from your PC identify the file using the Browse button, give the file an appropriate title (e.g. Certificate from Acupuncture Course 6th July 2007), a longer description if necessary, set appropriate access restrictions (generally leave as the default Private) and tag the file with appropriate keywords as described for blog posts. Finally make sure that you check the legal statement declaring your ownership of the file before clicking the Upload button.
  2. The upload of files can also be achieved using the Add file button displayed when writing or editing a blog post. This presents a pop-up window with the a similar file upload facility as presented on the Your files page.

Please note that you MyCPDSpot account provides you with 10MB of free space for files. In order to make best use of this space it is important that you reduce file sizes before upload.

Link to uploaded files from your blog posts

Adding links between your reflections in your blog posts and the associated evidence (uploaded files) is important for giving your portfolio an appropriate structure that is easy to navigate in the future. When you are adding or editing a blog post, click on the Add file button. This displays a pop-up window (ensure that pop-ups are enabled by your Internet browser!) which allows you to upload files and also displays a structured list of your already uploaded files. Once you have uploaded the file you wish to link to, click on the filename in the list displayed in this pop-up window.

Now close the pop-up window to return to your blog post. You will see a piece of code has been added to the beginning your post (e.g. {{file:3}} ) This piece of code will be replaced with a link to your file once your blog post has been published. To position this file link appropriately within your post, move this code to the appropriate place in the content. Click the Save post button to publish your blog post with the link.

Link to other blog posts

In you blog post content (and in your presentations) you can insert links to any web page including your other blog posts. Go to the blog post you wish to link to and copy the web address from your browser address box (right click on the web address and select Copy). Edit your blog post. Highlight the text you wish to make into a link and click on the Insert/edit link button (looks like a piece of chain). A pop-up window will appear (ensure pop-ups are allowed by your web browser!) with 3 text entries. Paste the web address into the Link URL text box and select whether you wish the link to open in a new window with the Target select box. You may optionally add a short text description of the link in the Title text box, this text will appear at the cursor when a viewer positions their mouse on this link. Click the Insert button to add the link to the content.

Reduce file sizes before upload

There are two main types of file you will probably want to upload onto MyCPDSpot:

  1. Documents (e.g. assignments in Microsoft Word format)
  2. Images (e.g. photographs or scanned certificates)

Both these file types can be very large and should be reduced to an appropriate size before upload to MyCPDSpot.

Documents - converting your document into a PDF file is a very good way of reducing its size. Free software can be installed to achieve this (e.g. CutePDF). This type of software once installed is generally accessed via the Word print dialogue. When printing a Word document you will then have the option of selecting Cute PDF writer from the drop down list of printers. Select this as your choice of printer and then click the OK button. Instead of then printing a hardcopy, you will be asked where to save the PDF file on your PC. You can then upload this PDF as described above.

Images - modern digital cameras and scanners can create enormous files of many megabytes. Before uploading to MyCPDSpot you should reduce these files through cropping and resizing. You can do this with a variety of software or using a simple free web tool such as Snipshot. When reducing your images you should ensure sufficient detail remains so that text is legible. The most common file types for images are JPEG and GIF and so save your edited images as one of these types before upload to MyCPDSpot.

Share parts of my portfolio

As mentioned previously, you can control access to all parts of your MyCPDSpot content (e.g. blog posts, profile sections, uploaded files etc) using the Access restrictions drop down selection box provided with each add/edit facility. By default this drop down selection box provides only three options:

  1. Private - only visible by yourself when logged in.
  2. Logged in users - visible to all MyCPDSpot users when they are logged into the system.
  3. Public - visible to anybody visiting the MyCPDSpot web site even if they are not logged in.

When using MyCPDSpot primarily for recording your portfolio, you would generally use the default Private setting. However if you wish to share your experiences more widely (e.g. to generate discussion or gather feedback from your peers) then the other settings may be appropriate.

Through the social networking features of MyCPDSpot you can also choose to make items available only to selected MyCPDSpot users. There are 3 steps to doing this:

  1. Make selected MyCPDSpot users your Friends - to do this navigate to the users profile or blog page on MyCPDSpot. Click on the Click here to add this user as a friend link displayed in the sidebar below their user image. They will now be listed as a friend in your sidebar and also on Your network page.
  2. Create an Access control group from your friends - the second step is to create a group of your friends to which you can give access. This group can contain one or several MyCPDSpot users. Click on Your network link in the toolbar. Now click on the Access controls link provided in the main content. Provide an appropriate name for this group and click the Create button. The page will now display a facility for adding users to this access group from a list of your existing friends. Highlight each user in the list on the left and click the Add selected button.
  3. Use the new option provided in the Access restriction select box - once you have created an appropriate access group, return to edit your blog post, file, profile etc. Now when you use the Access restrictions drop down selection box you will see your access group listed as an option.

Find other MyCPDspot users

It is not immediately obvious how to find other MyCPDSpot users and see what information they are sharing with the rest of the MyCPDSpot community. There are several strategies you can use to begin to explore who and what is available on this system:

  • If you have a friend who is using the system then you can get them to email you a link to their profile or blog.
  • The search facility provided in the header bar allows available MyCPDSpot content to be quickly and easily searched by the use of keywords of interest.
  • The View tag cloud link below the search box gives an overview of the keywords in use by users of the system and provides quick links to related blog posts and content.
  • There is a link on the MyCPDSpot welcome page displayed after you have logged in to recent activity on the system.

When you find another user who shares your interests or has something interesting to say, you could choose to add comments to their blog posts to begin a discussion.

Invite a friend to join MyCPDSpot

Click on the Your Network button in your toolbar. Click on the Invite a Friend link in the main content. Provide their name, email address and any message you may wish to pass on and click the Invite button. MyCPDSpot will then send your friend an email which they can use to set up an account.

View another user's blog

When you click on a MyCPDSpot users image you will be taken to their Profile page rather than their blog. To then see their blog click on the Personal blog link displayed in the sidebar under the Blog heading.

Create a presentation to share

When you apply for a new job, a promotion, attend an annual review or are being audited by your professional body, you will need to present an account of your professional life based upon your portfolio. MyCPDSpot provides a presentation tool to facilitate creating such a document. This tool allows you to write a document and embed within this blog postings and files directly from your MyCPDSpot portfolio and present this all on the Internet.

To create a new presentation click the Your Presentations button on the toolbar and then click the New link. The page displayed enables you to create a presentation made up of a number of sections. Each section can be either text, an embedded blog post or an embedded file. You can also insert links within your presentation text to blog posts (see how to add a link to a specific blog post). You should structure your document so that your claims are supported by these links and embedded blog posts and files.

When you have finished you can set an Access restriction on this presentation as with all your other MyCPDSpot content. Note that if you want non-MyCPDSpot users to view this presentation then you will need to make this presentation public, plus make any file used in the presentation public also (NB - you should only do this on a temporary basis), or invite them to set up a MyCPDSpot account!

The Plain View option provides a clutter free version of your presentation that you can make available to external parties. Click the Plain View link to view this version of your presentation. Copy the web address from your web browser address box. This is the web address you should email to any parties you wish to view this presentation.

It is intended that the presentations feature of MyCPDSpot will be developed in the future to include export into PDF and a variety of design templates.

Stay up to date with other blogs

Each MyCPDSpot blog has associated with it an RSS news feed file. This file is used to subscribe to this blog and so be kept up to date with the latest postings. You can use a feed aggregator such as Google Reader to do this.

The link to this feed file is provided by the orange icon displayed below the user image in the sidebar RSS feed icon. Click on this link to see the feed file. Now this file won't necessarily make much sense to you as it is designed to be read by software rather than humans. The important thing is for you to copy the web address of this feed file on to your clipboard (right click on the web address in your browser and select Copy). Now go to your feed aggregator and paste this web address into the subscribe facility.

You can a feed aggregator to subscribe to any number of blogs, and so have only one place to refer to, to check if any new posts have been published.

Please note that only posts that are made available to the public will appear in MyCPDSpot feeds!

Export my portfolio so I can host it on another system

MyCPDSpot is powered by ELGG, an open source system that is constantly under development. A portfolio export facility is on the road map for development and should be available in the next major update.