University of the Philippines Open University MyPortal Student Guide

This guide will walk you, the new student in UP Open University, through the first few steps in moving around MyPortal and using the different modules in the system. After reading this guide, you should be able to manage your account, profile, enrolled classes and other things essential in your enrollment in UPOU, and in MyPortal. This guide contains the following: Basic introduction on MyPortal and the system that it uses, Moodle 2.2 User registration and logging in to the system Navigation through MyPortal Front page Courses and course pages Blocks and blocks editing Activity Modules Student's profile and account Viewing and editing Editing account settings Interactions Messaging INTRODUCTION MyPortal is the university's virtual learning environment. This is where you, as a student, hold your classes, interact with your Faculty-In-Charge as well as with tutors and other classmates, share various resources ranging from documents to videos and sound files, submit quizzes and assignments, and so much more. Moodle is an open-source course management system developed by educators, and is popularly used by many schools, universities and learning centers globally. MOODLE stands for Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning System, and as a learning system, it stores a lot of tools and modules beneficial for the student in his/her learning experience. MyPortal can be accessed through http://myportal.upou.edu,ph/

USER REGISTRATION AND LOGIN Once enrolled, user accounts for new students will be created, and will be deployed to them through their email addresses before classes start. Old students will still have to use their old MyPortal credentials to log in to the site. Just a few reminders: All account credentials of new users will be created after the deadline of enrollment. Credentials will primarily be sent to the student's UPOU webmail address, and then to the personal email address if the student does not have a webmail. Once you have received your MyPortal credentials, you may now log in to MyPortal. Go to http://myportal.upou.edu.ph/ and provide your username and password in the fields provided.

Forgot your login credentials? If you have forgotten your username of password, you may use MyPortal's reset password module by clicking on the Forgotten your username or password? link below the login fields, and providing your username or email address in the fields. You will then receive an email giving you instructions on how to reset your password manually.

MYPORTAL NAVIGATION

Upon login, you will be redirected to MyPortal's front page. MyPortal's front page is the students' and faculties' portal to their courses, profiles and all the modules available in MyPortal. This is also where MyPortal's news and updates are posted for all of its users to be kept updated in news and scheduled activities of the university. At the bottom of the front page will be a listing of course categories. This is where you will find the courses available in MyPortal, especially the ones you are currently enrolled in. Upon registration, students are already enrolled to their set courses in MyPortal, so an enrollment key is no longer required in accessing your enrolled courses.

Enter a course and you will be directed to its course page, this will be where you will be spending most of your class sessions in. The course page displays all activities, resources and requirements in your class. The faculty-in-charge, as well as other authorized faculty members are the ones responsible for uploading and creating of resources and activities that the student will use throughout his/her semester. BLOCKS AND BLOCK EDITING Those that you see at the sides of the pages of MyPortal are called blocks. MyPortal makes use of these blocks for quick displays of the modules being used, as well as for visual organization. From calendars and site news modules, up to the list of online users in MyPortal, numerous blocks are available to help its users in what they need in their login to MyPortal. As a student in MyPortal, you are only allowed to edit the blocks of some pages, including your own profile page. You can know if you are allowed to edit the blocks of the page if you can see a Turn editing on at the Settings block of the page. To edit the blocks of a page, simply click 'Turn editing on at the settings block. The page's blocks will then have icons in them, which will be your means to configure, delete, or move them around. You can also add new blocks through the menu block once editing is turned on.

ACTIVITY MODULES MyPortal has various activity modules necessary in building up the course. The FICs are the ones responsible in adding such activity modules, and they are placed in the course page. Activity modules are represented by icons. Forums The forums are where discussions take place. Forums can be in various structures and types, and can be of any purpose as desired by the FIC. Students may subscribe to forums, and receive emails if there is any update in the forum he/she is subscribed in. Assignment Assignments are specified tasks set that require students to upload their work. Chat The chat module enables students and FICs to have a live discussion via web. This module is helpful for better understanding of the topics being discussed. Quizzes The quiz module creates quizzes for the students. Quiz format varies and depends on the faculty-in-charge who created the quiz. These are only some of the activity modules in MyPortal. Your FIC may add different activity modules besides the ones listed above.

STUDENT'S PROFILE AND ACCOUNT

Students have profiles to identify themselves within the MyPortal community, as well as for them to get to know other people. A user's profile can contain various information, and can be accessed and edited through the Navigation and Settings blocks. To edit your profile page's blocks, click Turn editing on at the settings block. It will be available in your profile page, but not in other users' profile pages. You may also edit your profile and account settings by clicking on Edit profile in the settings block. This is where you will be able to edit your basic information, as well as your account settings. NOTE: Please be advised that the email address that you place in your account settings will be the email address that MyPortal will use to communicate with you. Forum posts and replies, reports, site news and even direct message notifications will be sent to you through the email address that you provide. Please make sure to use an email address that you will frequently access for you not to miss out on class activities

MESSAGING You can communicate with other students of MyPortal through messaging. This is a simple module that lets you send and receive messages within MyPortal. The Messaging module is easily accessed through its block at the front page, and you can also add your messaging block in your profile page. To send a message, go to Messaging and look for a user that you would like to send a message to. The fields will be provided for you to send and read messages that you have sent to the other user, or received from him/her.

You will also receive notifications if you have an unread message, and will also be displayed at the Messaging block for your easy access.

MyPortal Student Guide revised July 9, 2012