Step 5: Managing Your Artifacts

Artifacts are the items you upload to demonstrate your practice. They are the "proof" you provide to support your self-assessments, goals, and observation responses.

The "Why" Behind Managing Artifacts

For You, the Teacher: Managing artifacts is your way of providing concrete evidence of your professional practice and student achievement. An artifact can be a lesson plan, student work, a photo, a link to a class website, or a description of a professional activity. It turns your claims into evidence.

For Your Evaluator: An artifact is not considered evidence until you align it with the rubric and share it. Your evaluator will review your shared artifacts, see how they are aligned to the rubric, and use them as part of the overall body of evidence for your evaluation. They cannot see or use artifacts that are not shared.

How to Add an Artifact

1. Navigate: Click on **Artifacts** in the main menu, then click the **Add Artifact** button.
2. Upload Your Item: Give your artifact a title and choose the type: upload a file, add a website link, or write a description of a professional practice.
3. Align to the Rubric: This is a crucial step. You must connect the artifact to the specific component(s) of the instructional framework that it demonstrates.
4. Share the Artifact: Click **Share Artifact** to make it visible to your evaluator. Note that sharing an artifact is a separate action from sharing your self-assessment or observation responses.

Best Practices & Troubleshooting

• Align Everything: An artifact without an alignment to the rubric is just a file; it isn't connected to your evaluation.
• Connect to an Event: For clarity, connect your artifact to the specific event it supports (e.g., a self-assessment or a particular observation).
• Share, Share, Share: Your evaluator cannot see your artifact until you click the "Share Artifact" button. This is a common point of confusion.
• Troubleshooting Missing Tabs: If you can't see tabs like "Setup" or "Align & Score," your browser window might be too narrow. The tabs will appear in a dropdown menu called "Sections."