ePortfolios and MaharaMeredith Henson

Overview Introductions ePortfolios

− What is an ePortfolio?− Why use an ePortfolio?

• Mahara—Background and Overview—Features—Roadmap

IntroductionMeredith Henson

• Project Manager at Catalyst IT Ltd—Moodle and Drupal projects—Moodle administration, training and business

analysis

• eCDF ePortfolio Project Manager (Massey)

• NZOSVLE I & II Project (Open Polytechnic)

IntroductionCatalyst IT Ltd

Established 1997 Over 100 staff− Wellington, Kerikeri, Nelson, Christchurch,

Australia and United Kingdom Completely Open Source focused Moodle and Mahara Partner www.catalyst.net.nz

ePortfoliosWhat is an ePortfolio?

• An electronic portfolio is an online collection of reflections and digital Artefacts

• Students and staff can use an ePortfolio to demonstrate their learning and development over time to various audiences

• An environment to facilitate and record personalised, life long, reflective and evidential learning

ePortfoliosDefinitions

Artefacts – Electronic evidence of learning— documents, images, blogs, résumés,

multimedia, contact information etc. Views – An access controlled collection of

Artefacts

ePortfoliosApplications for Students

Student ownership and control of portfolio Area for showcasing work and reflection

— Critical review of assessment items— Life-long learning and development tool

Online résumé — CV for potential employers

ePortfoliosApplications for Students

Online résumé cont.— Programme and course applications— Scholarship applications

Social networking with other students — Collaborative projects— Peer review and feedback

ePortfoliosApplications for Staff

Area for staff to demonstrate professional development— Publish works and presentations— Create individual development plans— Performance reviews

ePortfoliosApplications for Staff

Networking — With internal and external colleagues— Distribution of résumés, staff exchanges

Research— Peer review and feedback— Sharing and distribution

Teaching tool

ePortfolios vs LMS’Learning Management System

ePortfolio

Course centric Student centric

Teacher makes rules Student makes rules

Courses typically structured

Student portfolio may be structured

Grades given and managed No grading infrastructure

Content attached to course and generally available to all students

User defined content with highly granular access

Social networking often revolves around course

User defines their social network

Tied to an institution May be institution agnostic

Limited to time studying Life long learning

ePortfoliosMoodle Portfolio API

• ePortfolio agnostic• Ability to publish items from Moodle to

external portfolio systems• New in Moodle 2.0, sponsored by MHQ• Ready for download now!• Puts “Send to Portfolio” buttons

throughout Moodle

MaharaBackground

• Funded by TEC’s eLearning Collaborative Development Fund

• 4 consortium partners - Massey University (lead), Auckland University of Technology, The Open Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington

• Case study partners – consortium members and TWoR, NMIT and Tai Poutini Polytechnic

MaharaBackground

• Technology Provider - Catalyst IT Limited

• The ePortfolio Project was charged with developing an open source ePortfolio application and to provide implementation strategies for the New Zealand tertiary sector

MaharaePortfolio Project Deliverables

• Generate a theoretical framework for student ePortfolios

• Develop an open source ePortfolio application

• Facilitate a series of case studies

• Create documentation for implementation strategies, user guides and suggested policies

• Establish an open source group for further development

MaharaePortfolio Project Deliverables

• Research report

• Case studies

• Implementation guidelines

• Mahara.org

MaharaIntroduction

Mahara is based on an Artefacts, Views and Access framework

Users can create any number of Views and assign access to individuals, communities, groups, keep it private or make it public

MaharaOverview

MaharaOverview

MaharaFeatures

• File repository—Create folder and sub folders structures—Upload multiple files quickly and efficiently—Give each file a Name and Description—Manage their file allocation Quota—When uploading a file users must agree to a

configurable Copyright disclaimer

MaharaFeatures

• Blogging—Create blog posts using a WYSIWYG editor—Attach files to posts—Embed images into postings—Comments on/off—Create draft postings for later publishing

MaharaFeatures

• Résumé builder—Contact and personal information—Employment and education history—Certifications, accreditations and awards—Books and publications, professional

memberships—Personal, academic and work skills—Personal, academic and career goals

MaharaFeatures

• Profile Information—Preferred Name—Student ID—Postal address and contact phone numbers—Skype, MSN, Yahoo & Yabber name—Introduction—Profile Icons images

MaharaFeatures

• Social Networking—Users create and maintain a list of Friends

and Groups within the system - building a digital identity

—Users can interact via Friend Messaging and Groups based Forums

MaharaFeatures

• Administration—Language packages and themes—Session and account lifetimes—Authentication methods—Core page and Main Menu editor—Artefact types may be configured, disabled or

enabled, according to the organisation’s requirements.

MaharaPoints of Difference

• Students have complete ownership of their ePortfolio

• Users have the ability to set permissions of access to various nominated groups

• All Artefacts have associated metadata including user defined tagging

• Contextual help is available throughout the system

MaharaPoints of Difference

• Social networking functionality

• Flexibility to be used to create formal, informal, personal and/or professional environments

• Modular design, best practice programming and full documentation

• Language translation package based

MaharaPoints of Difference

• Designed for scalability, security and interoperability

• Multiple authentication methods

• Strong consideration to pedagogy and policy during development

Mahara Moodle Integration

• Portfolio API – export items from Moodle to Mahara

• Mahara can do single sign on (SSO) with Moodle

—New in Mahara 1.1 and Moodle 2.0—Allows users to send data from Moodle to

Mahara—Includes account transferral

Mahara Moodle SSO

• Users can roam from one application to another without re-logging in

• Moodle/Mahara SSO built on MNET so is secure

• Identity Provider (IDP) - system with the users (Moodle)

• Service Provider (SP or CP) - system where the users go (Mahara)

Mahara Moodle SSO

• Accounts can be automatically be created on the SP the first time the user logs in

• Single Sign Out—logging out in one place logs you out

everywhere

• Theme support—Roaming users can see Moodle/Mahara

branded like their IDP

MaharaCurrent State of Play

• Mahara 1.1.5 released 22/6/09• ~1000 downloads per month• New! Improved! Mahara.org• Partner programme

—14 Partners (including Catalyst)

• Mahara Moot UK09

MaharaRoadmap

• Mahara 1.2—Import/Export portfolios—Files area improvements—Templates and CSS simplification

• Future releases—Ongoing usability work—Tagging and searching improvements—Statistics and reporting

MaharaRoadmap

• Future releases cont.—Groups, bulk add/invite—Blogs – RSS support—Views – feedback improvements, PDF

generation—Résumé custom fields, PDF generation—Advanced Messaging

MaharaWho is using it?

MyPortfolio— UCOL, AUT, CPIT, Massey, Open Polytechnic,

Victoria University, NMIT, University of Auckland...

Universities especially across Europe− Glasgow, Birmingham Uni Krems,

Cambridge...

• Schools across the world— Cumbria and Lancashire, Sylvan Union,

others in England, Spain, Germany...

MaharaExamples

http://myportfolio.ac.nz/view/view.php?id=933

MaharaExamples

http://myportfolio.ac.nz/view/view.php?id=932

MaharaExamples

http://cterfile.ed.uiuc.edu/mahara/view/view.php?id=81

MaharaMore Information

• http://demo.mahara.org

• http://mahara.org

• http://catalyst.net.nz

• http://eduforge.org/projects/mahara

• #mahara on freenode