A brief Introduction to Mahara and to thinking about ePortfolios

1. Jim Judges
j.judges@ulcc.ac.uk

2. Mahara
• Available to all users: http://portfolio.aku.edu/
• Tools include:
– File store
– Plan
– Journal
– Résumé (or “CV”)
– Incorporate external content
– Options to edit, create and share pages & collections

3. Mahara is a user-centric portfolio tool
The user decides who can view any content

4. Academic Development & Careers
Personal
Sport Ches
s
Club
CV
The same artefacts can be used and
shared on different pages

5. What is an eportfolio?
How can it be used?

6. • Assessment
– Demonstrate student competency and skills. Educators and
peers can provide comments and feedback
• Development
– Of students' educational goals, providing evidence of the
advancement of knowledge and skills. Can provide support
for personal development too
• Showcase
– Demonstrate exemplary assignments and other work, as
well as student skills. Designed for potential employers or
educators and can be used instead of, or to supplement
one's CV.
Types of ePortfolio
“In most cases ePortfolios are not used for a single purpose.
Instead, they tend to combine 2–3 types of portfolios thus
creating a Hybrid portfolio” Balaban, I.; Bubas, G., (2010)

7. • Level 1 & 2: Scrapbook & Curriculum Vitae
• Level 3: Curriculum Collaboration
– Students can share views with peers, tutors & employers
and receive comments
• Level 4: Mentoring
– Educators are intensely engaged in guidance & feedback
• Level 5: Authentic Evidence for Assessment, Evaluation, and
Reporting
– Structured, organised, used for assessment & feedback
Based on Love et al (2004) cited in Balaban, I.; Bubas, G., (2010)
“Because of its features, ePortfolio offers support for reflection,
which is one of its main advantages over other systems”
Suggested Levels of Portfolio Use

8. Mahara eportfolio can help:
• To externalize learners’ ideas and thoughts
• To understand other students’ ideas
• To deepen their knowledge by combining other’s ideas and
thoughts
Sawazaki, T. & Tanaka, Y. (2013).
Designing Courses based on SECI
model with Mahara, e-Portfolio.
SECI model of Knowledge
creation originated
from studies of
information creation in
Japanese companies
Nonaka et al. 1994

9. References
• Love et al (2004) cited in Balaban, I.; Bubas, G., "Educational potentials of
ePortfolio systems: Student evaluations of Mahara and Elgg," Information
Technology Interfaces (ITI), 2010 32nd International Conference on , vol.,
no., pp.329,336, 21-24 June 2010
• Sawazaki, T. & Tanaka, Y. (2013). Designing Courses based on SECI model
with Mahara, e-Portfolio. In T. Bastiaens & G. Marks (Eds.), Proceedings of
World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare,
and Higher Education 2013 (pp. 1355-1358). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://www.editlib.org/p/115065
• Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation
Organization Science 1994 5:1, 14-37

10. Jim Judges
j.judges@ulcc.ac.uk