Penny Leach presents on Mahara, an open source eportfolio application. She begins with introductions, explaining that she is a lead Mahara developer from New Zealand. She then defines eportfolios as student-driven collections of learning artifacts or evidence. The presentation covers the history of Mahara, including its origins in the New Zealand open source elearning project. It discusses Mahara's core features such as artifacts, views, templates and access controls. Future roadmap items include improved Moodle integration and support for potential employer access.

1. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
OSCON 2007
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

2. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
What is all this?
1
Who is Penny?
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Mahara project
2
History
Project set up
Evaluation
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

3. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Mahara System
3
Core Framework
Roadmap
Code and Architecture
4
Development process
Platform
Modularity
Demo and Questions
5
Demo
Questions
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

4. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Who is Penny?
What is all this?
1
Who is Penny?
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Mahara project
2
Mahara System
3
Code and Architecture
4
Demo and Questions
5
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

5. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Who is Penny?
Who is Penny?
• One of the lead Mahara developers
• Moodle developer for 3 years
• What is Moodle?
• Catalyst IT
• New Zealand’s biggest open source provider
• Moodle partner
• Run some of NZ’s core infrastructure on Open Source
• Wellington, New Zealand
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

6. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Who is Penny?
Who is Penny?
• One of the lead Mahara developers
• Moodle developer for 3 years
• What is Moodle?
• Catalyst IT
• New Zealand’s biggest open source provider
• Moodle partner
• Run some of NZ’s core infrastructure on Open Source
• Wellington, New Zealand
• Not part of Australia!
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

7. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Who is Penny?
Who is Penny?
• One of the lead Mahara developers
• Moodle developer for 3 years
• What is Moodle?
• Catalyst IT
• New Zealand’s biggest open source provider
• Moodle partner
• Run some of NZ’s core infrastructure on Open Source
• Wellington, New Zealand
• Not part of Australia!
• The daughter of FOSS
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

8. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Who is Penny?
Who is Penny?
• One of the lead Mahara developers
• Moodle developer for 3 years
• What is Moodle?
• Catalyst IT
• New Zealand’s biggest open source provider
• Moodle partner
• Run some of NZ’s core infrastructure on Open Source
• Wellington, New Zealand
• Not part of Australia!
• The daughter of Foss
• seriously!
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

9. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
The Wikipedia definition...
An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital
portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and
managed by a user, usually on the Web.
• And it has a whole lot more to say about the matter too
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

10. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
The Wikipedia definition...
An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital
portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and
managed by a user, usually on the Web.
• And it has a whole lot more to say about the matter too
• But I don’t like reading definitions...
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

11. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Untangle the jargon
• Student driven environment
• Collection of pieces of evidence of learning, or ’artefacts’
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

12. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Untangle the jargon
• Student driven environment
• Collection of pieces of evidence of learning, or ’artefacts’
• What is an artefact?
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

13. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Untangle the jargon
• Student driven environment
• Collection of pieces of evidence of learning, or ’artefacts’
• What is an artefact?
• Well, anything really
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

14. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Untangle the jargon
• Student driven environment
• Collection of pieces of evidence of learning, or ’artefacts’
• What is an artefact?
• Well, anything really
• And apparently spelt differently in New Zealand.
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

15. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
And what is this ePortfolio thing anyway?
Untangle the jargon
• Student driven environment
• Collection of pieces of evidence of learning, or ’artefacts’
• What is an artefact?
• Well, anything really
• And apparently spelt differently in New Zealand.
• Display different combination of artefacts to different
groups
• Access controlled by the learner
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

16. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
History
What is all this?
1
Mahara project
2
History
Project set up
Evaluation
Mahara System
3
Code and Architecture
4
Demo and Questions
5
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

17. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
History
FOSS in eLearning in New Zealand
• Tertiary Education Commission
• eLearning Collaborative Development Fund
• New Zealand Open Source Virtual Learning Environment
• Moodle
• Eduforge.org
• Research and Learning Object Repositories
• Work on Elgg, another Open Source ePortfolio
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

18. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
History
Eye candy - before and after NZVLE
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

19. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Project set up
Who? The usual suspects...
• Funded by the eLearning Collaborative Development Fund
• 4 Consortium partners, led by Massey University
• Steering committee of 13 members
• Case study partners
• Consortium partners
• 2 extra tertiaries
• Catalyst IT Technology Provider
• 4-5 developers
• 1 graphic designer
• 1 quality assurer
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

20. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Project set up
What? 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 stategies, user
guides and suggested policies.
• Establish an open source community of interest for further
development
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

21. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Project set up
What? 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 stategies, user
guides and suggested policies.
• Establish an open source community of interest for further
development
• So, not just a software project
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

22. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Evaluation
Finding a starting point...
• Mostly done by the Consortium
• Catalyst providing technical guidance
• Builds on NZVLE work
• Elgg, OSP (Sakai), LiveJournal
• Not good enough feature fit
• Or agreement about architecture
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

23. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Evaluation
Finding a starting point...
• Mostly done by the Consortium
• Catalyst providing technical guidance
• Builds on NZVLE work
• Elgg, OSP (Sakai), LiveJournal
• Not good enough feature fit
• Or agreement about architecture
• No clear leader in the running
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

24. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Evaluation
Finding a starting point...
• Mostly done by the Consortium
• Catalyst providing technical guidance
• Builds on NZVLE work
• Elgg, OSP (Sakai), LiveJournal
• Not good enough feature fit
• Or agreement about architecture
• No clear leader in the running
• Decision to write from scratch and GPL it
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

25. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Evaluation
And of course...
• We wanted to name it!
• Mah-hah-rah (verb)
• to think, thinking, thought
¯
• Te Reo Maori
• Kudos to New Zealand!
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

26. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
What is all this?
1
Mahara project
2
Mahara System
3
Core Framework
Roadmap
Code and Architecture
4
Demo and Questions
5
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

27. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
Feature Goals
• Student controlled environment
• (Can be) institution agnostic
• Artefacts/views/templates/access
• Remember, an artefact can be anything
• A view is a collection of artefacts
• A template is how this is displayed
• And access is who gets to see it.
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

28. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
Feature Goals
• Student controlled environment
• (Can be) institution agnostic
• Artefacts/views/templates/access
• Remember, an artefact can be anything
• A view is a collection of artefacts
• A template is how this is displayed
• And access is who gets to see it.
• Initial focus: artefact/view creation
• Later:
• import/export entire student portfolio
• communities/social networking
• Interoperability (especially with Moodle)
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

29. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
Artefact/View/Template/Access
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

30. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
Artefact/View/Template/Access
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

31. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Core Framework
Access types
• Public
• Logged in
• Friends only
• Per access group
• Per community
• Per tutors in ’course’ community
• Per user
• Roadmap: Invited user with one off key
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

32. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Roadmap
Roadmap
• 0.8
• Institutional backup and restore
• Stage 1 Moodle integration
• 0.9 - 1.0
• Non-account, restricted access for potential employers
• Site configurable metadata
• Improved reporting
• Further Moodle integration
• ... and so on (http://mahara.org/roadmap)
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

33. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Roadmap
Integration with Moodle
• Stage 1
• Single Sign On and account transferral
• Builds on top of Moodle Networks Project
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

34. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Roadmap
Integration with Moodle
• Stage 1
• Single Sign On and account transferral
• Builds on top of Moodle Networks Project
• Stage 2
• Portfolio API in Moodle
• Students can ’export to portfolio’
• Any bit of Moodle content could be an artefact in Mahara
• Mahara is Learning Management System agnostic
• Moodle is ePortfolio System agnostic
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

35. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Roadmap
Integration with Moodle
• Stage 1
• Single Sign On and account transferral
• Builds on top of Moodle Networks Project
• Stage 2
• Portfolio API in Moodle
• Students can ’export to portfolio’
• Any bit of Moodle content could be an artefact in Mahara
• Mahara is Learning Management System agnostic
• Moodle is ePortfolio System agnostic
• Stage 3 and beyond
• Start building more artefact plugins in Mahara
• Smarter understanding of incoming artefacts
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

36. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Development process
What is all this?
1
Mahara project
2
Mahara System
3
Code and Architecture
4
Development process
Platform
Modularity
Demo and Questions
5
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

37. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Development process
Development process
• Rapid initial development process (3 months)
• Mitigation of write-from-scratch decision
• Reuse code where possible
• adodb, xmldb, pieforms, mochikit
• Reuse not just code, but lessons too
• ease of adoption, ease of customisation, community
• Open development cycle
• public functional specification, wikis, source control
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

38. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Platform
Platform
• Linux, Apache, PHP5, PostgreSQL 8.1
• 0.8 will have MySQL5 support
• adodb/xmldb so maybe more later
• All developers run it differently
• inside/outside chroot
• inside/outside subdirectory
• with/without database prefixes
• And we use Debian, so
• Developed against Etch
• Debian packaged for our releases
• so http://debian.mahara.org as well.
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

39. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Platform
We want this to scale
• Plan early for world
domination
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

40. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Platform
We want this to scale
• Plan early for world
domination
• Success!
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

41. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Modularity
Modularity
• Plugins where possible
• artefact, auth, notification, search
• Always ’internal’ plugin
• Basic entry points, then left alone
• Register interest in cron and events at installation/upgrade
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

42. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Modularity
Artefact API
• Each artefact plugin ’provides’ n artefact ’types’
• Internal - profile fields, user icons
• Blog - blog, blog post
• File - folder, file, image
´
• Resume - cover letter, education and employment history,
skills, goals etc
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

43. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Modularity
Artefact API - entry points
• Install/upgrade
• Menu items
• Artefact tree
• Config page
• Rendering inside views
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

44. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Modularity
Other plugin types
• Notification
• internal (in-browser activity log), email, email digest
• Authentication
• internal (against Mahara database), imap, xmlrpc
• Search
• internal (sql), solr
• Sort of but not really: languages, themes
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

45. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Demo
What is all this?
1
Mahara project
2
Mahara System
3
Code and Architecture
4
Demo and Questions
5
Demo
Questions
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

46. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Demo
Demo
• http://demo.mahara.org
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios

47. What is all this? Mahara project Mahara System Code and Architecture Demo and Questions
Questions
Questions?
• Questions?
• penny@catalyst.net.nz
• http://catalyst.net.nz
• http://mahara.org
• http://eduforge.org/projects/mahara
• #mahara on freenode
Penny Leach <penny@catalyst.net.nz>
Mahara - Putting thought into ePortfolios