Presentation by Louise Carr (Hadlow College) at Mahara Hui UK in Southampton, UK, on 10 November 2015. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbai989KP8A

1. Horses for Courses:
A whole college approach to the adoption of Mahara e-portfolios
November 10th, 2015
Louise Carr, Advanced Learning Practitioner

2. Who and where we are…
• FE & HE
• 16-19
• 19+
Horticulture
Equine studies
Int’l Agriculture
Countryside
Rural activities
Fisheries
Animal Management

3. In the beginning………
▪2013 A new HE programme is born:
BSc Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

4.
2013/14 Pilot Projects
• Access to HE (FE)
• Assessment: unit Reviewing
• and Planning for the Future
• BSc Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Yr 1:
• WBL and reflection

5. To template or not to template
• Meeting outcomes
• Providing a framework to build confidence
• Broader criteria to meet therefore:
• More opportunities to be creative
• Focus on inclusivity and soft skills equally
important

7. No -template
• Students need to collect evidence which is
analysed and evaluated throughout the year.
Eg weblinks to university websites, screen
prints of using comparision websites for
courses, records of presentations with
evaluations which can be a sound file or a
written text or a piece to camera – differentiated
and assesses the content not the method of
production.

9. Initial findings
• Similar student profiles ie mixed age groups, various IT skills, range of
experience with social media
• Found very similar problems
• Students engage more quickly with a template
• They are not as adventurous as we had expected
• They do not readily associate college media with social media skills
• Reluctance to move away from written text formats
• Feel they needed ‘permission’ to be creative
• Reflects more on their confidence and skills as independent learners than their
IT skills
• Generally our findings are reflected in the current literature (2014)

10. 1st review: 2013/14
Best results happen when learners were:
• introduced to ‘pages’ and given support and work to do connected with
the portfolio on a weekly basis.
• given dates to meet specific targets and an individual tutorial was used
to conduct a formative assessment.
Reasons for setting these targets:
• Uptake and engagement (in comparison to previous paper based
portfolios)
• Use Mahara as an assessment tool
• Create an inclusive learning environment
• Use Mahara as a teaching and learning resource developing
employability, soft skills, digital literacy
Teams to meet regularly to share ideas and work out problems
• These became the core of what later evolved into our
standardisation framework

11. Next steps…………

12. 2014/15
• All HE prgrammes to introduce Mahara e-
portfolios to evidence Work Based Learning and
Industrial Experience units.
• Foundation learning (FE entry level) move
completely from paper-based to digital
portfolios to evidence competency skills –
learners all have a learning difficulty or disability

13. Foundation learning
• All learners
• All staff
• 3 different sites
• Now in 2nd year of delivery
• Commitment, confidence, strong templates,
support from colleagues (more experienced
others)

15. Introducing Industrial Experience
and Skills Development
2014 – Mahara was introduced to all HE
programmes for Work Based Learning/Industrial
Experience modules.
Different faculties adapted according to their
programme designs - largest faculty Animal
Management used a single template drawn from
the paper-based design – learners had individual
freedom re mode of entries

16. Communities of Practice
“Communities of practice are groups of people
who share a concern or a passion
for something they do
and learn how to do it better
as they interact regularly.”
(Wenger circa 2007) cited by Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009)

17. Standardisation I
• Create a personal learning space where
learners are able to retain their learning
materials and experiences
• Provide sufficient evidence to meet the
requirements of the assignment
• Receive quick and effective feedback which
forms an on-going developmental ‘conversation’
with the learner
• Develop appropriate skills through reflective
activities (linked to the GGAs)Greenwich Graduate Attributes

18. Creative design of AfL & AoL
• Some programme teams developed further
examples of how Mahara could support good
student development, including peer reviews,
and assessment design

19. Share pages with your group, friends
or with a prospective employer

20. Spread the word…..inner to
outer circles of participation
College e-learning events
Heads of Faculty meetings
Progamme Leader meetings
Special interest groups

21. Standardisation II– all courses
• Training should be for assessors, lecturers and
second markers
• Students have a dedicated e-portfolio induction
(to include specified items)
• Feedback and review
• Assignment brief design, submission and
moderation – common considerations
• Pagecollection ‘locking’

22. Building the community

23. Taking time to get into shape
April 2015 – Programme Leaders meeting AIMS
Record
• each programme that has completed an assignment
• feedback from staff including delivery, supervision,marking
• why some programmes have not successfully completed a Mahara
assessment
• feedback from students via staff
• identify students that could support a stand at the e-learning event
• identify programmes that will be assessing via Mahara next year
(note re e-learning committee approval)
• identify support required for next year’s induction for staff and/or
students
• most successful aspect
• anything which needs changing?
RESULT: a ‘shopping’ list I have brought to the hui!

24. Widening the community

27. The
whole
college
approach
• Most faculties now have at least one Mahara summative
assessment task
• There are a wide variety of task types (web design,
reflection, competency, WBL…)
• All assessors use the same standardisation document
and have to have approval from the e-learning group
• There is a wide community of practice with varying
levels of participation
• Growing opportunities to build the community through
sharing of college wide ‘good practice events’
• Students are increasingly joining the community of
practice as learning ambassadors

28. The wider community
• Many of the ideas developed in our community
have begun with sharing at huis and in the
Mahara newsletters
• Thank you to everyone generous enough to
share their developments

29. References
Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009) ‘Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of
practice’, the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/
communities_of_practice.htm
Accessed 07/11/15
Google maps, https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2269234,0.3286533,15z
Accessed 07/11/15
Equine HE, Hadlow College, VLE
Accessed 07/11/15
Finney A., (2013), ‘How to Guide’, Hadlow College, VLE
Hamilton D., (2014), How to Health Check a Rabbit, Hadlow College
Foster K., (2015) Note taking templates, Hadlow College
Potter A., Harvey N., (2015) Revision Cards, Hadlow College