Mahara e-Portfolio

Mahara is an e-portfolio product developed in New Zealand and integrates well with Moodle or other open source learning management systems (LMS's).   Mahara allows a user to facilitate an "online collection of reflections and digital Artefacts (such as documents, images, blogs, resumes, multimedia, hyperlinks and contact information). Learners and staff can use an ePortfolio to demonstrate their learning, skills and development and record their achievements over time to a selected audience" (Mahara.org, n.d.).

A significant benefit for choosing Mahara, as one's e-portfolio, is its simplicity in maintaining an ongoing documented record of a person's life-long learning and experiences. Mahara provides for the sharing of information made available via an electronic, secure and portable environment. The owner of this information may choose with whom they wish to share their data. They may choose to make the data available to the general public or restrict sharing to their friends, parents, teachers or prospective employers. Mahara also allows them to choose what information they want to share with their group(s). It is possible to establish multiple 'views' to display the same information; however, in a different format, very similar to a web page or web site. Furthermore, different data may be displayed to a variety of groups in a similar format. Mahara offers flexibility in the way information may be viewed and shared with others by manipulating simple templates.

Another way to describe an e-portfolio is to think of it as a collection of various electronic display folders. Each folder may include files containing text, pictures, hyper-links, audio and visual resources. Each folder may only be viewed by nominated groups or individuals as chosen by the author. These may relate to any topic of interest within one's life. Education is one area that can benefit from such a tool.

As a Learning Manager within a secondary education institution, before introducing Mahara, I would first identify with my students, examples where individuals have relied upon others to form a group to conquer activities; or, other challenges where individuals would otherwise struggle to complete the task. I would discuss and identify strength in numbers, especially if people share a common goal. The discussion would be lead toward groups having the potential to change the way that this subject has traditionally been taught, or the way in which this subject is generally perceived, how it should be taught. Discussion will then centre on available ICT's commonly used by students in their daily life. What are these and how could they be applied to present the required content in a more engaging format and reshape future learning experiences. Learning engagement theory proposes there are three components required to effectively engage learners described as 'Relate - Create - Donate' (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).   The 'Relate' component places an emphasis on team collaboration, planning, management and social skills that underpin the creativity of a team enabling individuals to donate to this process in a meaningful manner (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

The aforementioned discussions, involving all students, aims to include the different needs of all students. Student differences indentified may include disabilities or students considered to be outside of the "normal" (however this is determined), for whatever reason, either below or above this benchmark. The Department of Education and Training provides an outline for inclusive education, stating the need for education to include all students, especially those who may be labelled outside of the standard. These groups include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, gifted or talented, other ethnic, minority groups and those with a disability (Queensland Government, 2006).

The next stage "Create", as proposed by Greg Kearsley and Ben Shneiderman (1999), will involve discussing the benefits and potential applications for Mahara within a classroom environment and beyond. This will be followed with the integration of ICT's, including Mahara, as part of the student's assessable project work. Students will be required to establish their Mahara account and apply the internal blog feature to record personal learning resources and reflect upon their experiences. The subject’s term assignment would require them to form several groups with whom they would collaborate about specific tasks and information. In this example, an individual is required to collaborate with a group of three to five other peers and research the topic question: Within this subject, what ICT's would you use to enhance the learning experience for all students and how could they be applied; to deliver required content; and, result in the engagement of all learners?

This term project will require individuals to then establish their group within Mahara and share their individual work and build collective works as the project progresses. At some point, they may have to seek input from other peers, school students or teachers within their broader school environment. This consultation may be in the form of electronic surveys or responses to a blog. Students must also setup another Mahara group to consult other schools students within their district or specific schools known to be actively applying multiple ICT's within their learning experiences.

The final result is to produce a series of authentic collective reports about their findings and make recommendations to the teacher for consideration.  As defined within engagement theory this is the third and final component known as "Donate".   Students are also required to provide evidence of higher thinking through the use of a reflective blog detailing their learning and experiences.  The Blog, individual and collective Mahara works will be shared with their teacher for ongoing feedback and guidance as well as for final assessment. Portions of the Mahara may also set-up a view specifically to inform parents and carers of their progress. The topic will be presented as an opportunity for the students to conduct authentic research about their particular subject, example; Manual Arts, culminating in the delivery of a recommendation to the teacher as to how the students perceive ICT's can be integrated within this subject to make it more meaningful and engaging for the future.

References

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Mahara.org (n.d.). Mahara: Open source eportfolios [Website]. Retrieved from http://mahara.org/

Queensland Government, Department of Education and Training (2006). Student services: Inclusive education. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/inclusive/index.html