Table Of ContentMahara ePortfolios
Beginner's Guide
Create your own ePortfolio and communities of interest
within an educational and professional organization
Richard Hand
Thomas W. Bell
Derrin Kent
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Mahara ePortfolios Beginner's Guide
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First published: February 2010
Second Edition: July 2012
Production Reference: 1200712
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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Cover Image by Jarosław Blaminsky ([email protected])
Credits
Authors Technical Editor
Richard Hand Prasad Dalvi
Thomas W. Bell
Derrin Kent Project Coordinator
Leena Purkait
Reviewers
Dr. Glenys Gillian Bradbury Proofreader
Lydia May Morris
Mary Cooch
Kristina D. C. Höppner
Indexer
Heinz Krettek
Monica Ajmera Mehta
Allison Miller
Pete Potter Production Coordinator
Stacey Walker Aparna Bhagat
Acquisition Editor Cover Work
Kartikey Pandey Aparna Bhagat
Lead Technical Editor
Pramila Balan
About the Authors
Richard Hand graduated with a first class honors degree in Computer Science from
the University of Bristol in 2008 and now works full time as a frontend web developer
and consultant.
Richard has worked with Mahara since joining TDM (http://tdm/info) in 2008, being
responsible for management, configuration, hosting, and training. He has also developed
on a range of open source software solutions including Drupal, Joomla!, and Moodle.
Thomas W. Bell has completed higher education in Environmental Sciences and he has a
passion and enthusiasm for IT. Thomas is all about getting involved with the latest tools to
improve the use of resources, communication with one another, and our role in developing
our earth sustainably.
Thomas follows his Environmental education with a commitment to sustainability in all walks
of life, both personal and business. He is actively thinking of ways to improve processes,
procedures, software and so on, to improve efficiency and therefore, sustainability.
He is currently developing efficient use of technology in the apprenticeship delivery of
the Wyre Academy, including use of cutting-edge tablets, signature capture, and fully
implemented cutting-edge LMS solutions.
Thomas has been working with IT company TDM - which delivers e-Learning content,
codeline development, training, and bespoke corporate branding - for over two years and
is directly involved in the implementation and delivery of a new IT apprenticeships scheme
through the TDM Wyre Academy. See http://opensourcesoftwareservices.com or
http://www.wyreacademy.com.
Thomas has been regularly training groups in Mahara ePortfolios, TotaraLMS, Joomla!, and
Moodle for over two years.
Derrin Kent (www.derr.in) loves personalized learning and open source software. Derrin
has been working with Mahara since its version 0. He is MD of The Development Manager
Ltd. (www.TDM.co).
www.TDM.co is a company who speaks six European languages fluently and who proudly
runs a range of symbiotic business operations including:
www.OssServices.com: Professional Codeline Development, Web/Instructional
Design, and Managed Services for open source softwares including Mahara and
TotaraLMS
www.WyreAcademy.com: ICT Professional Talent Management, Short Courses, and
Apprenticeships—all via Blended Learning, using TotaraLMS for Apprenticeships
(specialist distro) and Mahara
www.FolioFor.Me: An online ePortfolio built upon Mahara
www.UK-LPI.org: The Linux Professional Institute Master Affiliate for the UK
and Ireland
www.CloudNOVA.net: High availability open source software hosting
Derrin is extremely proud of his wonderful Peruvian wife, Ely, and his two
bilingual kids, Salvador and Micaela.
About the Reviewers
Dr. Glenys Gillian Bradbury originally graduated in Medicine from Cambridge, and is now
back in the NHS working as a Clinical Teaching Fellow after an interesting and varied career
pathway involving business management, educational project management, and e-Learning.
In addition to teaching medical students, Glenys is also engaged in a variety of projects to
embed technology in medical education. Current projects include using Mahara to embed
portfolio based learning within clinical medicine and to facilitate inter-professional learning
pathways, and also a multi media project called "Tomorrow's Clinicians" to support the
teaching of clinical skills. She is also an LSIS e-guide and a PRINCE2 practitioner.
She was one of the authors for the earlier edition of this book, Mahara 1.2 ePortfolios:
Beginner's Guide.
Mary Cooch, known online as Moodlefairy, is based at the OurLearning training centre
located at Our Lady's High School, Preston Lancashire, UK. A teacher for over 25 years, Mary
now spends her working days travelling Europe showing educators how best to use Moodle
and Mahara. She is a regular speaker at Moodle and Mahara conferences, and is keen always
to be up-to-date with the latest developments. Mary works closely with Mahara partners
to help promote this excellent open source e-Portfolio, while at the same time sharing
good practice in her own school with teachers and students. Mary is the author of Moodle
For Teaching 7-14 Year Olds, Packt Publishing and Moodle 2 First Look, Packt Publishing.
She blogs on www.moodleblog.net and can be contacted for training or consultation via
OurLearning on www.ourlearning.co.uk.
Kristina D.C. Höppner is from windy Wellington in New Zealand. Kristina has been
working with the Mahara Development Team at Catalyst IT, the largest independent open
source technology specialist in Australasia, since June 2010. She often answers questions in
the Mahara community forums and supports Mahara users. Recently, she was responsible
for writing the user manuals for Mahara 1.4 and 1.5 at http://manual.mahara.org ,
which are now being translated by other community members.
She is also a project manager in the Catalyst IT e-Learning Team, Facilitator for Mahara and
Moodle workshops, and frequent speaker at conferences and in webinars on Mahara.
Heinz Krettek is a German teacher at a school for vocational education. He has studied
business sciences and sports. His main job is to prepare socioeconomically deprived students
for lifelong learning. In 2006, he discovered the portfolio work and began to translate the
German langpack for Mahara. The first translations for Mahara 0.6 were published on his
own Moodle site. Soon after Nigel McNie installed a git repository, the actual files were
published in the Mahara git. He has just finished the translation for the Mahara 1.4 release.
He has organized several education and training sessions for teachers and was a speaker at
the German Moodle Moots. He publishes postings about ePortfolios and related topics at
http://ewiesion.com.
He lives in the Black Forest with his wife and four kids. In his spare time, Heinz prefers the
three M's—Mahara, Moodle, and marathon. He finished the New York Marathon 2000. His
motto is—he who finishes a marathon will overcome all problems in school ;-)
Allison Miller has been involved in education and training for more than ten years as an
Educator, Change Manager, and e-Learning Leader and Innovator.
Allison also currently leads the:
Higher Qualification Pathways for the National VET E-learning Strategy
ePortfolios Australia Conference Organizing Committee
ePortfolios Australia Professional Network
Allison's previous roles include:
ePortfolios Business Manager, Inclusive E-learning for Youth Project Manager, and
South Australian E-Learning Innovations Coordinator for the Australian Flexible
Learning Framework.
E-learning Development Coordinator, E-learning Mentor, and Business Services
Facilitator for TAFE SA.
Allison is currently in the final year of her Master of Learning and Development
(Organization Capacity Development) with the University of Southern Queensland.
Allison has a lot e-Learning and e-Assessment experience and know how, especially in the
areas of:
ePortfolios
E-assessment
Recognition of prior learning (RPL)/skills recognition
Mobile learning/devices
Open educational resources/open courseware
Learning analytics
Allison's other experiences include being the:
Lead author of formal reports, peer reviewed papers, and magazine/journal articles
Co-author of research reports, strategic documents, position papers, and responses
to discussion papers
Project Manager of qualitative and action research projects
Facilitator of staff development projects, workshops, seminars, and action learning
activities
Mentor and coach in the area of e-Learning/e-Assessment
Developer of online/paper-based learning resources and content
Writer of numerous online educational and e-learning journals (blogs)
Convenor of national and state-based conferences and events
Key note, plenary, and break-out speaker at various conferences
Facilitator and presenter of many workshops and presentations
Chair of and representative of numerous national and international cross sectoral
reference groups
Pete Potter is a Teacher, e-learning Technologist, and Mahara Moodle Consultant. He has
taught Computing in Manchester (UK) and in Timaru (NZ), and worked with teachers to
enhance learning in the classroom with the use of technology. A passion for ePortfolios and
specifically Mahara lead to him working on the Myportfolio.school.nz Project in NZ, sharing
and consulting on the smart use of ePortfolios across the South Island.
Moodle also features prominently in Pete's work as he has worked with many institutions
to introduce Moodle to build and establish their Managed Learning Environment. He has
presented at conferences on using both Moodle and Mahara together in the classroom to
engage and empower learners.
Moving back to the UK in 2012, he is now working with the UK and Ireland's leading Moodle
partner, Synergy Learning. He is still working with Moodle and Mahara in the education
sector, spending time with Techies and Educators ensuring they get the most from his
experience. When not doing this, Pete is fell running, swimming, or cycling, and sometimes
all three.
