Mahara ePortfolio as practice

Summary

Nicola Parkin from Flinders University shares her experience using Mahara e-portfolio as a scholarly tool. She emphasizes the platform's flexibility, privacy by default, and the ability to curate diverse media for meaningful presentations. Nicola showcases her personal portfolio, highlighting its utility for academic work, reflections, and showcasing scholarly activity. She encourages users to engage with Mahara by creating meaningful content and to explore its potential for integrating learning across various domains.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Mahara e-Portfolio as a Practice**: Nicola Parkin shares her experience using Mahara e-portfolio, emphasizing it's not just about the technology but the practice it enables.
• 🎓 **Scholarly Portfolio**: Nicola started with a scholarly portfolio as an RHD student, using it for journaling, recording presentations, coursework, and scholarly activities.
• 🔒 **Privacy by Default**: Mahara e-portfolios are private by default, with the exception of the public profile page, allowing users to control what they share.
• 🔗 **Linking Public Work**: Nicola links publicly available work on her profile page, showcasing her scholarly activities and achievements.
• 📑 **Curating Content**: She demonstrates how to curate different media forms together on a page, such as abstracts, slides, and reflections from presentations.
• 📈 **Demonstrating Scholarliness**: The portfolio serves as a record of scholarly work over time, including research projects and educational practices.
• 📝 **Standalone Pages**: Nicola uses standalone pages for specific content like blog posts, showing the flexibility of Mahara for various types of content.
• 📊 **Collections and Individual Pages**: Mahara allows organizing pages into collections or keeping them individual, providing structure and context to the content.
• 📘 **Philosophy of Education**: Nicola maintains a living document of her educational philosophy, updating it as her thinking evolves.
• 🔗 **Integrating Work**: Mahara can be used to integrate scholarly activity into reports or other documents by linking to specific pages.
• 🏫 **Institutional Integration**: Mahara authenticates with FAN, making it easy for students to submit work and for teachers to access and provide feedback.
• 🌟 **Unique Affordances**: Mahara offers unique features like user-controlled privacy settings, integration with coursework and extracurricular activities, and the ability to connect learning across different domains.
• 💡 **Meaningful Engagement**: Nicola suggests engaging with Mahara by creating something meaningful, as trying out features without a purpose may not be effective.
• 📚 **Support and Resources**: Flinders University provides support and resources for staff and students to learn and make the most out of Mahara e-portfolio.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on using Mahara e-portfolio as a practice, sharing experiences, and demonstrating how it can be utilized effectively.

Who is Nicola Parkin?

Nicola Parkin is a learning designer at Flinders University and a genuine Mahara e-portfolio user who shares her personal experience with the tool.

What did Nicola learn was the most important aspect of Mahara e-portfolio?

Nicola learned that Mahara e-portfolio is not just about the technology but more about the practice it enables.

Why did Nicola start using Mahara e-portfolio?

Nicola started using Mahara e-portfolio a couple of years ago to learn the tool itself.

What type of portfolio did Nicola decide to keep?

Nicola decided to keep a scholarly portfolio since she is an RHD student.

How does Nicola use Mahara e-portfolio for her scholarly work?

Nicola uses Mahara e-portfolio for journaling, keeping records of presentations, coursework, and any other scholarly activities.

What does the dashboard of Mahara look like?

The dashboard of Mahara is the default landing page and looks the same for both staff and students at Flinders University.

What is special about the privacy settings in Mahara e-portfolio?

In Mahara e-portfolio, everything is private by default, unlike some other social platforms, and users must take action to share something.

What is the one public page in Mahara e-portfolio?

The profile page is the one public page in Mahara e-portfolio.

How does Nicola use her public profile page?

Nicola links to public pages she has created in Mahara from her profile page, which can be shared through a secret URL or linked from other platforms.

What is the significance of collections in Mahara e-portfolio?

Collections in Mahara e-portfolio are groups of pages that fit together, allowing users to organize and curate content meaningfully.

How does Nicola use standalone pages in Mahara e-portfolio?

Nicola uses standalone pages for specific content such as blog posts, including text, comments, and images, which can be shared for various purposes.

What are the three important aspects Nicola mentions about e-portfolios?

Nicola mentions form, meaningfulness, and openness as the three important aspects of e-portfolios.

How does Mahara e-portfolio integrate with Flinders University's learning management system?

Mahara e-portfolio integrates with Flinders University's learning management system by authenticating with FAN, allowing students to submit work and create a live window for teachers to access.

What advice does Nicola give for getting started with Mahara e-portfolio?

Nicola advises starting with something meaningful, either private or public, and engaging with Mahara e-portfolio by doing something creative.