Introduction to Mahara E-Portfolios
C. Holmes LIPA Learning Services March 2010
Contents Logging in ................................................................................................................................... 3 Updating your Profile ................................................................................................................ 3 Building a C.V............................................................................................................................. 4 Understanding E-Portfolio Views ............................................................................................. 5 Starting from Scratch: Creating a View .................................................................................... 6 My Files .................................................................................................................................... 11 My Blogs .................................................................................................................................. 12 Allowing Others to See Your Portfolio Views ........................................................................ 13 Accepting & Requesting Friends ............................................................................................. 15 Using Groups ........................................................................................................................... 17 Leaving Feedback .................................................................................................................... 18 Viewing Feedback.................................................................................................................... 20 Further Help & Information .................................................................................................... 21
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Introduction to the Mahara E-Portfolio System Logging in Use you usual LIPA username and password to login to Mahara at: http://mahara.lipa.ac.uk
Throughout Mahara you’ll see this button.
Updating your Profile Why not start by setting up your Mahara profile? Select the Profile tab.
Clicking on it will provide help & information on whatever you’re trying to do.
Add a picture of yourself in the Profile Icons section.
Use the tabs to access different sections of your profile, such as your Contact information
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Building a C.V. Notice the My Resumé, My Goals and My Skills tabs. Under each of these tabs you’ll find sections to fill in about your education, employment history, interests, career goals and more. Fill in as many sections as you like. Later you’ll be able to add some or all of these sections to your e-portfolio.
Use the button to add information to each section of your CV. Don’t forget to click Save when you’re done.
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Understanding E-Portfolio Views Mahara enables you to create an electronic portfolio of your work. You can different views of your e-portfolio. This means you can store examples of Mahara, but display it in different ways depending on who your audience is. you might have one portfolio view for your friends, but another view employers.
create lots of your work in For example, for potential
Select the My Portfolio tab.
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Under the My Views tab you will see any e-portfolio views you have created so far.
Click here to Create a View
This e-portfolio has three views. Click on Edit this View to continue working on an existing view.
Starting from Scratch: Creating a View Click (see above) The following Step One: Layout window will open.
You can add different types of files into your eportfolio view, these are called blocks. Use the tabs along the top to select the type of block you’d like to include.
Drag and drop your chosen block into the blank layout area
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Want to display an image in your view? Click and drag the Image block from here to here.
Once you have selected a block and dragged it into your view, a Configure window will appear. This will allow you to select or upload an item, and provide a title.
Here you can give the block a title.
You can browse & upload a file here.
Or select a file you uploaded earlier, using the appropriate Select button.
Remember to click Save 7
Your selected image is now displayed in your portfolio view.
Experiment with adding files, folders, text and images until you’re happy with the look and content of your portfolio view.
This portfolio has had a number of blocks added to it. Image
A section of my ResumĂŠ
Text Box
External Video (from YouTube)
A Folder
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Change the layout of your portfolio here. You can select two or three column layouts and different column widths.
Reposition the blocks by dragging and dropping them into place. (Click on the block title).
Click Next when you’re happy with this View of your portfolio. You’ll move on to Step 2: Details Note: Once you have created a portfolio view, you can go back in and edit it at any time. You won’t need to click Next and go through the next two steps, instead there’ll just be a Done button for you to click
You can carry on creating different portfolio views for different audiences. You can go back and edit your portfolio views whenever you like. Keep adding new examples of your work, that way you can show off what you’ve been up to, and reflect on your progress.
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Give your View a Title and Description. You can also tag it with some keywords.
Click Next and move on to Step 3: Access
Add who you want to be able to see your portfolio from the options in this panel
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save
Once added, they will appear in the right hand pane. Here Logged In Users and Friends are able to see this view. Add dates to the From/To boxes if you only want the view to be accessible for a specific time period.
For more information on providing others with access to your portfolio see the section on Allowing others to see your portfolio views (p13)
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My Files Use the My Files section to store all the material you’d like to include in your e-portfolio.
You can upload files and create folders here. Remember to tick the Upload File check box, this is a declaration that you are abiding by copyright law.
Use the
The Quota bar tells you how much of your space allocation you have used
button to add descriptions or tags to your files.
Note that you cannot work directly on your files in Mahara. If you need to make changes to a document, you’ll need to go back to your original, edit it, save the file, and re-upload it to Mahara.
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My Blogs You can write any number of different blogs. Perhaps you have a variety of interests you’d like to blog about. Or maybe you want to write blogs for different audiences; friends, lecturers etc. Once you’ve started a blog you can add it to your portfolio views.
This user has three different blogs.
Add a new post to a blog here, or create a completely new blog.
Clicking Add Post opens the following window.
Enter the Title of your post and add the text of you post to the Body. There are various editing tools allowing you to make your text bold, italic etc. Tag you post with some keywords. This will help you to relate posts on similar topics. Click Show my tags to view tags you’ve already used. You can also add Attachments to your posts.
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Allowing Others to See Your Portfolio Views You can control who is able to see your portfolio views, and when. Select the My Portfolio tab to see a list of all your e-portfolio views. Select Edit View access next to the view you want to work on.
Add who you want to be able to see your portfolio from the options in this panel
Once added, they will appear in the right hand pane. Here Logged In Users and Friends are able to see this view. Add dates to the From/To boxes if you only want the view to be accessible for a specific time period.
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If you don't want everyone to be able to see your View, but you would like to show it to a few people who are not registered with Mahara, then you can make your View visible to the public through a Secret URL. This is a special link which is difficult to guess. You can let others know about your View by sending them the link.
Click Add Secret URL. The URL will be shown in the right hand pane. You can then share it by copying and pasting it into an email. Add dates to the From/To boxes if you only want the view to be accessible for a specific time period.
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Accepting & Requesting Friends Under the Groups tab you will find the controls which enable you to set up ‘friendships’ and communicate with other LIPA Mahara users
This panel tell you if you have any messages waiting, or friend requests pending.
This user has requested friendship. The request can be approved or denied. You can also send them a message.
The Friends Control panel allows you to decide whether friends are added automatically, never, or when you authorise them
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Go to the Find Friends tab to search for other users, or select them from the list.
You can send Friend Requests or messages from here.
Clicking on a user’s name will take you through to their profile page, as seen below.
These are the portfolio views the user has allowed you to see. Click on the view title to open it.
You are able to leave messages on the user’s wall. Remember anyone can see these.
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Using Groups If you are working on a joint project or performance with other students, Mahara can be used to create a Group E-portfolio. Ask in the LRC and staff may be able to set up a Group area for you. Select the green Groups tab. Under the My Groups sub-tab you will see listed any Groups you are already a member of
Go to the Find Groups tab to search for other Groups to join
This user is currently a member of one Group . Click on the blue Group Name link to open the group area
Clicking on the name of a Group takes you through to that Group’s area.
Click through the tabs to see who are group Members, contribute to discussion Forums, create Views showing off your group’s work to others, and store and share Files.
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Leaving Feedback Look out for the Place Feedback link It will allow you to leave public or private comments on an entire e-portfolio view, or elements within a view.
Click on the Place Feedback link and add your comments.
Select the check box if you want to Make Public your feedback, or leave as private.
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You can also leave feedback on specific elements within an e-portfolio view.
Click on the title of the block or individual file you want to feedback on.
A more detailed window will open. The Place feedback link is at the bottom left. You can also download items from here.
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Viewing Feedback When a user logs in to Mahara they will be able to see any feedback left for them ether at the bottom of their portfolio view or by selecting the individual blocks and files included in their view.
Feedback on the overall e-portfolio view is displayed here.
The user is also notified of any new feedback as soon as they log on to Mahara.
Users are notified that they have Unread messages
Clicking on Unread messages, or going to the Settings tab and Notifications, allows the user to see any new feedback or messages they have received.
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Further Help & Information
For further help & information on Mahara, or to share your comments & suggestions please get in touch with Clare: c.holmes@lipa.ac.uk 0151 330 3111
Useful Web Resources Mahara Quick Reference Guide for Staff http://demo.mahara.org/artefact/file/download.php?file=4276 Mahara Quick Reference Guide for Students http://demo.mahara.org/artefact/file/download.php?file=4277 Mahara User Guide (wiki) http://wiki.mahara.org/User_Guide Moodle & Mahara Overview (YouTube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a3I5xj6k5s
Useful Books STEFANI, L. (2007), The Educational potential of e-portfolios. London: Routledge
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