Mahara UK 09
Wednesday 15th July
Institute of Education
The Event Report
- David Drummond on Mahara roadmap
'Innovation with e-Portfolios', the first European Mahara gathering saw nearly 100 delegates coming together for a day of demos, debate and discussions. We doubled the expected numbers: "proof that a strong Mahara community already exists and that an event like this is an excellent way of supporting, and bringing together learning providers from across the education and training sectors to share good practice and innovation." Dr David Rippon, Director of ULCC and chair of Mahara UK09.
The evaluation/feedback sheets illustrates just how much delegates enjoyed the day, with 100% saying it met their expectations and 98% that it provided opportunities for participation. The reasons for attending were given as:
- Networking - meet other Mahara users
- Knowledge / understanding / awareness (e-Portfolios in general and Mahara specifically)
- Applications (used by other institutions)
- Evaluate Mahara
The introduction keynote
- Lisa Gray on best practise with e-Portfolios
Lisa Gray, JISC Programme Manager, began the day with a look at the issues around effective practice in using e-Portfolios. You can see her and the other presentation by using the right-hand navigation.
"The event was an excellent intro to mahara and what it can do to support learning. The emphasis on the user meant it was easy to see how it could be applied."
"More of the same please!"
"Really looking forward to Mahara UK10"
The venue had no wireless network which meant no twittering sadly (#mauk09). Very disappointing, but something we'll be putting right next year. Also, an oversight in the catering order meant no special diet meals were served so apologies to the delegate who had ordered gluton-free and didn't get it - again, we'll ensure you're not disappointed next year when all these issues will be addressed. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed the rest of the event.
The workshops provided a good spread of interesting subjects; such as presentations on the 'styless folio', personalisation and e-Portfolios, institutional implementation, assessment and Work-Based Learning, etc. They all recieved good feedback, with one delegate saying "Can't remember last time i went 2 something when the whole day was good. Lots 2 do now!"
Key Issues arising from Mahara UK09
- Philip & James on personalisation of learning
The plenary session, along with the presentations and workshops, provided the conference with lots of discussions which I've summarised a few of them here. If you would like to submit any more, please contact me or email them to the Mahara UK mailing list. The panel was chaired by David Rippon (ULCC) with David Drummond (Catalyst), and James Ballard (ULCC).
Mahara was designed to be a flexible and lifelong ePortfolio solution but, pragmatically, we seek to make it available within our own institutional frameworks. Is there a possibility of a UK-wide ePortfolio for every citizen, that (incidentally) might also be used during a student's time of enrolment in higher education? This, I think, is THE key issue for learning providers seeking to successfully implement ePortfolios.
Mark Nichols, NZ
I like the five Threshold Concepts (key understandings required for those responsible for encouraging e-Portfolio adoption) which JISC and Uni of Nottingham have been talking about:
PURPOSE: The PURPOSE/S for the eportfolio must be aligned to the particular context;
LEARNING ACTIVITY DESIGN: There must be a conscious DESIGN & SUPPORT OF A LEARNING ACTIVITY/ ACTIVITIES suited to the purpose and the context;
PROCESSES: The PROCESSES involved in the creation of the eportfolio in this context must be understood and both technical and pedagogic support needs to be provided;
OWNERSHIP: eportfolio processes and outcomes need to be OWNED by the student - this leads to considering portability, choice of tool (use their own phone camera, audio recorder, Web 2.0 application etc, but also their engagement;
DISRUPTIVE NATURE: e-portfolios are disruptive from a pedagogic, technological and an organisation perspective because it tends not to fit exactly within existing systems.
Unless we UNDERSTAND these issues and are practically oriented towards implementing our e-Portfolios while taking these issues into account, we are likely to struggle.
Derring Kent, TDM
In addressing the key issues for learning providers to successfully implement e-Portfolios, I reckon you must:
(a) to consider what "success" is and how to determine the extent of achieving it
(b) to motivate learners so that they buy into some similar idea of success (and not just by making portfolio use compulsory)
Both are hard, but I don't think any real success is going to be found without addressing these.
Simon Grant, CETIS
We running trials of ePF in the region (this includes FE/HE/school), one of the major factors is teacher time, also, getting ePF activity into lesson plans and curriculum, rather than seeing it as another system to learn and an additional activity to fit into their busy schedules.
Kirstie Coolin, Nottingham University
Portability and Mobility - how do institutions ensure e-Portfolios are truly 'life-long'? How do students take and use their e-P's when moving, or returning to, different learning providers.
"I think we have a viable solution for an e-Portfolio for life in Mahara, and that progress should be made in seeking its implementation on a much larger scale." Mark Nichols.
Please contact me if you would like to add to this.
Philip Butler, Senior e-Learning Adviser
ULCC