1 •Lecturer reads support guide

Once a lecturer has decided that they’d like to find out more about Mahara, they take a look at the ‘Support for Lecturers’ online guide http://myportfolio.solent.ac.uk/staff This will hopefully answer any questions they may have and will help them to form an idea of what they want their students to do.

2 •Lecturer contacts LT team

After the lecturer has seen the guide and had a look at the examples of ePortfolios on display, they then contact Learning Technologies to explore the tool further. LT staff are all about the pedagogy, so want to make sure that Mahara really is the right tool for the job! Email address: myportfolio@solent.ac.uk

3 •Assessment brief developed

Once a comprehensive ‘tour’ of Mahara has been shown to the lecturer, the assessment brief is then written. By working together, the lecturer and LT team member will be able to successfully create a great brief that takes into account Solent’s Assessment Regulations, identifies support materials, and will contain a break down of what tools should be used. Sometimes a ‘tick sheet’ will also be created.

4 •Example portfolio developed

A member of Learning Technologies (or the lecturer if confident) will then create an example ePortfolio page or collection that will be used to show students what an ePortfolio is, and what it can do. It will also give the students an idea of what’s expected of them (you don’t know what you don’t know!)

5 •Supporting materials added to Moodle unit

A brand new help site has been built in Mahara to support all staff and students who want to use it for any purpose. Links to specific pages are placed in the lecturer’s Moodle unit page to help the students stay on top of what is required of them. There is also a ‘Quick Start Guide’ that is given to all students at the start of the unit. All materials can be found on the help site: http://myportfolio.solent.ac.uk/help

6 •Induction activity arranged

The next step is to decide how the lecturer wants to ‘induct’ their students. A 1hr induction activity has already been created for students, the decision is whether to get them to do it during a scheduled IT session or as homework. This activity is found in the Assessment support guide: http://myportfolio.solent.ac.uk/assessment

7 •‘Mahara Clinic’ arranged ¾ way through term

Towards the end of the unit, a ‘Mahara Clinic’ is offered to all students. During this session, a member of LT will facilitate a Q&A session where questions & issues can be raised. During this session, a run through of how to export their work for submission purposes is done. This session also motivates those who have done little so far to actually get something done – only those who have done work in Mahara can attend!

8 •Students submit their work

At the end of the unit, the students are required to export their work as a html website, and upload the exported zip-file to the Moodle unit page. They are also required to add a ‘Secret URL’ to their work to make it easier to access their work for moderation purposes. Guidance on how to do this is available in the help site: http://myportfolio.solent.ac.uk/assessment

9 •Work assessed by lecturer

As with most assessments – student work is accessed via Moodle, marked using a rubric (in this case a word doc), then the feedback is uploaded and given to the students in the feedback section of their submission. Tuition on extracting and opening zip files is given to the lecturers prior to the deadline. Guidance is available here: http://myportfolio.solent.ac.uk/staff

10 •‘Best in show’ chosen for the following year

The best looking portfolios are then used instead of the demo portfolio for the next year. This follows one of Gamson & Chickering’s ‘Seven Principles for good practice in Undergraduate Education’ – principle 6: ‘Communicates High Expectations’. You raise the bar – students will often rise to the challenge. See some example portfolios here: http://bit.ly/exampleportfolios

Sam Taylor – Learning Technologist http://bit.ly/samtaylor

Mahara Assessment Support Southampton Solent University