Mahara

In recognition of the contribution to education, Mahara won the category for 'open source use in education' at last night's New Zealand open source Awards 2008 It was high recognition from the great and the good of the New Zealand open source community .

A cast of many helped to get Mahara to the stage it is at today and have ensured that it has gone from strength to strength. As the enhancements to the forthcoming release of Mahara 1.1 can testify, there is growing involvement and contribution from the international Mahara community. All of which, of course, is great news for users of the My Portfolio service in New Zealand.

I recently attended the eFest 2008 conference at Skycity Auckland, where I ran a workshop on Mahara (the software behind My Portfolio) 

As part of the day I created a conference View 

You may alread be familiar with the explanatory videos for various aspects of My Portfolio

I have also put together introductory videos that explain the key concepts of the ePortfolio system. They are hosted at Scivee which is one of the  Video hosting sites that is supported by the external video block within My Portfolio's Views structure.

here's how it can look when embedded in a View

Hi,

the development of Mahara continues - Mahara 1.0.3 was released on 13th June and some interesting  developments are  underway with the Groups functionality thanks to funding fromGeorgia's Leadership Institution for School Improvement (GLISI),

It should make for a much improved and versatile system in terms of possibilities for collaboration and sharing  when Mahara version 1.1 is released. Read more about it at the Mahara forum
 

And of course, all of htese improvements will make it to My Portfolio without you having to worry about upgrading

Hi

I have received an update form Sigi Jakob-Kühn who was one of the German testing partners for the Mahara powered  MOSEP project, funded by the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci programme

MOSEP stands for More Self Seteeem with my ePortfolio and aims to address the problem of adolescents (14-16yr olds) dropping out of the education system in Europe The MOSEP course consists of 5 modules each divided into various aspects using ane Portfolio.

Of course you would need a login to enter the mahara powered ePortfolio, but the supporting website has just been revamped and the programme and support materials are well worth a look. I think they would be of use for any schools or institutions looking for some inspiration as to how ePortfolio use can be supported and implemented and conceptualised for staff and students alike.

The User owned technology demonstrators strand from JISC has funded five projects to explore the issues around institution led and user led learning technologies. Its part way through and winds up in March 2009, some of the findings and outputs should be pretty informative for this whole debate that many institutions are wrestling with.

It has arisen in some of the My portfolio workshops that I have been delivering - the extent to which the institution encroaches/supports what is fundamentally intended to be  a user led tool for aiding reflection and lfielong learning.

Many institutions are already dabbling, or some might say encroaching in social netowrking tools. Many sites, such as Facebook and Second Life have very lively education focused forums, flourishing without (or because of??) the lack of tutor led direction

More voices from the 'net generation',

“They call this the information age or something, right? Look, I want things fast! I don’t wait for video, I don’t wait for mail, I don’t wait for anything.”

That quote from a student in the UK, from a new publication by Becta which goes some way to explaining how students learn and process information from a wide range of sources

Emerging technologies for learning: vol 3 (2008) aims to provide some focus on the short term implications and impact of technology in education.

Very readable, but here's a summary of each article.

One message I got was the reiteration that technologies are only ever as good as the educators who are making use of them... there is no Google generation as such, only an evolutionary growth of technologies and means of accessing information.

... appeared in the UK's Guardian Online on 01st April - not sure if it was posted before midday, but it is entirely serious and I think brings to the fore the idea that any use of technology should be chosen on its merits and benefits it can bring to teaching and learning.

Philip Beadle argues that computers are no substitute for the real thing in teaching. Whilst some of his argumentsare very true, for example virtual teaching of art classes does not introduce the methodology or the process or let the students get their hands dirty, I think a sweeping denial of the value of technology in teaching is dangerous. There are many instances where eLearning resources provide a very valuable walk through or simulation of a classroom activity. An often used example, a video tutorial of fish preparation, (here's one at random from Video Jug ) can be used to go through the steps involved in the process, giving students the chance to review the activity via a Learning Management System afterward or in preparation for the lesson. there is also the issue of practicalities; in a large class repeated attempts at food preparation can be expensive

He also says Government bods dream up initiatives of personalisation on a beer mat after a pub lunch, there is no denying the value of personalisation - in my opinion - to enhance the learning experience and involve the students as more active participants in a system that recognises differences. And technology is one very useful way of allowing for personalisation and equal opportunity. There is a danger that this kind of article picks out all of the worst examples of using technology (boring powerpoints, underused electronic whiteboards) and and avoids the good (reflective learning, creative writing through Blogs, utlisation of simple MS tools to provide interactive content) to give a very one sided argument that technology is not needed.

Undoubdtedly some of the wares on offer at BETT or other trade shows are of spurious value and may lean towards 'eye candy', but I would say that learning technology should be approached in the same way that consideration to any other type of resource should be. You wouldn't for example put every book on a given subject onto your syllabus reading list.

• Investigate what is out there,
• consider its relevance to your subject,
• consider its potential for improving your teaching practice and informing your students,
• find out how it links to pedagogy (e.g Moodle's Social Constructivism approach),
• asess the staff development requirements,
• then decide whether to go with it or not

two eLearning authoring applications that may be of interest.

NZ developed eXe is specifically aimed at teaching staff who wish to create professional looking web pages

.... and something from the UK, developed by University of Nottingham and refined for usability and accessibility by Techdis ... , also aimed at teachers rather than techies, and also with a X in its name, Xerte is an xml editor for making interactive and accessible learning objects. Techdis have produced some rather useful step by step guides for anybody who prefers to learn by reading the manual rather than diving in

Still related to the JISC Learner expereinces research, a new inquiry into what the widespread use of technologies by students in education might mean at least for the UK environment, began on 29th Feb 08.

 A lot of phrases such as the Google generation  are thrown around, often without a real consideration of what this actually means and an assumption that all 'kids' can find information online in the blink of an eye.. My experience is that we often overestimate the expertise and approaches to searching for information online from our students. I think now, more than ever, skiled information professionals are essential to help learners exploit the wealth of information that is at their fingertips.

Its clear that education providers must respond and stay one step ahead of the demands of whatever this Internet generation comprises.

I don't remember much talk of  responding to the ZX Spetrum generation when I was a kid!