Creating your online portfolio in Mahara

Transcription

1 Creating your online portfolio in Mahara

2 What is a portfolio? A portfolio is a space where you can demonstrate your learning progress and achievements It is a visible collection of skills to present to your lecturer as well as to a prospective employer It enhances your communication and organisational skills It provides awareness of strengths and weaknesses It encourages critical reflection i.e. analysing your own experiences to improve the way you study/work

3 What is Mahara? Mahara is a free eportfolio creation software You can record and reflect on your learning online You can build a comprehensive CV online You can share the resulting portfolio with anyone you wish online, internally or externally, for educational or employment purposes You can even export your eportfolio after graduation and carry on building it using other Mahara tools such as Folio for me at

4 Accessing Mahara: the eportfolio You can access Mahara from MySunderland (eportfolio at the bottom of the page) Or at on the Web

5 Logging in to Mahara: the eportfolio Log in with your University username and password

6 The organisation of Mahara The eportfolio is organised in four sections: 1. Dashboard: this is the front page, like a control panel 2. Content: this is where you add and build your content 3. Portfolio: this is where you create pages and populate them using material from your content 4. Groups: this is where you find people and groups, join others and invite others to join you

7 1. Dashboard: the home page The Dashboard is what you see when you first log in to Mahara it contains your inbox, latest pages, your own pages, and other information You can also Search users to view their pages

8 2. Content: creating your portfolio: The Content section is where you start working on your portfolio: you create content here that you will later use to populate your page/s

9 2. Content: Profile The Profile page is what other Mahara users will see when they click on your name in Mahara you do not need to complete all fields

10 2. Content: Profile information Some things to remember when adding details to your profile page: If you are inserting social media links, make sure that they are your professional social media accounts When adding profile pictures, make sure that they are professional looking pictures Remember that your profile information will be visible to other Mahara users; therefore, consider well what you put in there.

11 2. Content: Files The Files field is where you upload all your files that you are going to use to populate your page/s

12 2. Content: repository of files In Mahara, the Files field acts like a file repository and allows you to: Create folders and sub folders Upload multiple files quickly and efficiently Give each file a name and description Manage your file allocation quota

13 2. Content: Journal The Journal field is like a diary or a blog for reflecting on your work and yourself

14 2. Content: Journal/blogging The blogging tool provided in Mahara labels blogs and blog postings as journals and journal entries: You can create journal entries using the text editor You can attach files to journal entries and embed images You can configure whether or not you want comments on your journal entries You can create draft entries for publishing later Remember that, until you add your journal to a page and make the page available to users, it is not shared with anyone and is not open to comments

15 2. Content: Resume Another important field is the Résumé field this is where you create your CV for prospective employers

16 2. Content: Resume/CV builder When creating your online CV, remember that you do not need to complete all the fields or subfields: Personal information do not complete this field as it is confidential information that you do not put in a CV Education and employment most important part, focus well Achievements any additional formal training apart from your diplomas and degrees Goals and skills Only if they are relevant to the job your are applying for Interests not relevant, very old-fashioned

17 3. Portfolio: Creating pages The Portfolio section is where you create Pages and organise all your work for display and sharing You can also edit your Dashboard and Profile page from here

18 3. Portfolio: Creating pages Select Pages and Create page to create a new portfolio page

19 3. Portfolio: Creating pages In Edit title and description, give it a title relevant to your topic or assignment

20 3. Portfolio: Creating pages In Edit layout, select the format you want for your assignment; the default is three columns

21 3. Portfolio: Creating pages In Edit content you can insert all your text, images, audiovisual media, any journal/blog entries, etc. that you created earlier; you can also select a theme

22 3. Portfolio: Receiving feedback The Shared by me section is where you make your page accessible to others in order to receive feedback/ comments on your work Click on the Edit access key next to the page you want to make accessible

23 3. Portfolio: Receiving feedback In the next screen, select relevant group/s, identify a date range for access if applicable Do not forget to save your changes; your page will now have a Place feedback button at the bottom

24 Giving feedback/printing pages Note all the options and additional information at the bottom of a Mahara page: Place feedback allows users to comment on each others work The Print tool allows users to print pages Pages can be added to watchlists for alerts on any changes There is a reporting tool for abusive/offensive material Also, note the information on number of visitors

25 3. Portfolio: Generating a URL for your page In the Shared by me section, you can also generate a web address to copy and paste in a document, for example, when submitting assignments Click on the Secret URLs keypad next to the page for which you want generate a URL

26 3. Portfolio: Generating a URL for your page In the next screen, click on Add next to New secret URL label This generates a web address which you can then use to copy and paste in a document to submit in JIRA

27 4. Groups: connecting with others The Groups section is where you find groups to join and friends to connect with All members of the institution are listed in alphabetical order in Find Friends You can also find a person and access their page by simply typing their name in the search box

28 Summary If you have been asked to create and submit a page in Mahara as an assignment, these are the steps to follow: Build the contents of the page (CV, blogs/journals, files, images, audio-visual material) in the Content section Create a new page in the Portfolio section Populate your new page using the contents you already created and uploaded you can also type your text in the editor or copy and paste from a Word document In order to receive comments, grant access to other users Once the page/assignment is complete, generate a secret URL Copy and paste only the text (not images or any other media) in to a document to it submit to Turn-it-in Copy and paste the URL in to a document to submit it to JIRA together with your similarity report from Turn-it-in (2 documents)

29 Useful links (access) (more information) (detailed manuals)