As announced earlier (https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/evinkki/2011/04/04/esittelyssa-mahara/) the e-portfolio Mahara has been rolled out as an extension of Lappia Moodle. We expect that Mahara will fill an urgently felt need for a portfolio/social media tool which Moodle itself does not possess.
Mahara is, like Moodle, a multifunctional environment, i.e. we can see it being used for many different activities:
The basic use of Mahara would be as a portfolio, in which the student collects and organises his evidence of learning, i.e. homework projects, project papers, reports, presentations, theses. These files and linked content are available from anywhere on the Internet and remain under the control of the user and can be exported at any time for safekeeping. In the new learning paradigm carried by eLearning such a portfolio function plays a very important role:
Mahara can also be used as a safe environment for students and staff of the connected organisations to communicate and network socially.
The group functions in Mahara create great opportunities for group and project work complete with planning tools and a group forum.
Likewise, Mahara can support students and their tutors and supervisors during a traineeship period.
Also for thesis work Mahara could be an excellent basis, especialy once Mahara and Moodle have been integrated to the point that one can serve as a source for the other and vice versa (scheduled for summer 2012).
Alumni of Kemi-Tornio AMK and even Lappia AO can retain their access to Lappia Mahara even after graduation and thus maintain their online CV and their network of classmates and teachers for up to two years; giving them some support in the often difficult search for employment.
This is not an exclusive enumeration of the possibilities of Mahara. We expect that as the use of the environment grows, new functionality will be discovered organically.
Remember this, Mahara is not a replacement for Moodle and it is not obligatory for teachers to include Mahara in their courses as of now. However, it would be wise for teachers to be prepared for this new step in our eLearning effort by attending one of the scheduled Mahara training sessions. The eLearning Centre has scheduled three Mahara training sessions in September:
12/9 in Tornio, Mecruria room 214, from 12.00 to 15.00 hrs.
19/9 in Kemi, Sauvo Learning Centre (Social Unit library), from 12.00 to 15.00 hrs.
26/9 in iLinc, virtual classroom Moodle ja Mahara koulutus (Paul Nijbakker) under the category folder Projektitoiminta. from 12.00 to 15.00 hrs.
Lappia staff can enroll for any of these sessions via Webropol http://www.webropolsurveys.com//S/E38F789DF412E042.par
Further training sessions have been planned in November and a special Urkund/Mahara introduction is scheduled for teachers of the Technical Unit on October 6th from 14.15 to 15.45 hrs (room to be announced later). I hope to welcome many of you during these trainings, but note that if you are unable to attend due to other appointments, you may obtain an insight in the functionality of Mahara from our Mahara manual, which is part of the Moodle 1.9 Beginners’ manual: In English / Suomeksi.