Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

MAHARA INDUCTION ACTIVITY

STEP 1: CREATE A PAGE

A Page in Mahara is what you use to share your information. For example, the webpage with this

induction activity on is a Page, and this guide is a PDF that has been uploaded into it using a Block.

From the Dashboard, select the Your portfolios button:

Next, select the + Add button:

Finally select Page:

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

STEP 2: GIVE YOUR PAGE A TITLE AND SELECT A LAYOUT

Title your page with something appropriate to the topic that you’re researching:

You have the ability to change your page layout which affects how the resources you’ve uploaded

are displayed to you and anyone you share the page with.

To change the layout, scroll down to the Layout section.

Select the layout you want, then scroll down and select Save.

If you later decide you want to change the layout, select the Settings button when in editing mode.

STEP 3: ADD CONTENT TO YOUR PAGE USING BLOCKS

ADDING TEXT

To add text, drag and drop the Text block onto one of the columns on your page and fill in the fields

(see overleaf). You can format the Block content text using the formatting toolbar at the top.

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

ADDING IMAGES

There are three ways to showcase images in your portfolio: embedded within a Text or Note block,

as the Image block, or multiple images via the Image gallery block (as a slideshow or thumbnails).

It’s important to add images with an acknowledgement to the source, if it doesn’t belong to you, or a

caption to put them in context, if it does belong to you. The best way to do this is through the image

description.

For this activity you will be using the Image block. First, in a separate window/tab, search for an

image related to your chosen topic on the internet and save it to your computer.

Drag and drop the Image block onto your page, delete or provide a title. Switch the Show

description to Yes.

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

Select the checkbox to say the image belongs to you. In this case it doesn’t but that’s why you’ll

be adding in the source later. Browse for the saved image and upload. The selected file will

show at the top, above the upload area.

Now let’s add the source acknowledgement. Within the same window, scroll down until you see

your image file in the files list. Select the pencil icon to edit.

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

Change the image title and enter a description e.g. Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi. At this point you can also rotate the image if need be.

Select Save changes.

Select Save to add the block to your page.

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

ADDING A YOUTUBE VIDEO

In a separate window/tab, go to YouTube and search for a video related to your chosen topic. When

you’ve found one copy the web address at the top:

Back in Mahara, select External in the blocks menu to expand it, then drag and drop the External

media block into a column.

Delete or provide a block title and paste the link in the URL box and select Save when done:

This is the final step for adding content. If you wish you can add other types of content, but it’s not

necessary for claiming your badge.

Find out more about blocks here: https://manual.mahara.org/en/18.04/blocks/blocks.html

Finally, rearrange the page content to how you want it to display. Use the crosshairs on the blocks

to drag and drop them into place. Then select Display page to see what it looks like.

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

Select the pencil Edit icon to revert back to edit mode to carry on adding content or to reposition

the blocks:

Author: Angelique Tavernier, Flexible Learning Support Centre, CDS

Your page is now ready to send to flhelp@cranfield.ac.uk to claim your Mahara Induction Badge!

But first you need to create a secret URL. Return to the Induction Activity page to watch the video

or read the relevant guide on how to do this.

Checklist:

☐Page has suitable title

☐Text block, image block and video block are present

☐Image source is visible below the image