July 17, 2012 AAEEBL Annual Conference: ePortfolios as a Catalyst for Connections

Meet the Mahara User Group

A Panel Discussion

I.  Why Mahara User Group (MUG)? II.  Local benefits III.  About Mahara IV.  Going international V.  Applying MUG to our institutions VI.  MUG activities VII. Future plans

Join us!

Overview

•  Initiator: Pace University, August 2011

•  Purpose: connect with other Mahara-using institutions

•  Reach: Initial regional focus

•  Goal: create a community for sharing discussions about campus ePortfolio projects using Mahara

Creating MUG

Inaugural meeting

August 9, 2011, Pace University

About Mahara

•  ePortfolio system •  Open source •  User-centric •  Community-oriented •  Collaboration in groups •  Dashboard feature •  Flexible permissions for sharing •  Integration with Moodle •  Embedding of external resources

Going local

Benefits of a local MUG:

•  Familiarity with each other's institutions •  Working with similar bodies of accreditation •  Connecting with the larger Mahara community •  Connecting with institutions closer to home •  Meeting up at regional conferences

Going international

• Complementary to developer meetings

•  Feature proposals • User support forums •  Institutional implementation

case studies •  Pedagogy discussions

Link to mahara.org

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29486004@N07/3352055289/

Mahara @ Pace •  Started with pilot

program in Spring 2010

•  Currently have over 1,700 significant users

•  Multiple uses: Classroom, Career Development, Tenure and Promotion, Student Life

•  In the process of upgrading from version 1.2 to 1.5

•  Pace and MUG

• Moodle & Mahara •  Initial Mahara issues • MUG interest • Mahoodle setup • Current projects

•  Faculty review portfolios •  ePortfolio Institutes

• SUNY collaborations •  DQP initiative and SUNY transfers •  SUNY hosting •  SUNY Downstate proposal •  SUNY Learning Commons

Mahara @ Purchase

Mahara @ AMC

Albertus' ePortfolio Information •  Decided on Mahara at AAEEBL

2010 •  Davis Foundation Grant – Fall

2011 •  Currently have 300 users •  Running version 1.4 •  Recent tie with Moodle LMS

Relationship with MUG •  Work in larger ePortfolio Project •  Avoiding small school worldview •  Community involvement "raises

our bar"

What makes us different: • Non-traditional college part of the State

University of New York •  Individualized degree programs • Recognition of prior learning Mahara decision: • Piloted Mahara this Spring for ePortfolios and

Educational Planning • Decision was made to use Mahara and

discontinue Digication • Will begin implementing a fully integrated

Moodle/Mahara system in January 2013 • Roll-out expected to be complete by Sept 2013

Mahara @ Empire State

•  Webinar meetings in October 2011 and January 2012

•  April 2012 Student Showcase

•  MUG Facebook Group established for connecting between meetings •  Over 90 members from

across the globe

Virtual activities

http://on.fb.me/MUG-FB

April Student Showcase http://bit.ly/MUGstudentshowcase

All virtual MUG sessions http://bit.ly/MUGmeetings

Recordings

•  MUG Facebook Group issues o  Rationale for initial adoption o  Facebook Group and growth of MUG o  Concerns about non-openness of Facebook o  Open governance initiatives and the open-

everything movement •  Governance status for MUG

o  Ad-hoc organization to date o  Members? Participants? o  Common principles? o  Focus on how the group can be useful to

participants

Current issues

•  Albertus Magnus College: Garrett Dell gdell@albertus.edu

•  Catalyst IT: Kristina Hoeppner kristina@catalyst.net.nz

•  Empire State: Ellen Marie Murphy Ellen.Murphy@esc.edu

•  Pace University: •  Linda Anstendig: lanstendig@pace.edu •  Martina Blackwood: mblackwood@pace.edu •  Samantha Egan: segan@pace.edu •  Beth Gordon Klingner: bklingner@pace.edu

•  Purchase: Keith Landa keith.landa@purchase.edu

Questions?