samantha moss - solent's mahara journey
DESCRIPTION
Presentation delivered by Samantha Moss of the Solent Uni eLearning team to the JISC Netskills Effective Practice with ePortfolios workshop on 10th November 2010TRANSCRIPT
November 2010E-Portfolios
Solent’s Mahara JourneyLooking at E-Portfolios
Samantha MossE-Learning Support Officer
New university (5 years old!)
19,000 students
Strong focus on skills for employment
Key subjects: Maritime, Fashion, Business, Journalism, Sport Science & Animation/Media
Strategic Development Plan:◦Flexible delivery◦Forming partnerships with local businesses & FE providers◦Commitment to social justice
Solent Profile
Led by Dr Barbara Lee
Analysis of course documentation
Considering how Career Box and any portfolio project would link
Evaluation of available portfolio products
Identifying how to take forward the development of an e-portfolio product that links to Moodle
Project 1: Fostering PDP (2008/09)
Student Feedback
Online survey: 81% of students said that they would use an E-Portfolio
“I am currently signing up to commercial job websites that offer this service but I don't think they’re very successful in finding the right employers. If there was something similar affiliated with the university, I believe it would instantly be taken more seriously by perspective employers.”
“Any aid which assists in getting a job would be useful.”
“It would just be so much easier to use a tool that organised and kept track of everything bit by bit, rather than having to go back and piece it together bit by bit in retrospect.”
“It would save me a whole lot of stress!”
Staff Feedback
“In relation to the students I deal with most, I think their own professional development can be enhanced by posting evidence of their own work (publications), conference papers and other professional activity which may be of interest to prospective employers. This would be of particular use for post graduates.”
“It would be good from the perspective of skills development for a university career. It would be ideal and deter them from using Facebook; it would be more academic.”
“Mahara would be useful for the students who are away for 6 months doing tasks. It would be good if work could be authenticated by supervisors as they have a problem with fake signatures. Time would be saved if portfolio work was carried out in real time as opposed to when they return from their task.”
Project 1: Outcomes Adoption of Mahara
Creation of ePortfolio animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFSrV3QOWM
Why Mahara?• Met all requirements
• Easy to customise
• Integration with Moodle
• Large support community
• LEAP2A
• No commercial tie-in
• If it breaks we can fix it (we hope)
Project 2 : Implementing Mahara 2009/10
Customising Mahara
Solent theme(theme shown
is 2010/11)
Changed the language
Fixed-width applied
Changed ‘help’ files
Pilot units
Journalism & Media writing35 studentsOnline CV3rd years – develop an online presence
Curriculum Plus – CV & Career Building Unit50 studentsSubmitting work for feedbackIncreased student engagement
Usability study group
Mahara 1.1.6
9 Students from all levels and course types
5 set tasks: Creating ‘views’ for CV, Personal Interests, Examples of Uni work and Reflections on a project, as well as their Profile.
Students to submit ‘secret URLS’ via myCourse assignment upload tool (online text)
Then student would write in a reflective journal their thoughts and experiences during that task
Student Feedback:Positives:
It got easier – became more creative with pagesGive them the edge Would use it from September to collect their work
Negatives:Long time to upload big files – off campus issuesNo option to change page themes and background coloursProfile pages confused them (Single Sign On – our fault!)
Wish list:Snap boxes horizontally - Merge boxes within boxesTemplates for each pageLess randomly generated ‘Secret URL’ – i.e. customisable
How are we doing?
Full-scale Mahara implementation
4 x 0.25 Teaching & Learning Fellow posts (Mahara, Assessment & Employability)
Mahara Development Group
Innovation projects
Sharing ideas & experiences with external stakeholders
http://uk.movieposter.com/poster/A70-12212/Toy_Story.html
Final thought…
MyPortfolio
It is not just a CV builder & file store
This is a tool to help lecturers come up with inventive ways to support the delivery of employability skills to their students
during lessons.
It is a professional platform for students to promote themselves to the outside world
Contact me:
Twitter: @samwisemoss
More details: http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/eportfolios
My ePortfolio:http://mahara.solent.ac.uk/user/view.php?id=5
November 2010
Any Questions?