sfx quick reference guide to mahara

8/7/2019 SFX Quick Reference Guide to Mahara

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Quick Reference Guide to Mahara – St.Francis Xavier 6th

Form College

Updated version 19/04/11 (JBa)

‘My Learning Space’ – Mahara

Quick Reference Guide for Students

On the SFX Moodle home page, you will see the box, ‘My Learning Space’. This is

also known as ‘Mahara’ E-Portfolio. This is your own personal learning space

where you can:

Make your own web pages

Collect your information

Share your ideas

Tell people about yourself

Create your CV

Share your work with your tutor

After logging onto Moodle, click on ‘My Learning Space’ and you will be taken to

the ‘Welcome to Mahara’ page.

If this is the first time you have used Mahara, click on ‘Institute MembershipConfirmation’ .

Click on the icons to:

1. Update your profile

2. Upload your files, images, video clips, podcasts, presentations, etc, and

create folders of files3. Create a CV (or resume)




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4. Keep a blog to reflect on your learning and experiences, which you can

share with your tutor or other students

Organise a Portfolio

You can also organise your own e- portfolio by bringing together your work (orartefacts) as a web page, simply by dragging and dropping your files, images,

web links, blogs, video clips, CV, achievements and goals, etc, into the page.

When you are ready, you can then create a view to share your portfolio with

your tutor, other students or even with potential universities or employers (see

below, ‘How to create a view’).

Share and Network

Mahara also provides a safe, education-focused social networking environment,where you can find friends and tutors at college and keep in touch through

messaging.

You can also create and join Groups based on shared interests or topics and join

discussion forums. Your tutor may create a Group that you will be a member of,

so that you can share and comment on the work of other students.

Creating a View in Mahara

What is a View?

A View is a page where you can add files, images, video clips, blog posts, CV and

many other things and then share the page with others. It is a way of presenting

your work to your tutor, other students or to potential universities or employers.

What can students use a View for?

You can create as many Views as you want and have different Views for different

‘audiences’. For example:

to display work from an assignment and share it with your tutor or with aGroup of students

to present your portfolio (could include plans, reflection on your work

using a blog, documents, images, video clips, PowerPoint, CV and record

of work experience)

to send a CV to an employer

to send examples of your coursework to a university




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Below is an example of a View, which brings together a collection of ‘artefacts’,including documents, images, embedded video link, text box, RSS feed showing

the weather forecast in Beijing, plans and blog for the trip:-

How to create a View:-

Once you have uploaded your files into Mahara and created your blogs, plans,

CVs, etc, you can then create a View:-

1. click on ‘My Portfolio’ in the top toolbar

2.

now click on ‘My Views’ 3. then ‘Create View’

You will then be taken to the editing page where you can edit the content and

layout.




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You can select different elements by clicking on the tabs at the top, eg files,

images and video. To add an element, you simply click on the icon and drag it

into the display box.

You can change the column layout and select a theme.

Once you are happy with your View, click on Next : edit title and description.

Decide on the title of this view, then give a brief description. (You have the

option of adding ‘tags’, which are searchable keywords.)

Once you have finished, click ‘Next’.

The final step is where you can choose who should see your View.

Remember, up to this point, only you will be able to see it. If you want to keep

your View private, click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page and your View will be

finished. You can go back later to add those who you want to see it.




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Editing Access – deciding who should see your View.

Firstly, you can decide if you want others to make comments on your View.

There are several options to let people see your View:

If you click ‘Add Public’, everyone on the SFX Mahara site will be able to

search for your View and access it.

If you click ‘Add friends’, all of your friends will be able to see it

You can add individuals by searching for them in the search bar or goingthrough the list of existing users.

You can also search for Groups, to allow access to all members of a

particular Group, eg one that your tutor may have created.

If you would like someone from outside SFX to see your View, then click

on ‘Public’ AND on ‘Add Secret URL’, then add the URL of your View. You

can then send the link to people you would like to see your View, by

copying and pasting the URL in an e-mail.

When you add a Group or individual, it will give you the option to set a

time when this View is available. You can ignore this to begin with.

Once you are happy, click on ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page and your View will

be complete.

To edit or delete this View or create another View, click on ‘My Views’ in the top

right had corner. Remember you can have as many Views as you like and put as

much or as little in a View as you want.

Note - if you edit a V iew, remember to save it by clicking on ‘done’ at the

bottom of the page.




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My Collections

If you would like to display a lot of information, you can link your views by

creating a Collection:-

click on the ‘My Collections’ tab at t he top of the page,then click on ‘New Collection’,

give a name to the Collection eg ‘Environment Coursework ‘ and add adescription.

Click on ‘Next edit collection views’.

Simply tick the boxes next to the Views you want to bring together in your

Collection as a single web page.

You can then click on ‘add users’ and choose who you want to see your collection,

in the same way as a view (see previous page) and then ‘save’.




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Your Collection will look like a single web page, but with different tabs for each

of the Views you selected.

Groups

The Groups tab is the area in which you can begin to make contact with other

Mahara users and search for friends and Groups of interest to you.

A Group is an online community comprising selected or invited Mahara users.

Groups can be used to develop and support learning and social activity in a social

networking environment.

Group membership types include:

Invite OnlyRequest Membership

Open Membership

Controlled Group (only tutors can create these)




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You may create as many Groups as you wish. To create a Group go to My Groups

and select Create Group. From the Group Membership type select preferred

Group from the drop down box.

Invite Only - To add members to an Invite Only Group, go to My Friends or Find

Friends and select a user. Click on the hyperlink of their name and, select the

name of the Group from the Invite to drop down box. This will send a notification

to the person to accept or decline your invitation.

Note - You may also receive invites to join Groups from students and tutors, or be

added to a Controlled Group by one of your tutors.

Open membership - If a Group has been set up as Open Membership, users can

simply click on Join this Group.

Request membership - If a Group has been set up as Request Membership,

users can click on Request to join this Group. Notification will go to the Group

owner to accept or decline the request.

You can search for Groups to join by clicking on Find Groups.

All Groups which you own will appear as a list on the top right of your screen

when you login. All Groups in which you are a member can be viewed at the My

Groups tab.

Forums

Groups have Forums through which you can communicate with tutors and

friends. Group owners are able to start new Forums and post and reply to topics.

Group members are able to post and reply to Topics.

Use Add Forum if you are a Group owner. Once you’ve created a Forum you can




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add Topics for discussion. To keep track of discussions in which you are

interested select Subscribe to Forum or Subscribe to Topic for individual

discussions.

Friends

Still in the Groups menu tab you can search for Friends to add to your list. Click on Find Friends.

You can search by first name, last name or preferred name if the user has

assigned one. Click Send Friend Request!, or Add to Friends if the user has

allowed that in the Friends control option.

For further guidance, please ask Jo or Danielle in the LRC .

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