meet the mahara user group
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Linda Anstendig, Martina Blackwood, Garrett Dell, Samantha Egan, Beth Gordon Klingner, Kristina D.C. Hoeppner, Keith Landa and Ellen Marie Murphy at the AAEEBL 2012 Annual ePortfolio Conference about the Mahara User Group on July 17, 2012.TRANSCRIPT
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 [email protected]
• Catalyst IT: Kristina Hoeppner [email protected]
• Empire State: Ellen Marie Murphy [email protected]
• Pace University: • Linda Anstendig: [email protected] • Martina Blackwood: [email protected] • Samantha Egan: [email protected] • Beth Gordon Klingner: [email protected]
• Purchase: Keith Landa [email protected]
Questions?