26 March 2009, 17:58

Thanks Alison - yes, the feedback across such a wide range of schools would be most valuable!

07 April 2009, 9:19

I am trying out Mahara for a High School/Middle School in California.

One thing that would be nice is the ability to create content while making a view.

The way work flow seems right now is that a user clicks to create a blog. Then clicks to create a post. Then creates a public view with that post.

If a user goes straight to view and wants to add a blog, the person has no blogs, and then has to go out and make the blog.

The interface might block my students from diving in.

I am looking for Mahara mainly for social networking aspects. The new Elgg 1.5 has some great features (an in house twitter style board). I know Mahara is first and foremost an e-portfolio tool, so the design should focus on that aspect, however a little cross pollination never hurt. 

07 April 2009, 17:52

Hi - thanks for that.

The workflow for creating views is an interesting issue. We've done some work that means it'll be possible to upload files directly into a view at some point, though how exactly you allow people to create blogs and posts while creating a view would need quite some thought. Probably some kind of wizard approach where the user can jump away to create the blog, then be brought back.

 Regarding social networking - yes, sure, you pretty much have our opinion in a nutshell

29 April 2009, 14:49

Hi Nigel,

I'm a bit late with my response but will still point out a view issues. As you migt know I've been struggling with Heinz through the very first version 2 years ago for the MOSEP project. MAHARA has improved a lot since then and is a lot more stable now! I've been working with 16-18 years students for 2 years now and what they do not like at all is the fact that they cannot customize the design of their portfolios with different templates or own designs. As an ePortfolio should reflect the student's peersonality I think this is an important factor.

Most issues Sonia has mentioned so very detailed I can only agree to , esp. the backup function you've been working on  has been a major issue esp for teachers though!

Today we very struggling with the problem that you can link to an online picture by inserting the URL - we wanted to do this also inblog entries - but you can only do this in a text blog you insert into a view and then switch to large view...   don't understand why this should not be possible in the editor of a blog entry too.. ( it works in moodle in all editors though..)

Otherways we are quite happy with the features and with your great work! Thanks a lot!

Oh yes.. there is one more wish on my list:  the possibility to tick all messages, etc  to delete.. not only one page.... there is so much going on that I just crossread and would like to delete with one click ;-)

Just tried the picture function and here it works!

29 April 2009, 17:54

Hi Sigi - thanks for this. The ability to theme views has been a feature request for a while, hopefully it can be done one day . A lot of your other points are usability things, which I know we will improve on over time - maybe not in the usability sprint, but definitely in time. Thanks again!

13 September 2009, 11:28

Hi Nigel,

I was really interested to find this group/forum.  We introduced Mahara to our school (11-16) at the beginning of June but I'm really only starting to use it now.  The kids seem to love it so far.  I have one problem though which is probably just my stupidity - in my view I want a text box but I can only seem to get the heading to appear.  What am I doing wrong?

The other thing that is annoying as a complete beginner.  I want to add my pupils to my groups but I seem to need to 'invite' them one by one and wait on them agreeing.  Can I not subscribe them myself?

13 September 2009, 16:20

Dolina,

I suppose you could through your admin account login as the users and do it that way. That would require you to have to log in to each one then join.

Just an idea.

tim 

13 September 2009, 23:34

Hi - not sure about the textbox issue - when you drag a textbox on, you should be able to set a title, and see a little WYSIWYG editor to put your content in. Are you seeing that?

The other one - if you make a "controlled" group (otherwise known as course group), then you can add and remove users yourself. I think you should be able to edit your group and change it to be a controlled group 

14 September 2009, 11:51

Thanks Nigel,

I can see the WYSIWYG box and I can type in the messages fine but when I click Save or Done it does not appear on the view.  It seems to vanish.  Initially this happened with the blogs but then I realised it didn't appear until I posted the first message so that solved the issue there but still can't see what is going wrong with text boxes.

14 September 2009, 17:16

That is most strange. Is your site available publicly, so I could register and have a quick look at it? What version of Mahara, and what browser are you using?