20 July 2009, 19:23

Hi there.  I have spent a few days reviewing Mahara, and have a few queries.

Apologies if these questions have already been answered elsewhere in another forum.

•  Is there a way to keep a register is academic marks/assessment?  I could use a blog, but I can't see a way to keep that information separate and to separate off the results into another field.
• With My Skills and My Goals - can these be changed to have multiple skill/goal records, rather just the one big text box?
• Is there an action plan feature, with due dates etc?
• Is there a way to export a resume, say to PDF?
• Is there a visitors log feature, so students can see who is visiting their site?

Thanks for your help with this.

Cheers
Rebecca

21 July 2009, 1:31

• Not included with the core. You'd probably have to develop a plugin for it. Mahara's more focused on presentation portfolios rather than assessment ones at the moment
• This could potentially be done by hacking on the code for the resume plugin
• Nope, not included - again, a plugin could be developed
• Nope, not at the moment
• Nope

21 July 2009, 5:01

Hello Rebecca,

With regard to your first question, you may find useful to read the following information about the integration Mahara-Moodle, that may solve partly that functionality:

http://wiki.mahara.org/Roadmap/Moodle_Mahara_Integration

Your request is quite common, by the way, and I have had many lecturers asking for a way of marking their students as quickly as posible, in particular for vocational qualifications. However, we have to bear in mind that Mahara is not a LMS or VLE , but a learner-based online portfolio. There would meaningless to implement a gradebook in Mahara, since this last one is not an e-assessment tool strictly speaking, but  a platform that allows learners to organize their work and submit it for assessment. This last one can be very  done by submitting students' views to Moodle.

Regards

16 August 2009, 23:46

Not at all!  They were just my sticking points.  Thanks for your responses.

Another sticking point, however, is the inability to create multipage views.  I can see how I can create links inside a text box to other views - but this becomes quite a maintenance nightmare if using these links to make a navigation menu.  Everytime it is updated it will need to be copied across to multiple views.

Can you suggest any other way to do this?

Cheers
Rebecca

17 August 2009, 0:45

Hi Rebecca,

 I just use a blog fas a menu for linking other pages. Include the links as single line blog posts, then just drag the blog into each view. When you add extra pages you just add another link in the blog and add it to the new page. This is an example - see (blog) menu on the left

Regards, Ian 

17 August 2009, 5:29

Hi Ian,

cool idea to create the menu this way. I like it :-)

18 August 2009, 22:27

Hi Ian,

I also like the way you have embedded a slideshow and the pdf document into the views using a text box.  Great ideas  Thank you for sharing them as well!

Hasmeeta

19 August 2009, 1:16

Thanks Hasmeeta,

 What I like most about mahara is there is still room to be creative. I discover new things you can do all the time. Students find the interface a challenge and while some things can be made better, they will always have to think and work out clever ways of doing things. I read a post the other day that 'Mahara is not a Learning Management System' and I think that is the most important thing the Mahara community needs to  be true to. ePortfolios are for individuals and as such will always be a source of new ideas.

All the best, Ian

25 August 2009, 21:26

Hi Ian

This is a great idea, thanks for the suggestion. 

Back on the multipage issue though, this means I still need to create a separate view per page?  And each view has the common blog inside it?

Rebecca

25 August 2009, 23:38

Hi Rebecca,

 whether it is a view (in Mahara), wiki or web page, if you want new pages, you are stuck to some extent with creating new ones. Our mindset is still locked to A4 I think. I read a terrific article ' The prospects of Microsoft Word in the wiki-based world' on ars technica blog that really made me think. How we present information and indeed communicate is still very linear, very A4. A view in Mahara is a vacant Space, how we use it is up to us. Now you have got me wanting to try different things...

Cheers, Ian