The green cubes you see in the visual above are Mahara Sites, while the orange spheres are Moodle sites.

The locus of control is firmly held by the training provider who has their own SSO Mahoodle set-up.   Anyone wishing to access a Hub site HAS TO access them via their own Moodle sign on.  By locating the network server link in a provider's Moodle "Staffroom", we give the provider themselves the control over who can access their Network's own Moodle.

The best route to understanding the types of activity which take place in the Network Hubs is probably to visit one of them and click on a few of the links? TDM have thus far established these networks:

• http://bctg-online.org.uk (for the Black Country Training Group)
• http://spa-online.org.uk  (for the Staffordshire Provider's Association) and
• http://thetrainingprovidercollege.com (for the Devon and Cornwall Training Provider Network)

The central Mahara site is found here:

• http://wbl-online.org.uk 

and exists for public WBL community collaboration on a national basis (covering sector-specific interests).... while the Moodle hub-sites exist for active content development, distance training and community collaboration amongst people who know each other personally on a REGIONAL basis.

The diagram is slightly misleading in that it implies that the central Mahara Hub is signed onto from the central Moodle Hubs... where what really happens is that the sign on the the Central Mahara is set up on each of the providers' own sites.  (The diagram just looked better this way).

We have developed an excellent process for WBL tracking which can be conducted within Mahara but it is a difficult one to sell to many of the WBL providers we serve.

Significant numbers of the training providers in this sector are:

1. Wooed by "Endorsements" which accrediting bodies have started to give to certain proprietary e-assessment platforms (sometimes ones in which the accrediting body themselves have a vested interest)

2. Not of the view that it is their responsibility to provide learning.  They very often see themselves as responsible for accrediting learning and often not as responsible for the delivery of learning.   Mahara and Moodle, therefore, are not always seen as useful tools for the sector.

TDM, of course, strongly object to both of these perceptions:

• TDM believe work-based learners have the right to evidence their learning to their provider by use of an e-portfolio tool which is personalisable, portable and owned by themselves.  Most e-Assessment tools sold to the WBL sector do not provide this.
• TDM believe that the acccrediting bodies' External Verifiers have the duty to accredit any reasonable assessment process which gives them access to the information they need in an eaily accessible way.  USB sticks, paper-based arch-lever files and the Mahara e-Portfolio can all be used to provide this.   
• TDM believe that it is important for providers to take responsibility for the structuring and delivery of work-based learning.,,,  not just for the assessment of work-based competencies.   

Frankly, this paradigm shift is an easier one to sell to the LSC and the Association of Learning Providers..... but it is a difficult one to sell to our client market themselves.  TDM, notwithstanding, are driven by our educational ideals and we are trying hard to move the mountains.  We hope to be able to report Mahara adoption success stories in the near future.

TDM, ourselves, have recently accessed ESF-funding for the delivery of Management NVQ4s and we are selling the qualifications to WBL providers themselves in order to model the way Mahara can be used for WBL delivery and assessment.  This, we hope, will be a major support in encouraging adoption and we will soon write another view in http://mahara.org which explains how we are achieving this.