Presentation given at AAEEBL on the adoption of Mahara by Plymouth State University.

1. Can an ePortfolio catch fire: Implementing a Campus Wide use of ePortfolios with Mahara Ellen Marie Murphy, Plymouth State University

2. Plymouth State University is a comprehensive university with approx. 7,000 students. Our major programs are education, business, fine arts, and meteorology.

3. A bit of history Prior to Jan. 2010, Plymouth had an ePortfolioprimarily for the education students. It was chosen specifically for the purpose of meeting accreditation. It was institutionally focused. Students needed to purchase a yearly license to use the program, and so the years they did not need it they did not pay for it. Plymouth piloted that system for 5 years and no one was happy with it. Institutional and Program Specific Costly Not intuitive Low buy-in

4. What Plymouth wanted: A workspace and support for teaching and learning Authentic assessment Integrated learning To showcase the “whole person” Career development User-centered

5. In January of this year (2010) Plymouth rolled out Mahara. At the request of the Provost it was rolled out as a “from the ground up” approach—that is no official announcement was made. No official announcement has been made to this date, but the roll-out has been extremely successful!

6. Over 600 users Over 30 groups Lot and lots of templates

7. Views Access Artifacts Hiking Club Grad schools Public Professor A Advisor Prospective Employer Psychology Class

8. Students’ use of Mahara: Teaching and LearningCapstone ProjectTeacher CertificationCourse WorkCareer Preparation Service LearningInternshipsTravel AbroadLanguage Acquisition(

9. Authentic Assessment Evidence-based Learning

10. Other uses of Mahara at Plymouth: Teaching and Learning Promotion and Tenure Maintaining lifelong connections with alum Performance Evaluations Internal and external collaboration

11. These are just three examples of the groups that have been formed in Mahara. Groups allow for collaboration and social networking.

12. K -20 NH ePortfolio In NH all K-12 students are required to have an eportfolio. A number of school districts have chosen Mahara as their system, and have formed a statewide consortium which includes Higher Ed. On Oct 4th of this year PSU is hosting our first annual focus on eportfolio day. K-12 representatives will be here to show us how they are using Mahara with their students, and we will answer questions about admissions. Mahara has an export feature that will allow students to take their eportfolios with them. In NH we will be able to offer K – life portfolios.

13. Features Open Source Multiple portfolio presentations (views) including professional Comprehensive Blogging tools Allows for the creation of Templates Social networking component RSS File repository Import/Export Tagging Multiple access levels Student Centered (User Centered)

14. Would you want to own me?