Mahara ePortfolio is approved for use by request only. USask currently has limited student licenses to Mahara.
Please contact gmctl@usask.ca to discuss your use case to ensure Mahara is the right tool for your context and request access.

What is Mahara?

Mahara ePortfolio is a web-based tool that programs and courses can use to enable learners to digitally document evidence of their learning and growth. Since it is not typically connected to one course, this allows learners to create portfolios that span entire programs.

What is the purpose of Mahara?

With Mahara, learners can:
  • showcase and provide evidence of their learning,
  • reflect on their learning journey and growth while connecting the reflections to evidence,
  • easily share their portfolios with others, including those outside of USask, and
  • document their learning from a specific course, multiple courses, or even their entire program.

Why use Mahara?

Use Mahara ePortfolio to have students document their learning and growth in a structured way on a USask-supported platform. Mahara works best when the instructor provides a template for students to use to build their portfolio. This streamlines the process for both instructors and learners. The template should be structured in a way that encourages learners to provide evidence of the specific learning outcomes/competencies developed within your program.

You should also use Mahara when you want learners to easily share their ePortfolio with individuals (e.g., potential employers, community partners, preceptors) without USask accounts.

Learning Technology Ecosystem (LTE) Principles

Mahara most directly address these LTE goals:

Designed for reflection and growth - Learning is refined and extended through prompted and supported opportunities to focus on understanding and next steps.  

Designed for student control and ownership of learning - Learners create and control spaces for learning, understanding and retaining ownership, and purposefully choosing how and when they share.

Best Practices

DO

DON'T

 Create a template portfolio for your learners to copy and edit.

 Don't use Mahara for reflecting on a brief or single activity. It should be used to reflect on several experiences. In simple cases, especially when the instructor is the only audience, a Canvas assignment would be more efficient.

 Align the use of the portfolio with specific learning outcomes or competencies. Consult with GMCTL to determine if creating a SmartEvidence framework may work well in your context.

 Don't ask learners to use Mahara without planning for sufficient time for them to learn how to use it.

 Use to document learning across multiple courses or a program.

 Don't ask learners to use Mahara without providing sufficient guidance and structure (e.g., a template).

 Since it is easy to share the portfolios, structure your use of Mahara for students to receive feedback from multiple sources (e.g., peers, instructors, community partners).

Support for Mahara

Technical Support

(Why isn't this working?)

USask IT supported

Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning Supported

Training Support

(How do I learn to use this tool?)

USask IT supported

Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning Supported 
  • For support in effective use and template creation, contact gmctl@usask.ca

Teaching Support

(How do I teach with this tool?)

Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning Supported
  • For support in effective use and template creation, contact gmctl@usask.ca

Tool Evaluation

Technologies are evaluated based on their alignment with the Learning Technologies Ecosystem Principles.  Click to see explanations of each principle and a justification of the rating. You can also view a complete blank rubric to see more details or read about the assessment process.

Learning must be found easily at any time, and all learners and teachers have equitable access, regardless of culture, language, ability etc. 
More Information

Rating:

  • Accessibility standards:
    • Mahara is working to achieve WCAG 2.1 standards. Certain use cases are currently fully compliant.

  • Cost of use for USask students:
    • Licenses are provided by USask. No cost for students.

  • Platform/device:
    • Works best on a desktop web browser. Can be used on a mobile browser or the Mahara Mobile app.

  • Offline Access:
    • Mahara Mobile app can be used offline during the collection process and only needs an internet connection when uploading learning evidence to your Mahara site.

Learning is a process of meaning-making, constructed through learning with others, and as a part of an intentional, deliberate system within a course and across experiences.
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Rating:

  • Collaboration:
    • Group portfolios can be created and edited by multiple students.
  • Sharing:
    • Designed to allow easy sharing within and outside of USask.

Learning is refined and extended through prompted and supported opportunities to focus on understanding and next steps.
More Information

Rating:

  • Reflection and revision:
    • Designed to support student reflection on learning. Others can leave comments and annotations on pages and artifacts. Saving pages overwrites previous versions of the page, so copies would need to be created if retaining the previous versions is important. Copying a portfolio or page is simple.

Learning is most effective when systems are designed to help learners find, create, and/or repurpose significant content for the value of themselves and others.
More Information

Rating:

  • Creating:
    • Portfolio pages can embed a wide variety of documents and web content. This allows learners to mix together all of their learning artifacts.
  • File format:
    • Portfolios can be exported and re-imported into another Mahara location (i.e., external to USask). This has limited functionality.

Learners create and control spaces for learning, understanding and retaining ownership, and purposefully choosing how and when they share.
More Information

Rating:

  • Archiving, saving, and exporting data:
    • Portfolios can be exported and re-imported into another Mahara location (i.e., external to USask). This has limited functionality.
  • Data privacy and ownership:
    • Users maintain ownership and copyright of their intellectual property and data. Users choose what is shared and with whom.
  • Sign Up/Sign In:
    • Single Sign On (SSO) is enabled; therefore, access is provided through standard NSID and password.
  • Customization:
    • Through the use of template portfolios, Mahara can be customized to suit the specific learning context.

Learners need to work in a system that is fluid and requires a minimum number of steps in systems that are intuitive and integrated.
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Rating:

  • Interface:

    • There are several options within Mahara which can be overwhelming; however, the core tools that instructors and learners will use are easy to learn and use.

  • Additional Downloads:

    • No additional downloads are required.

  • Functionality:

    • Mahara is usable on a mobile browser, but the experience is designed for desktop. There is a Mahara mobile app, which could be useful for learners capturing evidence (e.g., photos) while on the go.

Learners exist in accessible networks, and connect to the experiences, concepts, people, and ideas that they need.
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Rating:

  • Scale:
    • The group function is typically used to identify an entire class list of learners, but it could be further divided into smaller sub-groups.

  • Flexibility of Media:
    • Mahara allows users to share various types of content; however, comments and annotations are text-based.

  • Engagement:
    • Mahara allows for easy sharing and commenting between learners, instructors, and other USask users. Sharing is easy with external partners, but not commenting.

Learning and feedback are iterative, and assessment comes from multiple sources, including self, peers, teachers, and outside experts.
More Information

Rating:

  • Feedback:
    • Feedback through written comments is easy to request, provide, and review throughout pages and portfolios. Feedback can occur many times during the learning and assessment processes. Comments from outside experts cannot occur directly on Mahara, but they can view the pages and portfolios. 
  • Engagement:
    • Feedback/comments has a learning curve and is difficult to view or access in one place; however, the functionality exists and will be effective in most use cases. As the class size scales, it will become more difficult.