Mahara the one stop storage space

On reflection of the residential school I attended back in February, I realise how scared and confused I was when faced with the task of developing my e-portfolio in Mahara. I was afraid that I may not be able to remember how to do all of the steps involved, and the fact that this was going to be an assessable tool I was developing. I needed to get my head around it and make sure I got it right so I could focus on the important parts, such as adding relevant information to Mahara and my professional blog, which is now embedded within my Mahara portfolio. I believe this tool to be one of great importance not only to myself, but for my future students within the secondary classroom. This style of tool will allow students to create their own resume, build groups of varying interests, and store work they have developed over time. I see Mahara as a single storage place for all of your important documents, files, videos, and links from various sources, allowing you to access them at anytime with the click of a button. It gives you the flexibility to create different views, allowing you to be selective in what information is accessible, by whom and even how long it is accessible for. This ICT could be used within many classroom settings and provides a way of performing a collaborative tasks amongst students. Students could use Mahara to develop and store material they are gathering for a project on biographies within an English class, using Mahara as a way of designing their own biography. Students could develop their biography through a blog and embed it into Mahara, creating a group that can access and view each blog. They can use the chat tool within the program to discuss any ideas, issues or problems they may have with their project/biography. This activity was designed with the Kearsley and Shneidermans Engagement theory in mind. Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) state that " the fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks... [and] ... is intended to be a conceptual framework for technology based learning and teaching." The ideas for use in a classroom setting are endless, and once again I am excited at the prospect of using this tool within my classes in the future. Houghton and Sheehan (200) believe one of the characteristics of the knowledge economy is that "Learning involves both education and learning-by-doing, learning-by-using and learning-by-interacting." Mahara is a fantastic tool to ensure that schools and students are keeping with the times and utilising available technology in this knowledge economy with which we now live.

Reference List

Aldred, S. (2010). EDED20491 - ICTs for learning design: Study guide. Rockhampton, Qld: CQUniversity Australia.

Houghton, J., & Sheehan, P. (2000). A primer on the knowledge economy. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-course, EDED20491 ICTs for learning design, http://e-courses.cqu.edu.au.

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for tehnology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-course, EDED20491 ICTs for learning design, http://e-courses.cqu.edu.au.