We are about to go live with our Moodle 1.9 instance for the upcoming Fall 08 semester. So far the experience has been great. I've been asked a question about ePortfolios. We'd like to pilot something that will integrate with Moodle (with possible rollout this spring or next fall). The two most promising look to be Mahara or Moodle ePortfolio (as seen on the Moodle Playpen). To be honest we're not 100% sure what we're looking for. My guess would be:
1.) Easily allow students to move content from Moodle to their portfolio
2.) Allow student to share their portfolio with instructors, peers, possible employers, etc
3.) Flexibility on what exactly can be in the portfolio (images, video, documents, etc)
4.) Allow for people to comment on items?
So, I come here wondering if anyone else has gone down the ePortfolio road with Moodle and what worked or didn't work. Recommendations?? Thanks!!
Hi Greg, San Francisco State has a good page on this:
http://academic.sfsu.edu/ar/at/otl/eport.php
The iLearn group is a very dynamic group of institutions (SFSU, Stanford, De Anza, CSU Monterey Bay, etc.) who have been discussing this issue in depth for a few years.
Also, Merlot has some good information:
http://eportfolio.merlot.org/
http://academic.sfsu.edu/ar/at/otl/eport.php
The iLearn group is a very dynamic group of institutions (SFSU, Stanford, De Anza, CSU Monterey Bay, etc.) who have been discussing this issue in depth for a few years.
Also, Merlot has some good information:
http://eportfolio.merlot.org/
My recommendation is to use something external to moodle (like Mahara). Especially with the upcoming release of the Portfolio API in moodle 2.0, this will allow for better integration with external Portfolio's
The reason's for external for me include:
External to moodle with Integration
The reason's for external for me include:
- When moodle is reset each year, what happens to portfolio data. When this is external I don't worry about this.
- Do you want your portfolio to allow for access from users who are not moodle users (i.e. parents, colleagues, future employers, etc)
- One of the lead developers of Mahara is also the lead on the moodle Portfolio API. This is not at all suggesting that Mahara will work best with this as the API is open to all who wish to use it. It does whoever suggest the two will work well right off the bat
- Mahara is government funded. this means it is in good hands and won't disappear in a hurry
- It is being built from the ground up and specialized as a Portfolio. Let moodle do what moodle does best and Mahara do its thing.
- Here is an example of how it can also be used for student activity. Each project link is a students portfolio. This live example now has me sold on this app
External to moodle with Integration
- Mahara - come on, you didn't see that coming.
- ELGG portfolio - An external system with a block for moodle integration
- Open University's MyStuff
- Exabis e-portfolio
- SPDC Porfolio - lot of work has gone into this one by Matt Oquist
- Simple Portfolio - as the name suggests, a simplistic but effective portfolio solution. A little outdated now
Thanks!! I didn't even think about a built-in Moodle ePortfolio having issues with non campppus users (as they wouldn't have an acocunt). And also the point about Mahara (or any external system) being able to keep it's data even as Moodle is refreshed semester after semester/year after year. Think we'll start looking in that direction... As I mentioned, we're in the exreme early stages for the ePortfolio project, just now beginning to hash out what we're looking for it to do. Going to let this new Fall 08 semester get started (our first full production Moodle), before delving too much into this.
On a side note, awesome blog (Moodleman).......
On a side note, awesome blog (Moodleman).......
any thanks for the kind words. I hope the info was useful. 
I would just like to re-enforce the point that it is sensible to separate your VLE/CMS/LMS (Moodle) - which contains courses created and managed by the institution for use with particular classes of students - from your ePortfolio - which lets the students manage personal repositories of content for the whole of their educational career.
Of course, it is also sensible for the two to be closely integrated.
Of course, it is also sensible for the two to be closely integrated.
We've been doing a lot of work with Mahara (including sponsoring some development). We really like it.
It is very facebook like though. The students own their own data and you don't get to see it. I know some colleges have been shocked and horrified by this, so you might want to think about that. The performance is fantastic (so far) and the Moodle integration is getting very good and will get a lot better.
The only other one I have experience of is MyStuff. It's actually designed as a stand alone platform with a "thin" integration layer, so it doesn't really feel like a Moodle module. We were originally very interested and it has some cool features, but we came unstuck with performance issues and the ease by which it could be tailored for our own needs (the underlying design and technology is complex).
It is very facebook like though. The students own their own data and you don't get to see it. I know some colleges have been shocked and horrified by this, so you might want to think about that. The performance is fantastic (so far) and the Moodle integration is getting very good and will get a lot better.
The only other one I have experience of is MyStuff. It's actually designed as a stand alone platform with a "thin" integration layer, so it doesn't really feel like a Moodle module. We were originally very interested and it has some cool features, but we came unstuck with performance issues and the ease by which it could be tailored for our own needs (the underlying design and technology is complex).