"Portfolio" for students

"Portfolio" for students

by Matthias Giger -
Number of replies: 8
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I would like to give students a regular opportunity to write about different topics and collect their work (including multimedia elements) in one place over a longer period of time (typically at least two years).

This are the main features I would like to use in such an activity.

  • Everything is in one place and students can keep working on all parts of their document.
  • Students should be able to easily include multimedia resources in their document.
  • Some parts of the document need to be invisible to other users (not the teacher).
  • Students should be able to export their documents in format they can easily reimport or edit in another system (not necessarily Moodle).
  • It would be nice, if students could import pages or chapters the teacher has prepared for them (like basic structures for an essay, prompts, ...)

At first, I thought that Moodle Book could be an ideal solution because ...

  • Students can work on a single document and revisit parts of it.
  • With the Atto editor it is very simple to include all kinds of multimedia elements.
  • You can hide single pages of a book from other users.
  • Books can be exported as epub files.

However, digging a bit deeper, I ran into some concerns and issues:

  • In the Book FAQ it says: "Students are not supposed to be able to edit book; allowing it would be a serious security issue. The capability to edit book chapters is intended strictly for trusted users. Use a Wiki activity instead."
    So I wonder: Is security really such an issue? In my case only one student would have writing rights to a single book resource. As for wikis, they have a number of features which I think are not very suitable for the task at hand.
  • Exporting a book as an epub file leads to some errors when you try to open it externally (re-importing to Moodle works fine). Browser plugins for epub through errors.
    Rendering error, probably due to exporting problems
    This doesn't happen in a epub Reader software, but there the multimedia elements are not displayed. Or at least I've not found an application where this works.
  • As far as I know, there is no simple way to export a single page or chapter from a book and reimport it again. 
The most important things are:
  • Students can easily use the tool.
  • Students own the content, they can take it along in a readable format when they leave our school.
Any comments or suggestions how to implement such a scenario in Moodle are appreciated.
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In reply to Matthias Giger

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by Matthias Giger -
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When opening exported ebooks from Moodle, multimedia now works in Calibre 4.4.0.
Embedded content from other webpages is shown in the system browers.
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In reply to Matthias Giger

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by AL Rachels -
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Hi Matthias,

For years, before retiring from teaching, I used eXe. It's free, so they could have a copy of the software program at home. They would use eXe to make web pages about the whole school year. At the end of the school year, they would export their work with the option of doing it as a web site, single page, Epub, SCORM, or IMS.

See about eXe here

And a tutorial here

Average of ratings: Useful (2)
In reply to AL Rachels

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by AL Rachels -
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Oh, forgot to mention. When it was time to turn in their work at the end of the year, I would put all their working files, including a stand alone version of eXe, on a flash drive for them to take home. If they brought a brand-new, in-the-package flash drive, then no problem. If they brought in a "used" one I had to do a security scan on it first.
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Matthias Giger

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by Joost Elshoff -
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Is using Mahara as a portfolio solution an option? What you're describing kind of fits the Mahara project like a glove. And since it's being developed and maintained by Catalyst IT, one of the biggest contributors to Moodle, it's an open source and high quality solution.

Mahara boasts easy exports to HTML files for all evidence in a portfolio without the intervention of a site admin... and portfolios can be submitted to Assignment with the Mahara portfolio submission type.
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In reply to Joost Elshoff

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by Matthias Giger -
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Personally, I've used Mahara several times. But I think it is to complex for the students I teach.
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In reply to Matthias Giger

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by Joost Elshoff -
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Hi Matthias,

I can understand why in some circumstances, Mahara may seem too complex for students, but part of that lies in the interface of the version you're using. Mahara 19.10 offers a much easier way of adding content to a portfolio page and provides adequate ownership for the student + all the download possibilities you may require. Also, with LTI support, a link to a Mahara portfolio site can easily be added to any Moodle course.

Alternatively, you may want to look into this plugin from OpenUniversity: https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-mod_openstudio

It was presented at the MoodleMoot Global 2019 last week and offers similar functionality, but as a Moodle mod. From what I gathered, this plugin will eventually be downloadable from moodle.org/plugins.
Average of ratings: Useful (4)
In reply to Matthias Giger

Re: "Portfolio" for students

by Chris Kenniburg -
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We have elementary kids using Mahara. It takes a little instruction but they can use it.  Here are some links to examples of usage in our K-12 district.

The other tool we offer which is easier to use but not by much is Wordpress Multisite.  We have a system by which students can login and instantly create a website.  We call it "student sites" and they are often required to use this portal to display art work, writings, etc.  We currently have over 2000 Wordpress sites on this platform.  

The issue with Wordpress is that it isn't exactly private to the level you want it to be.  Wordpress is great and easy to use but it doesn't have the control you need.  Mahara gives you all the control and functionality you need.  We've looked far and wide and Mahara is the tool for the job with the features we needed when it comes to control and features for portfolios, reflection, and feedback for students.  

Average of ratings: Useful (5)