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Mahara Project

Portfolios for learning and more brought to you by the Mahara team at Catalyst IT. Host Kristina Hoeppner talks with portfolio practitioners, researchers, learning designers, students, and others about their portfolio story.

  1. 5d ago

    Doris Tam & Evonne Cheung: Behind the curtain of Mahara 26.04

    Developer Doris Tam, BE, and Senior Visual Designer Evonne Cheung, BDes, from Catalyst IT talk about the redesign of Mahara that went live at the end of April 2026. The redesign marks a milestone in the almost 20-year history of the Mahara project. It overhauled the look and feel of Mahara entirely, aligning it to modern principles of design-led and responsive web design. This makes it easier for portfolio creators to use and interact with. Learn about some of the thinking and the process that went into this release as we pull back the curtain from the software development lifecycle that is typically hidden. Resources Open Source AcademySummer of TechMahara UX review 2024: WireframesMahara 26.04 highlightsMahara demo siteSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    25 min

  2. Jun 2

    Tour de tip: 31 encouraging tips for portfolio authors

    Host Kristina Hoeppner looks back at the advice that the learning designers, faculty, and students from the past year have for learners who create portfolios. Their advice can be put into five different categories: Authenticity and identityEmbracing creativity and riskPurpose and audienceReflection and growthOwnership and prideInterviews in alphabetical order: Amy Cicchino and Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesAmy Cicchino, McKenna Slaughter, Nghi Chau: Students support students in creating portfoliosAntje Koenen: Engage with your students as partners through a portfolioChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsCordula Schwiderski, Hannah Brodel, Martina Osterrieder, Martin Sticht: Planning and decision making guide for portfoliosDavid Hicks: The portfolio tells the story of growthDebbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolioJack Rice: The portfolio as the space for growth in between stimulus and responseJaye Ryan: Showcase yourself through your portfolioLindsay Richardson: Portfolios in large courses with a side of AIMarie 'Bernie' Fisher: Reflecting on portfolio practiceMegan Mize: Ramping up to support 18,000 students with portfoliosMike Altieri: Use reflection bot Riff for deeper and more meaningful portfolio reflectionMpho-Entle Modise and Norm Vaughan: The portfolio as enabler of changePablo Avila: Portfolios at scale at LaGuardia Community CollegeRob Lowney: Create collaborative portfolios to surface group learningSoropepeli Ramacake: Know, grow, and show through your portfolioSue Schibeci: Portfolios in work-integrated learning experiencesTessa Forshaw and Rich Braden: Unleash your innovation and creativity with a portfolioVickel Narayan: Portfolios in the age of AI: A rethink to the approach?Yvonne Moore and James Pearce: Skills portfolios encourage continued reflectionSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    24 min
  3. Rob Lowney: Create collaborative portfolios to surface group learning

    May 19

    Rob Lowney: Create collaborative portfolios to surface group learning

    Dr Rob Lowney, SCMALT, SFHEA, SFSEDA, is a Senior Learning Technologist in the Teaching and Enhancement Unit at Dublin City University in Ireland. He's been working with digital technologies for many years and supports students and staff at DCU in their work with them. Rob is also active in the Mahara and Moodle communities because DCU contributes knowledge and features that benefit everyone. Rob talks about the use of group portfolios at DCU as the university has been sponsoring an update to Mahara and the Mahara assignment submission plugin for Moodle to streamline the submission of group portfolios and administer the managing of groups for submission purposes. He also discusses how students and staff are supported on their portfolio journey at DCU. Resources MoodleMunchDCU's reflective practice guide and resourcesDCU's transversal skills frameworkDCU portfolio help, including student examplesLowney, R. (2025, June 10). Enhancing engagement with group portfolio submissions. Mahara Hui Online, Online.Scully, D., O’Leary, M., & Brown, M. (2018). The learning portfolio in higher education—A game of snakes and ladders. Dublin City University, Centre for Assessment Research, Policy & Practice in Education (CARPE) and National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL).Donaldson, L. (Ed.). (2018). Eportfolio based assessment—Inspiring exploration and supporting evaluation for practitioners. Dublin City University, National Institute for Digital Learning, Dublin City University.Donaldson, L. (Ed.). (2021). Exemplars of DCU best practice with eportfolio based assessment. Dublin City University, National Institute for Digital Learning.Upcoming events EdTech Conference, 3-4 June 2026AAEEBL Annual Meeting, 10-12 June 2026AAEEBL Symposium, 16-17 June 2026Catalyst Moodle Community Day, 16 June 2026Upcoming Mahara eventsRelated DCU episodes Lisa Donaldson: From 0 to 6,000 in six weeksOrna Farrell: Supporting learners and lecturers alike in their portfolio journeyMark Brady: Journal regularly for profound insightSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    42 min
  4. Special: Network with community members

    May 5

    Special: Network with community members

    Take out your planner or open your digital calendar and get ready to enter the upcoming events that give you the opportunity to chat with other portfolio practitioners because you don't want to miss any of them. There's a mix of Mahara focused events and wider portfolio community events and a mix of free and paid-for events. Here they are in chronological order: May 2026 6, 7, and 12 May: Unveiling Mahara 26.04: A fresh look and exciting new features13 May: Mahara Ask Me Anything May 202614 May: Mahara Hui Schweiz19 May: Mahara 26.04: Ein neues Erscheinungsbild und aufregende neue Funktionen20 May: Building digital resilience through ePortfolios: Lessons for the future26 May: PARE - Plan, Act, Reflect, and ePortfolioJune 2026 10-12 June: AAEEBL Annual Meeting16-17 June: AAEEBL Symposium18 June: Mahara Ask Me Anything June 2026September 2026 23-24 September: Eportfolio Forum - subscribe to updates for more information Resources Podcast episode 'Mpho-Entle Modise & Norm Vaughan: The portfolio as enabler of change'Mahara 26.04 highlightsSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    13 min
  5. Pablo Avila: Portfolios at scale at LaGuardia Community College

    Apr 21

    Pablo Avila: Portfolios at scale at LaGuardia Community College

    Pablo Avila, MA, is the Associate Director of The Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College (City University of New York). He's been creating portfolios and supporting students and faculty with their own and the strategic implementation of portfolios at LaGuardia since 2008. In this episode, Pablo talks about his own portfolio journey, how it influenced his work with portfolios, and how students and faculty at LaGuardia are supported in their portfolio work. References Pablo's websiteePortfolios at LaGuardiaHIPs in the StatesAAC&U list of high-impact practicesAAEEBLEynon, B., & Gambino, L. M. (2017). High-impact ePortfolio practice: A catalyst for student, faculty, and institutional learning. Routledge.Eynon, B., & Gambino, L. M. (2018). Catalyst in action. Routledge.Taxonomy of Reflective InquiryAAC&U VALUE rubricsRiffAAEEBL webinar series on artificial intelligenceAAEEBL Annual Meeting and Symposium 2026 Related episodesAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesLeticia Britos Cavagnaro: Make learning visibleSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    43 min
  6. Amy Cicchino, McKenna Slaughter, Nghi Chau: Students support students in creating portfolios

    Apr 7

    Amy Cicchino, McKenna Slaughter, Nghi Chau: Students support students in creating portfolios

    Associate Prof Dr Amy Cicchino, the Director of the Writing Center at the University of Central Florida, is back for another interview. This time it's all about student support and the student perspective. Two of her students, McKenna Slaughter, BA, and Nghi Chau, join her to talk about their experiences creating portfolios themselves in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and as Graduate Assistant and Undergraduate Peer Tutor respectively in the UCF Writing Center. Resources AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfoliosAAEEBL Field Guide to ePortfoliosWatson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T. L., Penny Light, T., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The eleventh High Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65–69.Related episodes Amy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesAmy Cicchino, Megan Mize, Sarah Zurhellen: Visibility of labourDiKuLe: Planning and decision making guide for portfoliosDebbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolioChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsMario A. Peraza: Use AI to help curate your digital presenceSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    37 min
  7. Mpho-Entle Modise & Norm Vaughan: The portfolio as enabler of change

    Mar 24

    Mpho-Entle Modise & Norm Vaughan: The portfolio as enabler of change

    Associate Prof Dr Mpho-Entle Modise and Prof Dr Norm Vaughan are the editors of the book 'Digital resilience of ePortfolios during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future', which was published in 2025 and brought together 85 authors from around the world who shared their diverse portfolio stories. In this episode, Mpho-Entle and Norm share highlights from this publishing experience and themes from the book. Mpho-Entle teaches in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies in the College of Education at the University of South Africa. She has classes of upwards of 12,000 students and incorporates portfolios into each of her classes. Norm has been teaching with portfolios in the Bachelor of Education programme at Mount Royal University in Alberta, Canada, since 1996. He's passionate about portfolios and considers them the backbone of the programme. Resources Mpho-Entle's public portfolioNorm's public portfolioModise, M.-E., & Vaughan, N. (2024). ePortfolios: A 360-degree approach to assessment in teacher education. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 50(4), 1–18.University of Maryland Global CampusCommonwealth of Learning Mentorship ProgrammeMeet the editors Join the AAEEBL and FLANZ webinar 'Building digital resilience through ePortfolios: Lessons for the future' on 19/20 May 2026. Related episodes Vickel Narayan: Portfolios in the age of AI: A rethink to the approach?Soropepeli Ramacake: Know, grow, and show through your portfolioAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionBob Reuter: Externalise your thinking with portfoliosSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    38 min
  8. Vickel Narayan: Portfolios in the age of AI: A rethink to the approach?

    Mar 10

    Vickel Narayan: Portfolios in the age of AI: A rethink to the approach?

    Dr Vickel Narayan is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Learning in the Institute of Education at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand. He's been working with portfolios for nearly two decades at various institutions of higher and tertiary education in Aotearoa and Australia. Vickel shares his thoughts around the use of artificial intelligence, in particular large language models, in education and portfolio practice. He highlights AI use to support student ownership and giving students tools on hand to create multimodal content more easily than they'd been able to do otherwise. Resources Vickel's Massey University pageNarayan, V. (2017). The mobilised learner: Heutagogy and mobile social media—Murdoch University [Doctoral Thesis, Murdoch University].Massey University graduate profileUDL guidelinesKorowai Mokopuna programmeWebinar series on portfolios and AI, organised by AAEEBLEPEPLA workshop: ePortfolio Evolution Powered by Language AnalysisRelated episodes Mandia Mentis & Wendy Holley-Boen: Bringing the personal to the professionalAllison Miller: The portfolio is a processMichael Sankey: The portfolio as the place of representation for emerging professionalsMike Altieri: Use reflection bot Riff for deeper and more meaningful portfolio reflectionSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios. Production information Production: Catalyst IT Host: Kristina Hoeppner Artwork: Evonne Cheung Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

    48 min
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About

Portfolios for learning and more brought to you by the Mahara team at Catalyst IT. Host Kristina Hoeppner talks with portfolio practitioners, researchers, learning designers, students, and others about their portfolio story.

Information

  • Creator
    Mahara Project
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    97
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Catalyst IT Limited
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    Create. Share. Engage.