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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

    Enikö Parrag: Portfolios create a learning culture

    Dipl.-Lehrerin* Enikö Parrag sees portfolios as vital educational practice in schools, vocational education, and beyond, especially at present when artificial intelligence can produce content easily. Portfolios are much more than an educational technology tool. They foster reflection, collaboration, and tell the learning journey of a student. Artificial intelligence can be used to augment portfolio work, for example by creating a first draft of templates and by supporting students in their reflections. As Founder and Managing Director of EDUTECSOL GmbH in Switzerland, Enikö and her team provide educational consultancy services, in particular around educational technology and artificial intelligence. EDUTECSOL has been a Mahara Business Partner since 2024.  * Enikö's academic degree is that of a 'Dipl.-Lehrerin', which is a teaching diploma roughly equivalent to a postgraduate teaching qualification. Resources Enikoe's newsletter 'Portfoliopraxis mit Mahara'RiffMahara Hui SchweizWebinar recording of 'Mahara and AI: What are you interested in?'AAEEBL AI webinar seriesRelated episodes Leticia Britos Cavagnaro: Make learning visibleMike Altieri: Use reflection bot Riff for deeper and more meaningful portfolio reflectionMario A. Peraza: Use AI to help curate your digital presenceZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionSubscribe 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

  2. Aug 25

    Cathy Elliott: Rebel with a cause: Use portfolios to see the entire student

    Relational marking, a variant of negotiated marking, is part of the ungrading movement. It emphasises learning, regular feedback, and taking all of a student's work during a term into consideration. Thus, it is in direct opposition to anonymous marking where only the final output counts. Portfolios are very well suited for relational marking, and students - as well as faculty - reap enormous benefits when taking this approach, as Cathy Elliott shares in this episode. Professor Dr Cathy Elliott, SFHEA, is Vice Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at University College London (UCL), UK. She teaches a political science class on nature and supports over 1,000 faculty and 7,000 students in the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at UCL. Resources Elliott, C. (2025). Against anonymity: Relational marking and awarding gaps. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (Special Issue 35: Liberating Learning).Blum, S. D. (Ed.). (2020). Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead). West Virginia University Press.National Union of Students. (2008). Mark my words, not my name: The campaign for anonymous marking.'Freedom to learn' movement at UCLRelated episodes Cathy Elliott: Creativity and feedback in assessment portfoliosCathy Elliott: Have fun, be flexible, and encourage feedback in your portfolioFergus Green: The portfolio is a bit like jazzZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionDebbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolioSubscribe 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

  3. Aug 11

    Tabitha Parker: Build the habit of reflecting

    Professionals in the workplace can benefit greatly from portfolios. They can reflect on their practice, get feedback from colleagues, collaborate with others, and tell their whole learning story while also gaining a certification. Tabitha Parker, GradDipl HE, is an Education Consultant, Learning Solutions Architect, and Technical Lead working on large-scale change projects in the space of learning management systems and portfolio solutions who has been supporting students and professionals for many years in their portfolio work, designing programmes that fit them and that also respect the people creating portfolios. Additionally, she's active volunteering for education projects. For example, she was the lead volunteer in Aotearoa New Zealand for One Laptop Per Child and Sugar Labs for several years, and is co-founder of the Manaiakalani Education Trust Hackers where she meets fellow volunteers on a monthly basis to further the mission of the trust. Resources Quiding, J., Laidlaw, M., Parker, T., & Hoeppner, K. (2020, February 20). Portfolios come full circle in the world of work. SoTEL, Auckland University of Technology.Laidlaw, M., Parker, T., & Quiding, J. (2022, March 31). PDRP at Waitematā DHB. HiNZ Conference, Online.Hoeppner, K. (2018, July 13). Who creates open source software? ITx, Wellington, NZ.Related episodes Stephen Harlow: Tell your story through your portfolioDavid Hicks: The portfolio tells the story of growthZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionJaye Ryan: Showcase yourself through your portfolioSubscribe 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

  4. Jul 28

    Molebogeng Thage: How portfolios support digital resilience at high school and beyond

    Portfolio work can start at the school level and foster digital resilience through supporting students' technological adaptability, self-directed learning and metacognition, and critical digital engagement, says Molebogeng Esther Thage, MEd. She and Amokelo Given Maweya, MEd, developed a conceptual model to draw these connections and illustrate why portfolios are important in teaching and learning and why students benefit from reflecting on their learning. Molebogeng is a teacher and a departmental head at a high school in the Tshwane West District, in the Gauteng Province in South Africa. Currently, she is also pursuing her PhD in Educational Foundation at The Tshwane University of Technology. Together with Amokelo, she wrote the chapter 'Digital resilience in the 21st century: The role of ePortfolios in fostering adaptive and technological competencies'. Resources Modise, M.-E., & Vaughan, N. (Eds.). (2025). Digital resilience of ePortfolios during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future. Open Education AlbertaSAERA ConferenceData Driven Districts (DDD)ePortfolios South Africa YouTube channelRelated episodes Mpho-Entle Modise & Norm Vaughan: The portfolio as enabler of changeAntje Koenen: Engage with your students as partners through a portfolioSubscribe 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

  5. Jul 14

    Heather Pate & Rebecca Scriven: The age of portfolios is now

    Dr Heather Pate is a Lecturer in the Academic Practice Team, and Rebecca Scriven, SFHEA, is the Digital Learning Lead, both in the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Edith Cowan University (ECU). They are instrumental in supporting the curriculum shift to a programmatic approach to learning that centrally features portfolios. In this episode, they talk about how portfolios were used at ECU in the past and why the shift to programmatic learning is imperative. They also touch on the absolute need for the support from the whole institution, in particular the leadership to bring everybody along. Resources ePortfolios Australia community of practiceEportfolio Forum 2026, 23-24 September 2026 in Sydney and onlinePate, H., & Scriven, R. (2025, November 12). Finding the sweet spot: Portfolios, programmatic learning, and student belonging [Presentation]. Eportfolio Forum, Launceston. Recording.Beck, E., Scriven, R., & Coleman, K. (2026, June 2). Differences in opinion: Portfolio definitions, practices and approaches [Webinar]. 2026 Eportfolio Webinar Series, Online.Dollinger, M., Dawson, P., Ford, A., Liu, D., & Rekhari, S. (2026, June 4). Assuring online degrees in the age of gen AI [Panel conversation]. TEQSA Talks, Online. Recording to be published on the TEQSA Talks page.TEQSA Generative AI knowledge hubColeman, K. (2017). An a/r/tist in wonderland Exploring identity, creativity and digital portfolios as a/r/tographer [PhD Thesis, University of Melbourne].ECU Newsroom. (2026, June 15). Programmatic learning delivers early results.Related episodes Kate Mitchell: Deliberate and programmatic designMark Glynn: Take a programmatic approach to assessment 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

  6. Jun 30

    C. Reynolds, D. Oesch-Minor, H.L. Chen: Looking back at AAEEBL 2026

    Prof Dr Candyce Reynolds (Boise State University), Prof Dr Debbie Oesch-Minor (Indiana University Indianapolis), and Dr Helen L. Chen (Stanford University) were on the organising teams of the AAEEBL Annual Meeting and / or AAEEBL Symposium, held in June 2026. In this episode, we look back at these two events, what we are taking away from them, and share what some of the plans are for the Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning in the coming months. Resources AAEEBL Annual Meeting and Symposium 2026 websiteAAEEBL Symposium 2026 recordingsAAEEBL Annual Meeting 2026 recordingIntegrative Learning Portfolio Lab at Stanford UniversityePortfolio Studio at Indiana University IndianapolisTaxonomy of Reflective Inquiry (TORI)International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP)AAEEBL ePortfolio Review (AePR)Modise, M.-E., & Vaughan, N. (Eds.). (2025). Digital resilience of ePortfolios during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future. Mount Royal University Library.Yancey, K. (2023). The value of purposeful design: A case study of an ePortfolio reflective prompt. Across the Disciplines, 20(3/4), 31-49.Riff - Reflection partnerAAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Task Force application; deadline: 15 September 2026AAEEBL newsletterUpcoming events Follow AAEEBL events to receive notifications about upcoming eventsAAEEBL Shark Tank, August 2026; pitch submission deadline: 31 July 2026Eportfolio Forum in Sydney, Australia, and online, 23-24 September 2026FLANZ conference 'He Tāngata' in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, 7-9 October 2026Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, IN, USA, 18-20 October 2026Related episodes Candyce Reynolds & Sonja Taylor: Hashtags, social media, and portfoliosDebbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolioHelen L. Chen: Reflect through conversation to tell your storySubscribe 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

  7. 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

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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.