Horses for Courses:

A whole college approach to the adoption of Mahara e-portfolios November 10th, 2015

Louise Carr, Advanced Learning Practitioner

Who and where we are…

• FE & HE • 16-19 • 19+ Horticulture Equine studies Int’l Agriculture Countryside Rural activities Fisheries Animal Management

In the beginning………▪2013 A new HE programme is born: BSc Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

2013/14 Pilot Projects

• Access to HE (FE) • Assessment: unit Reviewing • and Planning for the Future

• BSc Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Yr 1:

• WBL and reflection

To template or not to template

• Meeting outcomes • Providing a framework to build confidence

• Broader criteria to meet therefore: • More opportunities to be creative • Focus on inclusivity and soft skills equally

important

No -template

• Students need to collect evidence which is analysed and evaluated throughout the year. Eg weblinks to university websites, screen prints of using comparision websites for courses, records of presentations with evaluations which can be a sound file or a written text or a piece to camera – differentiated and assesses the content not the method of production.

Initial findings• Similar student profiles ie mixed age groups, various IT skills, range of

experience with social media

• Found very similar problems

• Students engage more quickly with a template

• They are not as adventurous as we had expected

• They do not readily associate college media with social media skills

• Reluctance to move away from written text formats

• Feel they needed ‘permission’ to be creative

• Reflects more on their confidence and skills as independent learners than their IT skills

• Generally our findings are reflected in the current literature (2014)

1st review: 2013/14Best results happen when learners were: • introduced to ‘pages’ and given support and work to do connected with

the portfolio on a weekly basis. • given dates to meet specific targets and an individual tutorial was used

to conduct a formative assessment. Reasons for setting these targets: • Uptake and engagement (in comparison to previous paper based

portfolios) • Use Mahara as an assessment tool • Create an inclusive learning environment • Use Mahara as a teaching and learning resource developing

employability, soft skills, digital literacy

Teams to meet regularly to share ideas and work out problems • These became the core of what later evolved into our

standardisation framework

Next steps…………

2014/15

• All HE prgrammes to introduce Mahara e-portfolios to evidence Work Based Learning and Industrial Experience units.

• Foundation learning (FE entry level) move completely from paper-based to digital portfolios to evidence competency skills – learners all have a learning difficulty or disability

Foundation learning

• All learners • All staff • 3 different sites • Now in 2nd year of delivery

• Commitment, confidence, strong templates, support from colleagues (more experienced others)

Introducing Industrial Experience and Skills Development2014 – Mahara was introduced to all HE programmes for Work Based Learning/Industrial Experience modules.

Different faculties adapted according to their programme designs - largest faculty Animal Management used a single template drawn from the paper-based design – learners had individual freedom re mode of entries

Communities of Practice

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”

(Wenger circa 2007) cited by Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009)

Standardisation I

• Create a personal learning space where learners are able to retain their learning materials and experiences

• Provide sufficient evidence to meet the requirements of the assignment

• Receive quick and effective feedback which forms an on-going developmental ‘conversation’ with the learner

• Develop appropriate skills through reflective activities (linked to the GGAs) Greenwich Graduate Attributes

Creative design of AfL & AoL

• Some programme teams developed further examples of how Mahara could support good student development, including peer reviews, and assessment design

Share pages with your group, friends or with a prospective employer

Spread the word…..inner to outer circles of participationCollege e-learning events Heads of Faculty meetings Progamme Leader meetings Special interest groups

Standardisation II– all courses

• Training should be for assessors, lecturers and second markers

• Students have a dedicated e-portfolio induction (to include specified items)

• Feedback and review • Assignment brief design, submission and

moderation – common considerations • Page\collection ‘locking’

Building the community

Taking time to get into shapeApril 2015 – Programme Leaders meeting AIMS Record • each programme that has completed an assignment • feedback from staff including delivery, supervision,marking • why some programmes have not successfully completed a Mahara

assessment • feedback from students via staff • identify students that could support a stand at the e-learning event • identify programmes that will be assessing via Mahara next year

(note re e-learning committee approval) • identify support required for next year’s induction for staff and/or

students • most successful aspect • anything which needs changing? RESULT: a ‘shopping’ list I have brought to the hui!

Widening the community

The  whole  college  approach• Most faculties now have at least one Mahara summative

assessment task • There are a wide variety of task types (web design,

reflection, competency, WBL…) • All assessors use the same standardisation document

and have to have approval from the e-learning group • There is a wide community of practice with varying

levels of participation • Growing opportunities to build the community through

sharing of college wide ‘good practice events’ • Students are increasingly joining the community of

practice as learning ambassadors

The wider community

• Many of the ideas developed in our community have begun with sharing at huis and in the Mahara newsletters

• Thank you to everyone generous enough to share their developments

ReferencesSmith, M. K. (2003, 2009) ‘Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice’, the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm Accessed 07/11/15 Google maps, https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2269234,0.3286533,15z Accessed 07/11/15 Equine HE, Hadlow College, VLE Accessed 07/11/15 Finney A., (2013), ‘How to Guide’, Hadlow College, VLE Hamilton D., (2014), How to Health Check a Rabbit, Hadlow College Foster K., (2015) Note taking templates, Hadlow College Potter A., Harvey N., (2015) Revision Cards, Hadlow College