Create. Share. Engage.

Megan Mize: Ramping up to support 18,000 students with portfolios

Dr Megan Mize is the Director for ePortfolios and Digital Initiatives in the Academic Success Center (ASC) at Old Dominion University (ODU). She's been supporting portfolios at ODU since 2012 and is currently involved in a couple of strategic initiatives at her university that incorporate portfolios to support students.ResourcesMonarch Humanities Internship AcademyODU General Education ReformAAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force and PrinciplesHigh-impact practicesODU ePortfolio support and resourcesGresham, M., Mize, M., & Zurhellen, S. (2023). High-impact practices and third spaces: Connecting across disciplines. Across the Disciplines, 20(3/4), 157–176.Related episodesAmy Cicchino, Megan Mize, Sarah Zurhellen: Visibility of labourAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesLisa Donaldson: From 0 to 6,000 in six weeksSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Yvonne Moore and James Pearce: Skills portfolios encourage continued reflection

Yvonne Moore, MA, is the Digital Education Developments Lead, and James Pearce, BA, is the Educational Software Development Manager in the Centre for Learning & Teaching at University of Bath. They support faculty at the university to implement educational technologies meaningfully and effectively - Yvonne from the pedagogical side and James from the technical side.The university has been using Mahara for many years and focussed on skills portfolios and work-integrated learning portfolios in more recent years. Yvonne and James detail how skills portfolios support reflection, an important ingredient of lifelong learning, and how they make use of existing functionality in Mahara, like SmartEvidence, and also enhance it further, contributing their changes back to the community.ResourcesPublic resources on Mahara by the University of BathPlanning and decision making guide for the use of ePortfolios in academic teaching from the DiKuLe projectAAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Principle 'Support'SmartEvidenceNuessler, S., & Kirby, M. (2014). SmartEvidence: Improving ePortfolio quality through intervention [Presentation]. Mahara Hui, Wellington, NZWhat is SmartEvidence?Case study on how AP Hogeschool Antwerpen enhanced SmartEvidenceRelated episodesDiKuLe: Planning and decision making guide for portfoliosShari Bowker: Establish good feedback practices in your portfolioSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Debbie Oesch-Minor and Salsabil Qaddoura: Foster student ownership and empowerment through a portfolio

Prof Dr Debbie Oesch-Minor and her student Salsabil Qaddoura from Indiana University Indianapolis talk about portfolios at IU Indianapolis, in particular in Debbie's composition course that Salsabil took where she created a portfolio that showed her the power of this practice.Debbie shares her reasons for working with portfolios and supporting other faculty and students in the portfolio process within the ePortfolio Studio. Salsabil outlines the benefits that she as student saw while engaged in the portfolio process, which she then also shared with other faculty at the university.ResourcesAAEEBLHigh-impact practicesePortfolio student showcaseOesch-Minor, D. (2023, July 14). EPortfolios on the Fives: Simplifying and streamlining ePortfolio building for students and faculty [Presentation]. AAEEBL Annual Meeting, VancouverSalsabil's portfolio 'Legal, not always just'Dweck, C. (2014). Developing a growth mindset [Presentation]. Stanford+Connects micro lecture, New York.Elbow, P. (1993). Ranking, evaluating, and liking: Sorting out three forms of judgment. College English, 55(2), 187–206.Pratt, M. L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession, 33–40.Percy, J. (2014, October 14). My terrifying night with Afghanistan’s only female warlord. The New Republic.Berehulak, D. (2016, December 7). 'They are slaughtering us like animals.' The New York Times.Hoeppner, K. (2015, April 9). Scaffolding ePortfolio use [Presentation]. Mahara Hui 2015, Auckland, New Zealand.NACE career readiness competenciesePortfolios Australia PARE sessionsRelated episodesCathy Elliott: Have fun, be flexible, and encourage feedback in your portfolioAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesThe wunderkammer: Metaphors in portfolio practiceAllison Miller: The portfolio is a processSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Jaye Ryan: Showcase yourself through your portfolio

Associate Professor Dr Jaye Ryan, SFHEA, headed the nursing ePortfolio programme at Birmingham City University (BCU) in the UK between 2010 and 2019. She supported students and staff in creating ePortfolios and introduced Student Academic Mentors ePortfolios (StAMPs) to help students as peers.In this episode, Jaye talks about the ePortfolio practice in her nursing programme, the challenges she faced, and how she and the StAMPs made the portfolio work for students.ResourcesRyan, J. A. (2025). The lived experience of mature undergraduate nursing students with quasi-dyslexia: Navigating ongoing academic challenges [Doctoral Thesis, Birmingham City University].Ryan, J. A. (2018). Which resources are most helpful to support development of an ePortfolio? British Journal of Nursing, 27(5), 266–271.AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles: SupportHoeppner, K. (2025, May 15). Portfolios: Integral to your programmatic assessment approach.Mahara 26.04 refresh: December 2025 updateJaye's fundraiser for her dad after hurricane Melissa in 2025Related episodesAmy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practicesChristina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentorsDavid Hicks: The portfolio tells the story of growthMichael Sankey: The portfolio as the place of representation for emerging professionalsJonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competenciesSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Soropepeli Ramacake: Know, grow, and show through your portfolio

Soropepeli Ramacake, MSW Applied, PGDip in Supervision, Dip in Counselling, BTheology works at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji as Assistant Lecturer. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney.Soro uses Mahara as portfolio platform with his social work students who are on placement in various South Pacific countries, supporting them mainly from the distance.ResourcesChief, I. Y., & Ramacake, S. (2025, November 11). Learners’ reflection on the use of e-Portfolio in Social Work at The University of the South Pacific. ICDE World Conference 2025, Wellington.Mock-ups for Mahara 26.04Using Mahara to demonstrate skills acquired in a hospitality workplace practicum. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Parijata Moeava and Mojito Jione (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.Creating spaces for students to demonstrate competencies in their profession. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Irene Yee Chief, Mojito Jione and Rajneel Totaram (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.Related episodesSue Schibeci: Portfolios in work-integrated learning experiencesJonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competenciesZala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassionSubscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.Production informationProduction: Catalyst ITHost: Kristina HoeppnerArtwork: Evonne CheungMusic: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward