The MoodleMan blog recently ran a post on the integration of a new third-party tool with Moodle. Be sure to check out the embedded video at the bottom. The tool in question is an e-portfolio tool called Mahara. We have a number of groups on campus who have various portfolio needs – Art, Career Center, Ed Studies, and probably more I don’t know about. These folks have different requirements but the core need is the same. They want to collect student work over a span of time, and allow that work to be stored and displayed. Some students may need to showcase their growth as a writer or artist over four years. Others may use this as a supplement to a resume. In short, Illinois Wesleyan could use a system like Mahara.

Why does Moodle have anything to do with it?  Well, if we began to use Moodle as the course management system for campus it would be very easy to take work already handed in via Moodle and drop it into a portfolio. Presumably the Moodle courses would be wiped clean each term, so this is a way of preserving select content over a longer span of time.

I’d like to give it a try, but I think we’ll have to wait until our Fall term Moodle test is complete before we can add in another component to the mix. Moodle 2.0 is supposed to have improved APIs that will make the Mahara integration tighter anyway.