E-portfolios for E-Learning

E-portfolios, such as Mahara (2006), provide a domain where one can create an online portfolio.
Along with this, these webpages often have social networking and blogging capabilities. For personal use as a teacher or educational institution a Mahara account can provide opportunities to upload and share teaching idea, strategies and activities with the other users within your network.

I have recently developed an account through Mahara and although I have not yet started creating my own portfolio, so far it seems as though it should be relatively easy to operate and utilise for professional development and learning.

In terms of school use, programs such as Mahara and other e-portfolios can be used in a similar way. I personally feel that these programs would be best used, not necessarily for use by individual students, but on a whole class level.
Classes could upload details about the term theme and the class projects that students are undertaking. Students could connect with classes from other school of the same age group and compare their own learning experiences with that of the other students.

E-portfolios can be used both at the professional and administrative level for teachers, and also for use in the classroom and I look forward to further developing my own Mahara account to discover some more possibilities for learning.

Mahara. (2009). E-portfolios. Retrieved on 10 August, 2009 from mahara.org/about/eportfolios