Introducing 'Mahara': a new open source eportfolio for higher education

Mark Brown
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand

This paper describes a new open source electronic portfolio (eportfolio) for use in higher education. The development of 'Mahara' was a collaborative project funded by the New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to help promote learning and critical reflection on a programme-wide basis. The objective was to develop an eportfolio application for use in higher education, to conduct a number of implementation cases studies and provide guidelines for its effective use. This paper gives a brief account of the literature on eportfolios and explains the core principles underpinning the design of the 'Mahara' eportfolio. The unique features of Mahara are outlined and the paper offers an example of how one university has conceptualized and is planning to embed eportfolios in a pre-service teacher education programme.