Mahara is a
free and open-source
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
web-based
electronic portfolio
An electronic portfolio (also known as a digital portfolio, online portfolio, e-portfolio, e-folio, or eFolio) is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include input te ...
(eportfolio) management system written in
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...
and distributed under the
GNU Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
.
The
Māori language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...
word means "to think about or consider".
History
Mahara began in 2006 as a collaboration between
Massey University
Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
,
Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...
,
the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand or Open Polytechnic (Māori: Kuratini Tuwhera) is a government-owned tertiary education institution operating as the specialist national provider of open and distance learning (ODL). On 1 April 2020, The Open Po ...
and
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well know ...
, funded by the
New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission.
Mahara was initially developed by Catalyst IT Limited, a New Zealand
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...
company, and first released in April 2008.
Development of Mahara has since expanded to include a community of contributors, including the
New Zealand Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education (Māori: ''Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing the New Zealand education system.
The Ministry was formed in 1989 when the former, all-encompassing De ...
.
The software was designed to be an open-source electronic portfolio platform to support the student learning and
personal learning environment
Personalized learning, individualized instruction, personal learning environment and direct instruction all refer to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students.
Overview
The use of the term "personalized learning" dates ba ...
goals of
educational institution
An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments an ...
s.
Mahara allows students to select their own work and prepare an online portfolio, to both share in a university classroom context and show to future employers.
Language support
Mahara supports translation into different languages using language packs, and contributions of complete or near-complete coverage have been provided for Japanese, Basque, French, Māori, Slovenian, German, Czech, and Danish languages.
References
External links
*
Cross-platform software
Free educational software
Free learning support software
Free software programmed in PHP
Free content management systems
Classroom management software
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