April 2010

This month has been all about dissemination. Angela and I both presented at Moodle Moot in London. I talked about the development of the Portal itself while she focussed on how students have been using Mahara.

Here are some extracts from the ULCC blog about the event:
“Most notable for me were listening to Lewisham College and their Student Portal developments”
Philip Butler, Senior e-Learning Adviser, ULCC.
http://moodlemootuk2010.org.uk/2010/04/20/moodlemootuk-2010-a-view-from-the-trenches/#more-348

“The other presentation that really caught my eye was Angela Jay from Lewisham College. Angela demonstrated a traditional CV against a CV a catering student had created in Mahara and there was no comparison between the two – Mahara won hands down. Portfolios such as this will vastly improve the chances of students gaining employment”
Martin Sepion, Senior Adviser, JISC Regional Support Centre for London
http://moodlemootuk2010.org.uk/2010/04/20/facilitating-at-moodlemoot-2010/#more-341

As a result of this we hosted several internal meetings, firstly with St Georges University to discuss our use of ePortfolios and then with City & Islington College to advise them on their Blackboard to Moodle migration and PDP and Mahara integration.

We also met with Addey & Stanhope School whose students come to College one day a week to undertake the principal learning for the Higher Diploma in Creative Media and got some very positive feedback on the concept of the ePDP. Unfortunately as the school was included in a borough pilot reviewing several new systems for progress and attendance monitoring they were not able to contribute to the ePDPs in eME but it does open up potential opportunities for the future.