June 17, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode, Mahara project lead Kristina Hoeppner, MA, takes a brief look back at 15 years on the Mahara team at Catalyst IT. She pulls out a few instances of portfolio use. This is only a tiny selection and by no means a full representation of what is happening in the portfolio community as you can see from the many stories that we share on this podcast.
Resources
- Learning management system Moodle
- MoodleMoot Global 2025
- Library management system Koha
- KohaCon 2025
- Bret Eynon, Laura Gambino (2018): Catalyst in action: Case studies of High-Impact ePortfolio practice
- Recording of Mahara Hui Online on 10 June 2025 on the Mahara YouTube channel
- Morgan Gresham, Megan, Mize, Sarah Zurhellen (2023). High-impact practices and third spaces: Connecting across disciplines. Across the Disciplines, 20(3–4), 157–176.
- AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force and Digital Ethics in ePortfolios principles
- AAEEBL YouTube channel
- ePortfolios Australia and upcoming Eportfolio Forum
- Chris Cormack (2025): Data sovereignty in Aotearoa: Navigating how to protect our digital taonga
- Presentation 'Portfolios: Integral to your programmatic assessment approach'
- Janine Quiding, Miriam Laidlaw, Tabitha Parker, Kristina Hoeppner (2020): Portfolios come full circle in the world of work
- Janine Quiding, Miriam Laidlaw, Tabitha Parker (2022): PDRP at Waitematā
Related episodes
- Andrea Ghoneim: Learn transversal skills through portfolios
- Lisa Donaldson: From 0 to 6,000 in six weeks
- Christina Stollner & Romy Hösl: Portfolio support for educators and learners
- DiKuLe: Planning and decision making guide for portfolios
- Chahira Nouira: Use a portfolio to give students space and time to reflect
- Mahara 25.04 and how a feature makes it into Mahara
Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.
Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodwa
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to 'Create. Share.
Engage.' This is the podcastabout portfolios for learning
and more for educators, learningdesigners, and managers keen on
integrating portfolios withtheir education and professional
development practices. 'Create.
Share. Engage.' is brought toyou by the Mahara team at
(00:26):
Catalyst IT. My name is KristinaHoeppner.
In today's episode, I'd like tohighlight a few experiences as
I've just passed my 15thanniversary at Catalyst. So even
though I have been working inthe Mahara team now for a while,
at times, it still feels likeI've only just packed my one
(00:46):
suitcase and carry-on inLuxembourg on the 12th of June
2010 and had shipped some boxesprior to that. Then I boarded a
plane to Sydney, saw the sunriseat the airport and marvelled at
the sun moving across the sky inthe other direction. I then
finally arrived in Wellington onthe 14th of June, on a beautiful
(01:09):
autumn afternoon and startedwork the following day.
That afternoon was not one ofthose blistery, windy, and rainy
days that everybody was tellingme about, and the landing at the
airport couldn't really havebeen any smoother. I expected
the worst, thanks to all of theYouTube videos people had sent
me, but really got the best,including a tour of the city on
(01:33):
the way to my accommodation forthe first week because I took
the shuttle bus that made itsway through Kilbirnie, Newtown,
and up some really steep,winding hill roads before
heading into the city centre.
Since then, I've been involvedin 26 releases of Mahara, worked
with countless community membersand clients to make Mahara
(01:56):
better over time, and not toforget also everyone at
Catalyst, who has contributed toMahara over the years. We do
have our core Mahara team, butalso work with so many other
Catalystas, including eLearning,system administration, business
analysis and UX, graphic design,marketing, developers who use
(02:18):
other programming languages thatare used in some of our support
infrastructure, accountmanagement and sales, project
management, finance, and not toforget legal.
We are working with really a lotof people that support us on a
daily basis. That has notchanged over the last 15 years
(02:38):
because a software product isnot only the immediate
development team, but also a lotof people around it that make it
happen and who are also part ofthe community.
Initially, when I started atCatalyst, I also supported
Moodle and Koha clients. I hadused Moodle in Europe and
(03:00):
provided training for it at theuniversity where I had worked.
Funnily enough, I did comeacross Koha and was stoked to
learn that Catalyst providedsupport for that integrated
library management system andhad core developers on staff.
To this date, both communitiesremain dear to me. So I do have
(03:20):
to mention that the Kohacommunity will be back in Te
Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington thisyear for KohaCon, and I look
forward to the event inNovember. Recently, I had the
chance to attend MoodleMootCanada and will also be
attending MoodleMoot Global inSeptember. I hope to see some of
(03:41):
you there.
Over the past 15 years,portfolio practice has grown up
in a lot of ways. In the firsthalf of 2010 a large scale
project, the Catalyst forLearning project, ran in the
U.S. Organisations whoparticipated in that project
developed their portfoliostrategy, expansion, and also
(04:03):
quite a few support measures. InEurope, projects like EUfolio
and ATS2020 were funded toimplement and establish
portfolio practice and alsocommunities of learning.
Since then, many institutionshave increased their use of
portfolios from a course hereand there two entire programmes
(04:24):
using portfolios or even theentire institution. Just the
other day, at Mahara Hui Online,Dr Rob Lowney from Dublin City
University shared that about 50%of DCU students engage with
portfolios. At Monash Universityacross the Tasman in Australia,
(04:44):
Mahara is now set up universitywide. Previously, there were a
few pockets of portfolio usewith Mahara and other tools.
On the other hand, we do have toacknowledge that due to budget
cuts, fewer learning designersand fewer other third space
staff have to support morefaculty and a wider range of
(05:05):
tools and practices, not alwaysgiving them the time to
transform traditionalassignments into meaningful
portfolio activities. They oftenneed to make due with less.
That's then where many rely onother community members for
support and sharing of resourcesbecomes more and more important.
So I've had the chance to have achat with the German projects
(05:29):
Dreiklang and DiKuLe whodemonstrate this really
wonderfully as all of theirresources are Creative Comments
licensed. Also the AAEEBLcommunity and ePortfolios
Australia offer professionaldevelopment opportunities. Since
2019, I've been on the AAEEBLDigital Ethics Task Force with
wonderful colleagues from NorthAmerica, Australia, and a few
(05:52):
other countries, in which wehave developed 10 principles
that encompass digital ethicspractices to consider when
working with portfolios. You canalso watch recordings of the
webinars that we have held ontopics relating to these
principles to maybe also getinspired by some of the uses.
(06:14):
At the same time at a largenumber of organisations an
institution-wide platforms suchas Mahara doesn't exist, but it
would allow for an easyintegration into the learning
management system. That makesusing portfolios for assessment
more difficult and cumbersome,adding to the workload that
educators have.
(06:34):
Besides supporting assessmentprocesses, another advantage of
having an institution-wideplatform is that the institution
has more control over securingstudent and staff data. Data has
become a really importantcommodity in today's time and
not only just with the rise ofartificial intelligence. Using
(06:57):
an institution-providedplatform, it is then
advertisement free, legal shothave given its stamp of approval
for the terms and conditions,and the privacy measures are in
place to comply with theinstitution's policies.
That also goes for where thedata is stored and who has
access to it. Concepts like datasovereignty and data residency
(07:20):
enter the conversation, andstudents, as well as staff
should be assured that theircontent is stored appropriately
and also in line with theirinstitution's policies as well
as laws of the country in whichthe institution is located.
Check out the resources for thisepisode, where I point to a
(07:41):
recent blog post by my colleagueChris Cormack that gives a good
introduction, and not just forthose of us living in Aotearoa.
Staying with assessment, we alsohear learning designers talk
more about a programmaticapproach to assessment.
Programmatic assessment focuseson shifting to assessment for
(08:02):
learning instead of doingassessment of learning. It also
means giving students feedback,including from multiple
assessors, and engaging them inmeaningful activities that help
them develop competencies overtime. Portfolios play a central
role in that approach becausethey can help demonstrate
learning, make that learningvisible through reflections, and
(08:26):
invite feedback from others.
Using an institution-providedportfolio platform can
facilitate programmaticassessment because assessors can
be assigned to portfolios andreports built to see the
engagement or where feedbackhasn't been given yet, just for
a couple of examples.
(08:47):
Because we're having moreconversations around
programmatic assessment, I'dlove to organise an online panel
conversation on it, its impactand relevance for portfolio
practice, and where we asplatform providers should do
better to support organisationswanting to innovate their
teaching and learning practicesin that area. So if you'd like
(09:10):
to suggest panellists, whichcould also include you, of
course, please let me know.
So far, I've been talking aboutportfolio use in higher
education where we have heaps ofexamples across many different
disciplines, starting with theobvious ones, like teaching and
nursing, but also going tomusicology and forest sciences
(09:32):
that Chahira Nouira talked aboutin her interview.
I'm very happy though, thatwe've also been able to support
professionals in their portfoliouse beyond formal training and
educational offerings. In ourteam, we support most closely
organisations that useportfolios with nurses and
pharmacists looking to the worldof work. These portfolios look
(09:56):
quite different from say, aneducation student's portfolio or
that of a design student. Nurseand pharmacist's portfolio are
pretty templated and text-baseddue to the nature of the work
that they do. They are linked tothe standards of the profession,
and these portfolios do focus onreflection and can include
(10:18):
feedback from peers andmanagers.
A few years ago, right beforethe first lockdown in 2020
actually, I had the chance topresent on the nurse portfolios
alongside the team at WaitematāDistrict Health Board, which is
now Health New Zealand Te WhatuOra (Auckland North and West
(10:39):
Waitematā). Having had rolledout Mahara to all nurses just
about a year earlier, JanineQuiding, Miriam Laidlaw, and
Tabitha Parker had found thatnurses thought differently about
their PDRP and keeping theirportfolio. PDRP stands for
Professional Development andRecognition Programme, the
(11:00):
programme where registerednurses need to keep a portfolio
for three years, which is thenreviewed and assessed before
they start a new review cycle.
So in those portfolios now, oncethe nurses had shifted to an
electronic portfolio usingMahara, the focus shifted from
assessment to professionaldevelopment. Where in the past,
(11:24):
there was minimal engagement ontheir portfolios, they now had
conversations. And theseconversations didn't always just
happen on the portfolio. Most ofthe time, the conversations were
actually between the nurse andthe manager or the peer, and
then only summaries would havebeen kept in the portfolio. Not
to forget, in the past, manynurses procrastinated updating
(11:47):
their portfolios, whereas now,many started early, and their
short introductory trainingsessions were fully booked most
of the time.
You can find the links to thetwo presentations that talk
about the use of portfolios atWaitematā in the episode notes.
Make sure to watch them to seehow many portfolio binders
(12:10):
they've had left after justabout a year, and note that we
couldn't actually capture allthe portfolios in the 'Before'
picture because of where the twobig cupboards full of them were
located at the district.
Since the start of using Maharain late 2018, the Waitematā
(12:31):
team, which has changed overtime, has been iterating over
the portfolios and the supportthey provide to the nurses and
also the nurse educators.
They've streamlined processeswith other providers in the
region and regularly share theirpractice. They also feed back
what works for them in theportfolios and what they'd like
to improve on their platform tous, which results either
(12:54):
directly in changes to Mahara orinforms our thinking when there
is not yet a clear project. Itis great to be able to follow
their work more closely to helpus think about portfolios in
those contexts. This use ofportfolios by nurses
demonstrates how portfoliosbenefit people outside of formal
(13:15):
courses to document, reflect on,and achieve their professional
development goals.
Now what's in stock for nextyear? One big focus area for us
is the refresh of Mahara to giveit a new look. Work on that is
actively underway, alongsidesome other projects that I
(13:37):
talked about at Mahara HuiOnline. We'll also have the
updated roadmap on the websitesoon. I look forward to many
more conversations around Maharaand how we can support our
community. I also look forwardto connecting with all of you in
the wider portfolio communityabout portfolio practices. There
(13:58):
is always something new tolearn. Thank you very much for
giving me the opportunity tolearn from you.
Now over to you. What do youwant to try in your own
portfolio practice? This was'Create. Share. Engage.' Head to
our website, podcast.mahara.org,where you can find resources and
(14:23):
the transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT. our next episode
will air in two weeks. I hopeyou will listen again and tell a
colleague about our podcast sothey can subscribe. Until then,
create, share, and engage.
Welcome to 'Create. Share.
Engage.' This is the podcastabout portfolios for learning
and more for educators, learningdesigners, and managers keen on
integrating portfolios withtheir education and professional
development practices. 'Create.
Share. Engage.' is brought toyou by the Mahara team at
(00:26):
Catalyst IT. My name is KristinaHoeppner.
In today's episode, I'd like tohighlight a few experiences as
I've just passed my 15thanniversary at Catalyst. So even
though I have been working inthe Mahara team now for a while,
at times, it still feels likeI've only just packed my one
(00:46):
suitcase and carry-on inLuxembourg on the 12th of June
2010 and had shipped some boxesprior to that. Then I boarded a
plane to Sydney, saw the sunriseat the airport and marvelled at
the sun moving across the sky inthe other direction. I then
finally arrived in Wellington onthe 14th of June, on a beautiful
(01:09):
autumn afternoon and startedwork the following day.
That afternoon was not one ofthose blistery, windy, and rainy
days that everybody was tellingme about, and the landing at the
airport couldn't really havebeen any smoother. I expected
the worst, thanks to all of theYouTube videos people had sent
me, but really got the best,including a tour of the city on
(01:33):
the way to my accommodation forthe first week because I took
the shuttle bus that made itsway through Kilbirnie, Newtown,
and up some really steep,winding hill roads before
heading into the city centre.
Since then, I've been involvedin 26 releases of Mahara, worked
with countless community membersand clients to make Mahara
(01:56):
better over time, and not toforget also everyone at
Catalyst, who has contributed toMahara over the years. We do
have our core Mahara team, butalso work with so many other
Catalystas, including eLearning,system administration, business
analysis and UX, graphic design,marketing, developers who use
(02:18):
other programming languages thatare used in some of our support
infrastructure, accountmanagement and sales, project
management, finance, and not toforget legal.
We are working with really a lotof people that support us on a
daily basis. That has notchanged over the last 15 years
(02:38):
because a software product isnot only the immediate
development team, but also a lotof people around it that make it
happen and who are also part ofthe community.
Initially, when I started atCatalyst, I also supported
Moodle and Koha clients. I hadused Moodle in Europe and
(03:00):
provided training for it at theuniversity where I had worked.
Funnily enough, I did comeacross Koha and was stoked to
learn that Catalyst providedsupport for that integrated
library management system andhad core developers on staff.
To this date, both communitiesremain dear to me. So I do have
(03:20):
to mention that the Kohacommunity will be back in Te
Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington thisyear for KohaCon, and I look
forward to the event inNovember. Recently, I had the
chance to attend MoodleMootCanada and will also be
attending MoodleMoot Global inSeptember. I hope to see some of
(03:41):
you there.
Over the past 15 years,portfolio practice has grown up
in a lot of ways. In the firsthalf of 2010 a large scale
project, the Catalyst forLearning project, ran in the
U.S. Organisations whoparticipated in that project
developed their portfoliostrategy, expansion, and also
(04:03):
quite a few support measures. InEurope, projects like EUfolio
and ATS2020 were funded toimplement and establish
portfolio practice and alsocommunities of learning.
Since then, many institutionshave increased their use of
portfolios from a course hereand there two entire programmes
(04:24):
using portfolios or even theentire institution. Just the
other day, at Mahara Hui Online,Dr Rob Lowney from Dublin City
University shared that about 50%of DCU students engage with
portfolios. At Monash Universityacross the Tasman in Australia,
(04:44):
Mahara is now set up universitywide. Previously, there were a
few pockets of portfolio usewith Mahara and other tools.
On the other hand, we do have toacknowledge that due to budget
cuts, fewer learning designersand fewer other third space
staff have to support morefaculty and a wider range of
(05:05):
tools and practices, not alwaysgiving them the time to
transform traditionalassignments into meaningful
portfolio activities. They oftenneed to make due with less.
That's then where many rely onother community members for
support and sharing of resourcesbecomes more and more important.
So I've had the chance to have achat with the German projects
(05:29):
Dreiklang and DiKuLe whodemonstrate this really
wonderfully as all of theirresources are Creative Comments
licensed. Also the AAEEBLcommunity and ePortfolios
Australia offer professionaldevelopment opportunities. Since
2019, I've been on the AAEEBLDigital Ethics Task Force with
wonderful colleagues from NorthAmerica, Australia, and a few
(05:52):
other countries, in which wehave developed 10 principles
that encompass digital ethicspractices to consider when
working with portfolios. You canalso watch recordings of the
webinars that we have held ontopics relating to these
principles to maybe also getinspired by some of the uses.
(06:14):
At the same time at a largenumber of organisations an
institution-wide platforms suchas Mahara doesn't exist, but it
would allow for an easyintegration into the learning
management system. That makesusing portfolios for assessment
more difficult and cumbersome,adding to the workload that
educators have.
(06:34):
Besides supporting assessmentprocesses, another advantage of
having an institution-wideplatform is that the institution
has more control over securingstudent and staff data. Data has
become a really importantcommodity in today's time and
not only just with the rise ofartificial intelligence. Using
(06:57):
an institution-providedplatform, it is then
advertisement free, legal shothave given its stamp of approval
for the terms and conditions,and the privacy measures are in
place to comply with theinstitution's policies.
That also goes for where thedata is stored and who has
access to it. Concepts like datasovereignty and data residency
(07:20):
enter the conversation, andstudents, as well as staff
should be assured that theircontent is stored appropriately
and also in line with theirinstitution's policies as well
as laws of the country in whichthe institution is located.
Check out the resources for thisepisode, where I point to a
(07:41):
recent blog post by my colleagueChris Cormack that gives a good
introduction, and not just forthose of us living in Aotearoa.
Staying with assessment, we alsohear learning designers talk
more about a programmaticapproach to assessment.
Programmatic assessment focuseson shifting to assessment for
(08:02):
learning instead of doingassessment of learning. It also
means giving students feedback,including from multiple
assessors, and engaging them inmeaningful activities that help
them develop competencies overtime. Portfolios play a central
role in that approach becausethey can help demonstrate
learning, make that learningvisible through reflections, and
(08:26):
invite feedback from others.
Using an institution-providedportfolio platform can
facilitate programmaticassessment because assessors can
be assigned to portfolios andreports built to see the
engagement or where feedbackhasn't been given yet, just for
a couple of examples.
(08:47):
Because we're having moreconversations around
programmatic assessment, I'dlove to organise an online panel
conversation on it, its impactand relevance for portfolio
practice, and where we asplatform providers should do
better to support organisationswanting to innovate their
teaching and learning practicesin that area. So if you'd like
(09:10):
to suggest panellists, whichcould also include you, of
course, please let me know.
So far, I've been talking aboutportfolio use in higher
education where we have heaps ofexamples across many different
disciplines, starting with theobvious ones, like teaching and
nursing, but also going tomusicology and forest sciences
(09:32):
that Chahira Nouira talked aboutin her interview.
I'm very happy though, thatwe've also been able to support
professionals in their portfoliouse beyond formal training and
educational offerings. In ourteam, we support most closely
organisations that useportfolios with nurses and
pharmacists looking to the worldof work. These portfolios look
(09:56):
quite different from say, aneducation student's portfolio or
that of a design student. Nurseand pharmacist's portfolio are
pretty templated and text-baseddue to the nature of the work
that they do. They are linked tothe standards of the profession,
and these portfolios do focus onreflection and can include
(10:18):
feedback from peers andmanagers.
A few years ago, right beforethe first lockdown in 2020
actually, I had the chance topresent on the nurse portfolios
alongside the team at WaitematāDistrict Health Board, which is
now Health New Zealand Te WhatuOra (Auckland North and West
(10:39):
Waitematā). Having had rolledout Mahara to all nurses just
about a year earlier, JanineQuiding, Miriam Laidlaw, and
Tabitha Parker had found thatnurses thought differently about
their PDRP and keeping theirportfolio. PDRP stands for
Professional Development andRecognition Programme, the
(11:00):
programme where registerednurses need to keep a portfolio
for three years, which is thenreviewed and assessed before
they start a new review cycle.
So in those portfolios now, oncethe nurses had shifted to an
electronic portfolio usingMahara, the focus shifted from
assessment to professionaldevelopment. Where in the past,
(11:24):
there was minimal engagement ontheir portfolios, they now had
conversations. And theseconversations didn't always just
happen on the portfolio. Most ofthe time, the conversations were
actually between the nurse andthe manager or the peer, and
then only summaries would havebeen kept in the portfolio. Not
to forget, in the past, manynurses procrastinated updating
(11:47):
their portfolios, whereas now,many started early, and their
short introductory trainingsessions were fully booked most
of the time.
You can find the links to thetwo presentations that talk
about the use of portfolios atWaitematā in the episode notes.
Make sure to watch them to seehow many portfolio binders
(12:10):
they've had left after justabout a year, and note that we
couldn't actually capture allthe portfolios in the 'Before'
picture because of where the twobig cupboards full of them were
located at the district.
Since the start of using Maharain late 2018, the Waitematā
(12:31):
team, which has changed overtime, has been iterating over
the portfolios and the supportthey provide to the nurses and
also the nurse educators.
They've streamlined processeswith other providers in the
region and regularly share theirpractice. They also feed back
what works for them in theportfolios and what they'd like
to improve on their platform tous, which results either
(12:54):
directly in changes to Mahara orinforms our thinking when there
is not yet a clear project. Itis great to be able to follow
their work more closely to helpus think about portfolios in
those contexts. This use ofportfolios by nurses
demonstrates how portfoliosbenefit people outside of formal
(13:15):
courses to document, reflect on,and achieve their professional
development goals.
Now what's in stock for nextyear? One big focus area for us
is the refresh of Mahara to giveit a new look. Work on that is
actively underway, alongsidesome other projects that I
(13:37):
talked about at Mahara HuiOnline. We'll also have the
updated roadmap on the websitesoon. I look forward to many
more conversations around Maharaand how we can support our
community. I also look forwardto connecting with all of you in
the wider portfolio communityabout portfolio practices. There
(13:58):
is always something new tolearn. Thank you very much for
giving me the opportunity tolearn from you.
Now over to you. What do youwant to try in your own
portfolio practice? This was'Create. Share. Engage.' Head to
our website, podcast.mahara.org,where you can find resources and
(14:23):
the transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT. our next episode
will air in two weeks. I hopeyou will listen again and tell a
colleague about our podcast sothey can subscribe. Until then,
create, share, and engage.
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