Last month we asked members of our two EAT-PDP focus groups to complete a short online survey. We also met up with some of them to give them a piece of cake and the opportunity to tell us what they thought of myFolio so far. I was disappointed and surprised not to see more of our original group members come back – especially as they could have collected rewards for doing so – but those who did attend were engaged with the software and gave plenty of good, useful feedback.
It should be mentioned – as I have previously – that this is not a great time to ask students to help with a project as the pressure of exams and revision can be enormous on its own without project staff adding to it. On the other hand, Mahara based software can be put to good use as a tool for self-reflection and identifying skill gaps – and strengths, so could also help a student to prepare for exams and sessions with tutors.
From the point of view of the EAT-PDP project workers, asking students to get to grips with a new piece of software in a limited time and with conflicting pressures – no matter how useful that software may eventually prove – helps us to judge what degree of support will be needed at the time of Mahara’s university-wide roll-out.
With the caveats out of the way I am pleased to report that we received much positive feedback on Mahara. Our focus groups cover students from a wide range of disciplines and it is no surprise that those whose subject does not rely solely on the written word benefitted most from the software. In particular architecture and film and media studies under-graduates liked the way they could link, import or embed video and images into their e-folios. Computer science students also liked this aspect of Mahara.
I am going to try and break the habit of a lifetime in these blogs by resisting the temptation to spout at length. You know where to find me if you really do want more and notes from the sessions and a summary of survey results are available in the side bar. So I will restrict myself to the key messages distilled from our survey and feedback sessions:
- Most users saw benefits in Mahara as an e-folio tool and an enhancement to traditional CVs and job applications
- Our focus group members were not in general well engaged with Personal Development Planning though there were positive comments as to how Mahara could help with self- reflection
- The Mahara interface is a little cluttered and not as intuitive as it might be
- Controlling access to views and blogs created within Mahara was not well understood and this was a barrier to experimentation and self-reflection for some users
- Many students commented that the university needed to publicise Mahara to employers and agencies as well as to students