Institution/ Organisation Name:  Southampton Solent University  www.solent.ac.uk

What is unique about this implementation case study

Our implementation of Mahara is fully integrated with the online careers service and all our efforts work towards students taking ownership of their portfolio.

• Student involvement and use 
• Many staff use creatively to embed employability
• Ownership - open source so we can customise it to our Careers service templates and advice
• Ownership - Students can use it as they wish, regardless of tutor input
• Provides users with a private and public web space they can control
• Started from a low cost pilot project and has organically evolved through the employability agenda and latterly cross faculty/service leadership

e-Portfolio tool: Mahara

Purpose:    Graduate Employability, Personal Development Planning, Work Based Learning

Processes:   Information capture, Information retrieval, Planning, Feedback, Reflection, Collaboration, Presentation, Assessment (formative & summative)
 

Drivers:  Institutional. There was a need to provide all students and staff with a personal online development space. It had to act as a link between the VLE and online careers service so the student can move seamlessly in one environment.

Key words: Southampton Solent University, Higher Education, UK, CDP, PDP, Personal development, careers, employability, skills awareness, student ownership, innovative assessment methods, Mahara, Web2.0 tools, interoperable, transportable, exportable,

Brief overview of the organisation:  

Background of the institution: http://www.solent.ac.uk/about-us/the-university/the-university.aspx   Southampton Solent University's vocational and professional strength is rooted deep within its history and the legacy from the art, technology and nautical studies colleges it evolved from. Although incorporated as an independent higher education institution as recently as 1989, the University's origins can be traced back to a private School of Art founded in 1856 which eventually became Southampton College of Art. Mergers with the Southampton College of Technology and, later, the College of Nautical Studies at Warsash saw the establishment of Southampton Institute in 1984.These beginnings can be seen in the University today, within the subject areas of art and design, technology and maritime and throughout the University in its emphasis on preparing students for modern professional practice.

Solent's unique selling point is the distinctive way we link together student learning, applied research and service to business and the community and develop imaginative working partnerships with Further Education and employers.

Solent serves 19,000 students.

History of the use of e-portfolios:

Academic year/year when e-portfolios were first used:
2009-10
 

Academic year/year when large-scale implementation began:
2010-11

Current use of e-portfolios:  

Mahara is used as a key employability enhancement tool. The e-portfolio is being used across the whole institution with elements of formal use in particular academic units (modules) that are delivered to a wide number of courses; on an individual or group basis for academic projects; by individual students completely informally for personal or social use; by members of staff for formal working groups. The key is that anyone in the University can use the tool as they feel appropriate, create their owns groups, invite members, and publish views locally or publicly. 

In house hosted. Integrated with VLE (Moodle) and Online Careers Support
 

No. of students/ staff who have access
19,000 students + 1000 staff
 

No. of students/ staff who are active users
9000

Evaluation of e-portfolio use:

Student feedback at  the research stage, please see the implementation study for more details.

Mahara Development Group continues to monitor use and feedback.

What have you found are the key factors for successful large-scale implementation?  What lessons have been learnt?

Communication, awareness, support (online and in person), lots of examples, support of Deputy Vice Chancellor.

What is there left to do? The future? 

Keep going! Upgrade system, provide many more examples, alumni students supporting current students, mobile technology development.

Embed in induction activities. Support FE and other students joining Solent with their own existing e-Portfolios.

Policy /strategy documents in which some reference to e-portfolios are made that can be made available to the ePI study:
It is part of the Learning Information Service Development Plan for 2010-2011 and identified as a key quality enhancement priority by Academic Standards and Development Committee.