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Mahara – e-Portfolio (formative)

Published on: 23/08/2024 · Last updated on: 25/11/2025

Assessment Type: Coursework (Portfolio)

The TEL recommended workflows are below, for three formative e-portfolio assessment scenarios, using Mahara. If you are setting up a summative e-portfolio assessment visit Mahara – Summative. The guidance provided is for typical use of Mahara.

Visit the Maraha guidance for instructions.

Scenario 1 – Sharing with others for feedback

Students have control over who they share their portfolios with.  They can share with peers, tutors or external people such as placement employers.  This allows students to receive feedback comments on their work.

  1. Students share their work with others.

    Students can share their portfolio internally within Mahara, so that peers or tutors can view their work. Sharing with people who do not have accounts in Mahara is also possible, by creating a secret (i.e. public) URL that can be shared via email.

  2. Others add feedback.

    Other people can add feedback via the commenting feature.  Comments can be made private so that only the author of the comment and the author of the work can view them. While the work is being shared with others, the student can reply to comments and enter into dialogue with the feedback author. Comments are editable by the author for 10 minutes.  The student can delete comments.

  3. Student stops sharing their work with others.

    When the feedback period is over the student can remove sharing rights, so others will no longer be able to view the work.

  4. Students can review the feedback for future use.

    Students can review the feedback comments or dialogue and further develop their portfolio.

Visit the Maraha guidance for instructions.

Scenario 2 – Using a Smart Evidence Framework

Using a Smart Evidence Framework in Mahara, staff can create a set of criteria or competencies (known as standards). As they build up their portfolio, students can map evidence against the standards. A Smart Evidence map displays as the first page of their portfolio. Staff can review completion and provide feedback using the Smart Evidence Framework.

  1. Students map their work to the relevant framework

    When students map their portfolio to a Smart Evidence Framework, a Smart Evidence framework page is added to the front of their portfolio. This gives staff and students an overview of how their portfolio maps to the evidence framework, and the assessment status for each criteria. 

  2. Students add Annotation blocks

    Students add Annotation blocks to pages in the portfolio to identify where their work meets a specific standard within the framework. They should add a comment to explain how their work meets the standard.

  3. Staff or Peers Place feedback on the Annotation block

    Anyone with shared access to the portfolio can leave a comment using the Place Feedback button.  

  4. Staff can select an assessment status

    Tutors who have a ‘Staff’ role in Mahara can assess the evidence by choosing a relevant ‘status’ in the Assessment drop-down menu and clicking Save.  Note: the ‘staff’ role is not automatically assigned so please contact the TEL team if this is required.

  5. Students view Smart Evidence feedback and assessment

    Students can view feedback comments and the assessment status either from the Smart Evidence map page or from a portfolio page. 

Visit the Maraha guidance for instructions.

Scenario 3 – Submission to a Moodle Assignment

Submitting to Moodle will be used for summative assessment. It also provides the ability to capture formative feedback for the whole cohort at key stages in the portfolio assessment cycle.

A diagram outlining two workflows. One is for formative submission: 'Lock submitted portfolio' is set to 'No', a link to the live portfolio is submitted. For summative submission: 'Lock submitted portfolio' is set to 'Yes, and keep locked', and 'Archive when graded' is set to 'Yes'. A link to a 'submitted copy' is submitted in the Moodle assignment.
A diagram showing the recommend workflow and settings for Formative and Summative submissions to a Moodle-Mahara assignment
Moodle_Mahara_assignment_workflow_Nov25Download
  1. Create a Moodle Assignment for Mahara submission.

    Staff can create a Moodle Assignment, selecting the option to allow Mahara submission.  This allows students to submit from their list of available Mahara Pages and Collections. Staff can set the default settings of the Assignment so that marks are not required, and only feedback comments are given.

    For formative submissions, we recommend setting Lock submitted portfolios to No. Note that an archive snapshot will not be captured. 

  2. Students submit their work to the Moodle Assignment

    When students access the Assignment, they will be presented with a list of available Mahara Pages and Collections.  They can submit one item to the submission point. Within the Assignment a link to the ‘live’ portfolio will be visible. Within Mahara, the portfolio remains available for editing by the student (i.e. it remains unlocked).

  3. Staff review and enter feedback

    Staff can View all submissions within the Assignment, where they will see the web link to the student’s portfolio. The link will open in the Mahara interface, in a new web browser window or tab. In the Moodle Assignment staff can Grade the submission, providing a Grade (if required) or overview Feedback Comments. Staff can also add Comments directly to the student’s portfolio if needed.

    If staff also want to use a Smart Evidence Framework to provide feedback, or add comments, they can update assessment statuses and place feedback on the ‘live’ portfolio using the portfolio link displayed in the Moodle Assignment.

  4. Staff release results and feedback

    Once all the Grades (if needed) and overview Feedback Comments are completed, the Marking workflow can be changed to ‘release’ grades and overview feedback back to students in Moodle. 

  5. Students review feedback

    Once released to students they can visit the assignment submission point to view the grades and / or overview feedback.

    When you place feedback using Comments, Smart Evidence feedback or status assessments on the portfolio in Mahara, they will be visible to students immediately. Grade and overall Feedback Comments in Moodle will be released to students when you set Marking workflow to Released. You should communicate to students when to expect to receive their formative feedback and where to view it. 

Visit the Maraha guidance for instructions.

Additional Scenario – When using Mahara Groups for a range of activities

Mahara Groups allow small groups (such as tutorial groups) to work collaboratively on a Group portfolio. They can use a discussion forum and a shared portfolio. Students can share work on individual portfolio pages within a Group. We recommend using Groups when you want to support group collaboration or discussion in Mahara. In other scenarios, setting up groups is not necessary.

When planning your activity and assessment, contact the TEL team for advice on whether Mahara Groups are useful in your learning context. Some actions for setting up Groups require Mahara Administrator permissions (e.g. if you have many students to add to a group, or multiple groups).

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