Published on: 30/06/2023 · Last updated on: 14/10/2026
Logging into Mahara
Mahara at the University of Bath can be accessed in two ways.
- Visit Mahara directly using this web link: https://mahara.bath.ac.uk
- Visit Moodle (https://moodle.bath.ac.uk) and select Mahara from the drop-down menu under Useful Links
Use your university login details (username and password) and click Login.
Guidance for students
A Mahara Basic Guide for students is found under Links and resources in the Mahara Dashboard. It provides a useful guide for getting started, and is available within Mahara for easy reference. Staff may wish to signpost this guide during induction activities, and to supplement it with contextualised guidance.
Mahara and accessibility
Mahara aims to be usable by as many people as possible. For more information see the Mahara accessibility statement.
Setting up your profile page
Your Profile area stores your contact and personal information, and it can be helpful to set this up (in a similar way to Moodle) to enable others to recognise you. Each profile field can be considered a separate artefact which you can add independently to your profile page or any portfolio page. You can reveal as little or as much information about yourself to others as you wish.
Your profile page is public. By default, it can be viewed by anyone who is logged into Mahara at the University of Bath.
Note about privacy: Be very vigilant with your private information. Think carefully about what you share and who with. Please discuss this with your students also, as they need to think carefully about their digital privacy.
Complete the form fields with the information you want to add, making sure to click Save.
Note: If you want to add your preferred pronouns you can use the Display name field (e.g. My name (they/them)).
Adding a Profile image
You can upload up to 5 profile images.
The images you wish to use must be between 16×16 and 1170×1170 pixels in size. Ideally, your profile images are square. Please use an image editing software before you upload your images to reduce photos to the required dimensions.
The recommended size of your profile image is 100×100 pixels. This image size looks good on your profile page and in the smaller sizes around Mahara.
The profile images that you wish to upload to Mahara must be available on your local computer. Choose one image at a time to upload. You can also give images a title.
- User menu > Profile pictures
Arrange Dashboard
The dashboard is the first page you see on logging into Mahara. You can arrange the items on the page to suit your preferred way of working. For example, you might want to see your inbox, or portfolios that have been shared with you.
The main menu to the left is not editable.
- Click Edit Dashboard to arrange it the way you would like.
Setting up email notifications
You are, by default, notified of relevant activity in your Mahara Inbox.
However, you can change your notification preferences so that you receive an email instead.
- User menu > Settings > Notifications
- Change your preferences and click Save (at the bottom of the page).
Storage quota and managing files
As a default people with Mahara accounts have 250MB quota of storage in Mahara. Storage quota may be increased as needed, up to a maximum of 450MB.
Note about storage and managing files: If students upload a new copy of a file or image each time they add it to a different portfolio page, this will quickly use up the storage quota. Instead students can upload a single copy to the Files area before adding it to pages in a portfolio. Remind students to optimise documents and images (e.g. resize or compress image files). When you introduce Mahara to students, make sure they understand their storage quota and how to manage files in Mahara, including how to use video.