First glimpse of Mahara

For this weeks ICT topic (week 5), we were to familiars ourselves with the site Mahara. Even though I've only had today to play around with the site, I have come to see some great uses that Mahara can and will offer. Below is the link to some of the work that I have done today:

http://cqu-mahara.netspot.com.au/view/view.php?t=thZ8OHmUZAechBLNQPMw

I have also created a "Group" titled GDLT Secondary, please join as I would love to converse opinions and idea's with all you secondaries out there!

I thought the Mahara site provides great opportunities for professionals and students to store (informal and formal) information on. It's another great technological communication tool. To me, it seemed like a academic Facebook. I think students would be really engaged using a sites like this, since it's just like using a Facebook!

I found this great quote on google that I thought was a good explanation of why using sites, such as Mahara are a great learning tool for professionals and students alike. In my thoughts, this is what a site like Mahara can offer students:

“Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves” (Chickering & Gamson, 1987).

Mahara definitely is a site that needs some time spent looking at all it's features; as their are many possibilities given when using it.

I found Scots Mahara tutorials to be a little bit more helpful than the mosep website videos, as their instructions were slightly different to what you saw on your Mahara page. Still, there were some great instructions on the mosep website.

The one thing I continuously find about these sites are they are so addictive! That may be a good thing though? When you sign up for Mahara make sure to add me as a friend!

Would love to hear your thoughts.