By: Gia Vuong Riyad Mahmud Narsimha Kalthy

 What is Mahara?  Logging into the ACS Portfolio  Using Mahara to Manage: ◦ Files ◦ Blogs ◦ External Feeds

 Mahara is an open-source tool that can be used as a platform in which to present information: ◦ Personal profile ◦ Academic information ◦ Professional information such as work history, resume, cover letter  It is also a tool that helps manage other information that users want to share with viewers such as: ◦ Various views ◦ Files and documentation ◦ Blogs ◦ External feeds

Under Network Servers on the right-hand frame of the course welcome page, click on ACS Portfolio

To manage files, blogs, and feeds, click on My Portfolio. This is the welcome page that appears once you are logged in. You can use the menu bar on the top to navigate to different sections of your portfolio.

 In Mahara you can share your work by uploading the files likes pictures, word documents, videos, etc.  You can even drag and drop files and folders into other folders as with normal Windows- like file explorers.

This is the page that appears when you click on My Files under My Portfolio. To create a new folder click on the Create Folder button. This screen will appear, and after filling in the details, click on Create Folder.

Once the folder is created, it is listed on the My Files page. To upload a file, click on the Upload file button. To upload a file to a folder of your choice, click on the folder name and then click on the Upload file button. The screen shown on the right will appear. Enter the details as required, browse for your file and click on the Upload file button.

In Mahara you can share your thoughts with other by creating and managing your own blogs.

To add a new blog, click on the Add Blog button. This is the page that appears when you click on My Blogs under My Portfolio

Fill in the details as required and click on the Create Blog button. This is the page that appears when you click on the Add Blog button.

Select the view to which you want to add the blog, and click on the Edit view tab. You will see the screen below. Select the Blogs (3) tab (default display) and choose one of three options. Click and drag the icon representing the format you like and position on page as required. The form on the right will appear. Fill in the details and click on Save.

Once you have set up the blog, it will appear under My Views. To set up access permission click on Edit View access. On the Edit View access screen you will see option as shown here.  Select allow copying (optional)  Select the audiences (public or selected audience)  Add the period that the blogs can be displayed  Click on the Save button

In Mahara you can set up RSS feeds for your topics of interest and they will be automatically updated whenever the sources change.

To setup and manage feeds, click on My Views and then click on Edit this View under the name of the view you want to manage, in this case Welcome Page. This is the page that appears when you click on My Portfolio.

Click on the External feeds tab. This is the page that appears when you click on Edit this View.

To place an external feed, click and drag on the External feed icon and place as required. This is the page that appears when you click on External Feeds.

Once you position the external feeds icon as required, the page is greyed out and the following form appears. Fill in the title and the URL from which you want to get RSS feeds, then click on Save.

You will then see this page with a message on top saying Block configured successfully. You can reposition this block by clicking and dragging the title. You can also click on this icon to edit or delete the block.