ePortfolios: Why I switched

Well, this IS awkward. After almost ten years using my ePortfolio based on Mahara, I've made the switch to LinkedIn. The awkward part is, I proposed and chaired the development of Mahara in 2006-2007. So, why the big switcheroo?

Here's how I've been operating up to now. I realised early on in my e-learning career that my best means of maintaining an online presence would be to ensure I have some sort of central profile that I could easily keep up to date and link others to. A customised tinyurl (http://tinyurl.com/mnichols) made this very simple, and I would use that URL for a whole host of profiles I would normally have to maintain separately. Think about it: my public blog profile, Student Hub Live profile, EDENprofile and user account profiles for the likes of Faithlife.com, Mendeley and ResearchGate… all are potential online sources for someone seeking information about me, and, without some sort of central coordination, each of them becomes rather dated rather quickly. So I've maintained my Mahara public page and, whenever possible, I have included that link whenever I am asked for a profile. Until recently I've also done this on my LinkedIn page.

It's gotten to the stage now where that seems a bit artificial. Many of my colleagues are now making extensive use of LinkedIn, and I think it's time to join them. So, my switch has naught to do with anything technical. Mahara is an elegant, intuitive, and student-oriented platform. It permits class groups, social networking, and a generous array of features. In fact Mahara is better than LinkedIn as an ePortfolio system, largely because it is an ePortfolio system. My decision to switch has everything to do with my need to simplify my online presence, and the fact that my professional contacts are now primarily based in LinkedIn. I no longer need an ePortfolio. Instead, I need a professional social networking solution. That's LinkedIn. The URL of https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbnichols/ is (mostly) as easy as my TinyURL, too!


I switched because I'm at a very different stage of my career. I'm no longer studying or seeking credentials, so I have little need for class-based private groups that link to my lecturer. My need is less for a repository of evidence and much more for a public facing profile. While my Mahara ePortfolio gave me plenty of control over my public-facing profile, it is not widely in use by colleagues and peers. It's the power of the LinkedIn network, which is global, over the usability and education-oriented features of Mahara, which is in use by close-walled providers and therefore has a more fragmented end-user community. What actually tipped it for me was my first (and unsolicited) Recommendation, which added much more to my peer esteem than the pesky Comments frequently added to my public Mahara profile, which I could never fully delete. If anyone needs to know the price of 20mg of Levitra, you'll find a link somewhere among the comments left by my adoring (and automated) Mahara public. Sigh. 

Mahara has developed significantly over the last decade, to the extent that I believe it to be the best ePortfolio solution available to educators today. It has been the best option since its inception. I've had very little to do with it in the last ten years; it's the open source community that has led to its wonderful success. However my social network and career requirements have also changed over the last decade, and I need to focus on where my peers are.

E noho rā, Mahara. Kia kaha.

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