Create. Share. Engage.

Prof Dr Debbie Oesch-Minor and her student Salsabil Qaddoura from Indiana University Indianapolis talk about portfolios at IU Indianapolis, in particular in Debbie's composition course that Salsabil took where she created a portfolio that showed her the power of this practice.

Debbie shares her reasons for working with portfolios and supporting other faculty and students in the portfolio process within the ePortfolio Studio. Salsabil outlines the benefits that she as student saw while engaged in the portfolio process, which she then also shared with other faculty at the university.

Resources

• AAEEBL
• High-impact practices
• ePortfolio student showcase
• Oesch-Minor, D. (2023, July 14). EPortfolios on the Fives: Simplifying and streamlining ePortfolio building for students and faculty [Presentation]. AAEEBL Annual Meeting, Vancouver
• Salsabil's portfolio 'Legal, not always just'
• Dweck, C. (2014). Developing a growth mindset [Presentation]. Stanford+Connects micro lecture, New York.
• Elbow, P. (1993). Ranking, evaluating, and liking: Sorting out three forms of judgment. College English, 55(2), 187–206.
• Pratt, M. L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession, 33–40.
• Percy, J. (2014, October 14). My terrifying night with Afghanistan’s only female warlord. The New Republic.
• Berehulak, D. (2016, December 7). 'They are slaughtering us like animals.' The New York Times.
• Hoeppner, K. (2015, April 9). Scaffolding ePortfolio use [Presentation]. Mahara Hui 2015, Auckland, New Zealand.
• NACE career readiness competencies
• ePortfolios Australia PARE sessions

Related episodes

• Cathy Elliott: Have fun, be flexible, and encourage feedback in your portfolio
• Amy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practices
• The wunderkammer: Metaphors in portfolio practice
• Allison Miller: The portfolio is a process

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Professor Dr Jaye Ryan, SFHEA, headed the nursing ePortfolio programme at Birmingham City University (BCU) in the UK between 2010 and 2019. She supported students and staff in creating ePortfolios and introduced Student Academic Mentors ePortfolios (StAMPs) to help students as peers.

In this episode, Jaye talks about the ePortfolio practice in her nursing programme, the challenges she faced, and how she and the StAMPs made the portfolio work for students.

Resources

• Ryan, J. A. (2025). The lived experience of mature undergraduate nursing students with quasi-dyslexia: Navigating ongoing academic challenges [Doctoral Thesis, Birmingham City University].
• Ryan, J. A. (2018). Which resources are most helpful to support development of an ePortfolio? British Journal of Nursing, 27(5), 266–271.
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles: Support
• Hoeppner, K. (2025, May 15). Portfolios: Integral to your programmatic assessment approach.
• Mahara 26.04 refresh: December 2025 update
• Jaye's fundraiser for her dad after hurricane Melissa in 2025

Related episodes

• Amy Cicchino & Brandi Gilbert: Portfolios as high-impact practices
• Christina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentors
• David Hicks: The portfolio tells the story of growth
• Michael Sankey: The portfolio as the place of representation for emerging professionals
• Jonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competencies

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Soropepeli Ramacake, MSW Applied, PGDip in Supervision, Dip in Counselling, BTheology works at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji as Assistant Lecturer. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney.

Soro uses Mahara as portfolio platform with his social work students who are on placement in various South Pacific countries, supporting them mainly from the distance.

Resources

• Chief, I. Y., & Ramacake, S. (2025, November 11). Learners’ reflection on the use of e-Portfolio in Social Work at The University of the South Pacific. ICDE World Conference 2025, Wellington.
• Mock-ups for Mahara 26.04
• Using Mahara to demonstrate skills acquired in a hospitality workplace practicum. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Parijata Moeava and Mojito Jione (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.
• Creating spaces for students to demonstrate competencies in their profession. Presentation at Mahara Hui 2017 by Irene Yee Chief, Mojito Jione and Rajneel Totaram (The University of the South Pacific) in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 April 2017.

Related episodes

• Sue Schibeci: Portfolios in work-integrated learning experiences
• Jonathan Murphy: Demonstrate skills and competencies
• Zala Volcic: Develop community, relationships, and compassion

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Associate Prof Dr Amy Cicchino, the Director of the Writing Center at the University of Central Florida and Brandi Gilbert, MPH, the Director of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program at Indiana University Indianapolis talk about high-impact practices and how portfolios fit in.

Resources

• Assessment Institute
• HIPs in the States
• AAC&U list of high-impact practices
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics in ePortfolios Principles
• Kuh, G.D, O’Donnell, K., & Reed, S. (2013). Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale. American Association of Colleges and Universities.
• Watson, C. E., Kuh, G. D., Rhodes, T. L., Penny Light, T., & Chen, H. L. (2016). Editorial: ePortfolios – The eleventh High Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65–69.
• Kinzie, J., Silberstein, S., McCormick, A.C., Gonyea, R. M., & Dugan, B. (2021). Centering racially minoritized student voices in high-impact practices. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 53(4), 6–14
• IU Indianapolis ePortfolio Studio
• IU Indianapolis student ePortfolio showcase
• Elements of HIPs:
  • Performance expectations set at appropriately high levels
  • Significant investment of concentrated effort by students over an extended period
  • Interactions with faculty and peers about substantive matters
  • Experiences with diversity, wherein students are exposed to and must contend with people and circumstances that differ from those with which students are familiar
  • Frequent, timely, and constructive feedback
  • Opportunities to discover relevance of learning through real-world applications
  • Public demonstration of competence
  • Periodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning
  • Making a difference for others
  • Agency and accomplishment

Related episodes

• Christina Mayes: Portfolio support through peer mentors
• Mark Glynn: Take a programmatic approach to assessment with portfolios
• Sheetal J. Patel: Own your story through a portfolio
• Christine Dülfer: Supporting industry internships

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

In this episode, podcast host, Kristina Hoeppner, MA, from Catalyst IT, picks out a few memorable situations from her recent trip to Europe in September and early October 2025.

Resources

• MoodleMoot DACH
• MoodleMoot Global 2025
• Kawaiicon
• Mahara UX review 2024
• Mahara refresh mock-ups
• CPD enhancements
• Mahara subscription
• 'Mahara Ask Me Anything' sessions
  • AMA on 25 November 2025
  • AMA on 16/17 December 2025

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

OStR'in Antje Koenen, MA, is a senior teacher for English and German at Max-Beckmann-Schule in Frankfurt a.M. in Germany. She also works for the Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie, facilitating workshops for other teachers in the use of Mahara and digital media in general, amongst other things.

In this episode, Antje shares why portfolios are a central part of her teaching and learning strategy. She explains how portfolios help engage students as partners in the classroom and help create authentic learning tasks that take advantage of the students' own experiences.

Resources

• Schulportal Hessen
• Lernbegleitung
• Demo site of Mahara

Related episodes

• Sigi Jakob-Kühn: Make students your partners in exploring portfolios
• Christine Dülfer: Supporting industry internships

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Dr Tessa Forshaw, Founding Scholar of the Next Level Lab at Harvard University and Rich Braden (BSEE and BSCE), Chief Innovation Evangelist at People Rocket are the authors of the book Innovation-ish: How anyone can create breakthrough solutions to real problems in the real world.

In this episode, they share what innovation and creativity mean to them, how everyone can be creative and innovative, and how the portfolio comes into play in their classes and also consulting projects. Learn about a couple of the mindsets and moves from their book and the difference between passive reflection and active metacognition.

Resources

• Project Zero at Harvard University
• Harvard Innovation Labs
• Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, aka d.school
• IDEO CoLab
• Clinton Global Initiative
• NEOM project
• Book Experiments in reflection: How to see the present, reconsider the past, and shape the future by Dr Leticia Britos Cavagnaro
• Thinking routines
  
  

Related episodes

• Leticia Britos Cavagnaro: Make learning visible
• Cathy Elliott: Creativity and feedback in assessment portfolios
• Bob Reuter: Externalise your thinking with portfolios
• Ingrid D'Souza: Creativity and lifelong portfolios

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Jack Rice, MBA, is the Director of Digital and Extended Learning at Acadia University and the Executive Director of the Maple League of Universities in Canada.

In this episode, he shares stories from his various positions where he encountered portfolios and how he's changed his view on the tool and pedagogy to embrace portfolios fully and seeing them as being very important in the future of education.

Resources

• Jack's publications on EvoLLLution
• VoiceThread
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics Principles in ePortfolios: DEIBD
• Jack's blog post 'The traces of learning'

Related episodes

• Rita Zuba Prokopetz: Building a learning community
• Debra Hoven: The value of self-reflection and peer feedback
• Debra Hoven & Margaret Rauliuk: Disrupt the dissertation with an ePortfolio

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Christina Mayes, MSc, is the Assistant Director of Digital Support Services, including the Fletcher Jones Digital Portfolio Lab within the Center for the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California, U.S.A.

In this episode, Christina shares how the peer mentors at Dominican support students with questions for their portfolio, career readiness, and navigating college life in general.

Resources

• Digital portfolio support at Dominican
• Peer Mentor Program at Dominican
• AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force
• AAEEBL ePortfolio Retreat 2024
• AAEEBL ePortfolio Review
• Elizalde, R., Mayes, C. (2025). Reflective portfolios as a tool for community and belonging, K-12 and beyond [Presentation]. Peralta Online Equity Conference. (presentation slides)
• Cendon, D., Denk, K., Kuo, K., Mema, L., Nkwadi, S., Nguyen, K., Avila, P., Chen, H. L., Mayes, C., & Mize, M. (2025). Bridging the gap: Insights from student advocates and peer mentors in ePortfolio practice [Presentation]. AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS), 2025 Forum on Digital Innovation, Puerto Rico.
• Kecia Denk's penguin radio station
• Christina's portfolio

Related episodes

• Solena Ornelas: Set goals and achieve them with a portfolio
• Starlight (José) Lain-Straus: The portfolio as impactful practice for students
• KatieAnn Nguyen: Showcase your achievements in a portfolio and be proud of them
• Arturo Flores, Jr.: The portfolio is a reflection of yourself
• Matthew E. Mueller: Create and control your own narrative with a portfolio

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Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

Assistant Research Professor in Principled Innovation Dr Bea Rodriguez-Fransen works at the  Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU), focusing on its Principled Innovation Infrastructure for Discovery and Engagement initiative.

In early 2025, Bea published the book Education and decolonial futures in the Philippines: Perspectives for educators and practitioners in which she introduces the decolonial design futures framework that she developed. It is an extension of design thinking to suit working with Indigenous and marginalised communities better.

Bea introduces the decolonial design futures framework along with the decolonial portals and related ideas in this episode, tying them in particular to reflection and how educators can make use of the techniques and frameworks that she's developed, tested, and elaborated on through her work with different communities.

Additional resources

• Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation
• Principled innovation framework
• Bea's TED World Theater talk 'Unlocking Indigenous knowledge: A new path for education'
• Young African Leaders Initiative
• Design Justice Network
• Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Design justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Paulo Freire
• Cervantes, C. L. G. (2025). The Filipino experience of Kutob: Understanding culturally-informed hyper-intuition. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive, 113.
• Rank, H. (1976). Teaching about public persuasion, In: Daniel Dietrich (ed.). Teaching about doublespeak. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.
• ORID framework
• Rodriguez-Fransen, B. (2024). From “Little Brown Brother” to Filipino genocide: A critical discourse analysis of the Philippine-American War’s impact on Modern Filipino colorism. Journal of Colorism Studies; Windsor Mill, 5(1), 1–22.
• Quimpo, N. G. (2020). Colonial name, colonial mentality and ethnocentrism. Public Policy, 4(1), 1–49.

Related episodes

• Christine Slade and Kevin Kelly: Digital ethics principle DEIBD
• Kevin Kelly & Kristina Hoeppner: Digital ethics principles and UDL guidelines

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.

Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward