Mahara is my ePortfolio system of choice. Mahara understands my needs: I don’t want to publish all my work life for all the web to see, I want to choose who I share information with. But I do not want to compromise my ability to publish widely chosen information. With Mahara I can do both.
 
- I can create a page for each of my projects. Mahara being hosted, either on an internal server or by a provider, I effectively create a web page that I have control over.

- I have a file repository, it allows me to upload a wide range of files quickly  that I can arrange on a page.

- I choose who and why I share a page with: a colleague for peer feedback, the management team for annual review, or make it public to showcase aspects of my work on my LinkedIn profile.

- I obtain feedback and comments from my chosen audience on my pages. It help me move my thoughts forward and review my progress.

- I use the blog to keep traces of thoughts and reflections arising from feedback or work completion.

- I create a dynamic, digital CV using the Résumé builder . Since traces of my activity are stored on Mahara, it is easy for me to keep it up to date.

- Mahara works with the other online tools I use to produce information about my activity. I only need to embed the different media on my page.

- Mahara helps me work with others on projects. I create a group, invite colleague to join. We use the forum within the group to communicate and the group pages to centralise our input/output as a team.

- The Mahara community is full of active experts and is supportive. If I meet a hurdle, I can ask for help using the forums. And I can refer to the up to date Manual.

- I am in control of my content, I can download my portfolio as HTML and/or upload it to another Mahara instance.

These are only 10 of the reasons I love Mahara. If you would like more information about Mahara and how it can serve yours and your team learning purpose, be in touch.

Meet Greg. Greg is 23 and lives in Tauranga New Zealand.

Greg has actually lived there all his life. He went to the local Boy's college and hung in there until he gained his NCEA Level 2 credits in 2007.

This particular young man found the last year at school a bit of a challenge. All of his courses required a fair amount of writing,  which was not his forte. He enjoyed the Digital Technologies standards and despite the report writing he gained the credits attached to the course.

Growing more certain that University was not for him, Paul, Greg’s dad, was happy for him to find something to do rather than see him through another school year and get to the same conclusion.

While at school Greg had also been quite involved with the local surf life saving club and was looking forward to the summer season. He had been training hard and was looking forward to his competing chances. He had started 2008 as an ocean athlete but now the lifeguard season was drawing to an end he had to give serious thoughts to what he was going to do. With the surf close by and with his mum Annie not quite ready for her youngest to leave home just yet, he wanted to stay in Tauranga.

Over the summer he had fixed some issues on his cousin's PC. He also researched and compared long and hard before deciding to invest his few savings in his first laptop. Greg figured that he was going to need one of those. Within a few weeks, he decided to enroll in the Diploma in Applied Computing starting in July at the Polytech. He was happy to commit to study for another year as the course looked hands on with some practical skills and the bonus of a recognized qualification. To make ends meet till the course started, Greg did some laboring work for his uncle Peter, a well established local builder.

Fast forward to July 2009. Greg is now qualified, the year went fast. While training, Greg has become the techie port of call for his surf mates' laptops. Most times he sorts them out. Peter has now got him to help on Saturdays in the office as the networked PCs are needing a bit more maintenance before the next upgrade.

Greg is enjoying making the computers work, even if it often requires him to search for solutions to problem he had not met before. Peter is happy with his work and pays him for his trouble. Greg buys his first smartphone. Taking pictures of the job at hand, rather than writing notes, proves very useful for him to remember what to search for. Greg needs a full time job though. He still wants to stay in Tauranga.

Rob, owner of a local Technology Services business, is looking for someone. He has started to diversify his activity and some of the guys he started with five years ago have moved on with the demand but he still needs a reliable network technician. Rob receives ten CVs. He discarded five at first glance and the five remaining were almost similar. Rob recognizes the referee on Greg's CV: he has done business with Peter before and values his opinion. And Greg added a couple of pictures of the jobs he did to his CV. Rob gives him his first job. Greg does not know it yet, but he has effectively started building his ePortfolio.