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Mahara ePortfolio Integration Module

     by: Boon-Hau Teh
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Overview
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This is a simple Mahara integration module for ATutor.

   "Mahara is an open source e-portfolio, weblog, resume builder
    and social networking system, connecting users and creating
    online learner communities. Mahara is designed to provide users
    with the tools to demonstrate their life-long learning, skills
    and development over time to selected audiences."


Requirements
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* ATutor version 1.6 or above
* Mahara 1.0.2


Installing
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1. Install ATutor and Mahara on the same server (see their
   respective installation documents).

2. Copy all Mahara module files to /mods/mahara in Atutor.

3. As an administrator in ATutor, install and enable the module.

4. A link to 'ePortfolio' should now appear in the navigation menu.
   Still logged in as an administrator, enter full the path to the
   Mahara installation.

       example on Windows system:
            C:\webroot\mahara\

       example on Linux system:
            /usr/local/apache/htdocs/mahara/


Using ePortfolio
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Once logged into ATutor, a regular user can access his/her
ePortfolio through the main menu or Home page.  The ePortfolio
will appear on the page in ATutor as an embedded iframe.  The user
has the option of clicking on a button, which closes the iframe and
opens the ePortfolio in a new window/tab of the browser.

If a user's account on ATutor is deleted, the user's ePortfolio
account on Mahara still remains active.  If the user wishes to
continue accessing Mahara, the user should be able to retrieve
the password by entering his/her E-mail (the same E-mail that was
registered in ATutor) through the "Password Reminder" feature of
Mahara.  Note that the "Password Reminder" feature is provided
by Mahara 1.0.2 and is external to this module.



Developer's Note
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This module does not make use of the single-sign-on feature via
XMLRPC provided by Mahara. Instead, it integrates Mahara into
ATutor by directly calling necessary functions found in Mahara.
Therefore, this module may not work in other versions of Mahara if
there are any noticeable changes made to these required functions.

This module is intended for Mahara to run as an integrated part of
ATutor, and not as a standalone program.  Single-sign-on through
ATutor is implemented by storing login information for Mahara in the
ATutor database.  When a user accesses the ePortfolio for the first
time, the user is automatically registered into Mahara with a new
account.  User details get copied over from ATutor and a password
for Mahara is automatically generated.  The username and password
get stored with ATutor and used whenever accessing Mahara
(through Mahara's login script).  In the event that the username
and password is lost from the database, the module can still find
the user (by username) on the Mahara database, generate a new
password, and re-save the login information in ATutor.