The focus of the work is on personalized learning environments, which should enable students to choose their own learning path, not only according to their learning requirements and preferences, but also to support social processes in the acquisition of knowledge. In this paper, the requirements of the learning and development environment called Mahara are compared with those in the literature. Mahara is an electronic portfolio, web blog, resume builder and social networking system designed to support learners in collaborative work. The software attempts to combine e-learning and social interaction. The goal pursued with Mahara is therefore similar to the goal associated with the requirements for educational social software. By comparing the Mahara learning platform from practice with the concepts of theory, it was determined on the one hand to what extent Mahara fulfills the requirements of educational social software and on the other hand to what extent the practical approach of Mahara fulfills the expectations of educational social software.

Alexander Simon

Assoz. Univ.-Prof. Dipl. -Ing. Dr. Stefan Oppl