Announcing the Release of the Karuta Open Source Portfolio Version 2.0

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The Karuta project, under the umbrella of the Apereo Foundation, is pleased to announce the release of version 2.0 of the Karuta Open Source Portfolio. Karuta offers a simple and flexible way for portfolio designers to customize portfolio workflows for learning, assessment, reporting, and showcasing. This fourth release of Karuta includes a completely new, aesthetically designed, and flexible user interface. The new UI will allow for easy customization of Karuta with institutional, programmatic, or individual portfolio banners, colors, and welcome pages.  Karuta 2.0 has new sharing and reporting functionalities and a device-friendly showcase portfolio solution based on building blocks of different types and sizes. Portfolio organization and vocabulary are simplified and more accessible. Karuta 2.0 can be set up with the inclusion of the open source social network ELGG. New templates and improved designer documentation will also be made available for quick starts using Karuta.
Karuta 2.0 is a beta version with a host of new features that has undergone extensive testing. We invite current and new partners to further test this substantially enhanced version with real users. A point release later in 2016 will address any resulting issues. Upgrading to subsequent versions of Karuta is a simple procedure.

User Interface

  • The UI for Karuta 2.0 has been completely revamped. The content and user prompts are presented in a much more intuitive manner in keeping with its responsive design display. All colors are completely customizable.
  • A special Welcome page with images and tips for users is now standard for all portfolios.

Assessment

  • As in previous versions, Karuta 2.0 can accommodate any type of rubric. In addition, a new multidimensional table-like display can now be used to accommodate AAC&U-type rubrics for speedier grading.  

Portfolio Design

  • Sharing possibilities have been greatly enhanced.  As before, users can share any part of their portfolio with colleagues.  Requests for feedback are handled using the same functionality. Outside evaluators can now add evaluation ratings and comments without being logged into the system. 
  • The designer can now create a project directory and regroup relevant portfolios files into separate projects.  The entire content of a project can now be easily exported.

Presentation Portfolios

  • Users can now create attractive showcase portfolios by adding 1-column, 2-column, and 3-column sections. Within each section, blocks of images, text, documents, and URLs can be added and moved. This approach displays very well on any device. 

Reports

  • Report capabilities have been greatly expanded. Report functionality can be used to create tables within a portfolio page, in a student portfolio (dashboard), or across student portfolios within in a particular program. Reports can be used to count artifacts, calculate sums and averages, and can be displayed in different colors or formats. Reports can also be exported in CSV or PDF format. 

Social Networking

  • If desired, the open source social network ELGG can be integrated to Karuta 2.0.  

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Karuta Benefits

Simple. Teaching and learning (T&L) designers can quickly build portfolio workflows by creating pages, adding different resources (text, document, comments, rubrics, oEmbed resources, email notification, etc.) and assigning their use to various roles (student, evaluator, etc.). 

Flexible. Karuta has no a priori structure. The T&L designer has full control and can build sophisticated portfolio workflows and reports with a minimum of training. No code development is required.  All types of portfolios are supported (learning, assessment, showcase, etc.).

Iterative. Karuta is built for quick review and revision. Design a portfolio, test it in faculty meetings, make changes, run a small pilot, check the data produced.

Powerful. Karuta has advanced features for creating rubrics, user menus, summary pages, forms, help, reports, sharing, and peer evaluation.

Mobile device ready Karuta is responsive design-ready and can be displayed on computers, tablets or smartphones. 

Multilingual. Karuta can support many languages and has already been set up for English, French, and Japanese. Language customization can be accomplished quickly. A special version of Karuta supports portfolios with multilingual interface commands and forms, images, or documents made available in a chosen language.

Technology. jQuery javascript front end, Twitter Bootstrap, MySQL, ORACLE,  REST API.  
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Learn to Use Karuta:

Get the code: https://github.com/karutaproject
Get documentation for installation: https://github.com/karutaproject/Karuta-Project-Wiki/wiki
Follow us:

  • Google+: KARUTA ePortfolio
  • Twitter: KarutaOSP

Schedule a Karuta demo: info[at]karutaproject[dot]org
Get in touch: info[at]karutaproject[dot]org
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karuta-news[at]apereo[dot]org
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Thanks!
We would like to acknowledge the financial support of our current partners: Kyoto University, IUT-2 Grenoble, and HEC Montréal, and the work of individuals who are responsible for this fourth release:
Jacques Raynauld, Olivier Gerbé, Nobry Ouk, and Isabelle Roy - HEC Montréal
Janice Smith and Sean Keesler - Three Canoes LLC
Thi Lan Anh - ePortfolium
Eric Giraudin and Marc Vassoille - Institut universitaire de technologie IUT-2 Grenoble.
Features Planned for the Next Version of Karuta

  • Conditional branching depending on the results of simple questions.
  • Improved LTI 2.0 integration.