Topic of Choice - Moodle

With the state wide intiative to implement eportfolios into all schools in New Hampshire, I have begun to look at Moodle, http://moodle.com. After researching a number of software solutions for eportfolios I came to the conclusion that although there are many products we could spend our money on, and many that may offer more options for our school, we needed to pilot the free open source option first. So this year I will be working with students from grade 6-8 to create their eportfolios using the Mo0folio option on Moodle developed by the Seacoast Technology Center. Moodle has a lot to offer, like most software is has more than most people would use. I have used it to create an online course for my students and am now working to set it up for eportfolios. Has anyone used it for this purpose?

The benefits I have found so far is the ability to easily add artifacts and both student and teacher reflection. It also allows a teacher to lock an artifact from being edited after completion. We will host it all on one server, link it to our school website for easy access. Students will be able to get to their eportfolios using their regular school log in. The software is easily downloaded and managed for the entire school population. Photos, video, voice, powerpoint etc. can be loaded as artifacts.

Some of the downfalls are its lack of pizzaz as the students might say. There is an option for new themes including color, but they are very limited. No backgrounds or photographs will appear when opening the eportfolio as it is not created to do so. This may take away from the motivation of the students. However, because it is open source coding, we can work to make the improvements we'd like to see, and will benefit from the improvements that others make.

I'm curious about the progress others in the state have made with their student eportfolios, please share!