Personal Development Plans (PDPs)

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Personal Development Plans (PDPs)

• Subject-specific PDPs in Economics

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Background

• QAA recommends that HE institutions develop a
  progress file consisting of two main elements
• Transcript
• A means by which students can monitor, build and
  reflect on their personal development
• The opportunities for PDP in student programmes
  will be made clear in the programme specification
  and through any other means the institution
  considers appropriate
• PDP originally to be in place by 2005/6 now to
  be fully operational within 5 years from 2005/6

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QAA Requirements

• On completion of their programme, students will
  have
• participated in PDP in a range of learning
  contexts at each stage or level of their
  programme
• demonstrated that they can access and use the
  aids and tools provided by the institution to
  help them reflect upon their own learning and
  achievements and to plan for their own personal,
  educational and career development
• with support, created their own learning records
  containing information on the qualities and
  skills they can evidence which can be drawn upon
  when applying for a job or further study.

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QAA Views

• PDP is likely to be most effective when it is
• a mainstream academic activity
• linked to the learning objectives/outcomes of
  programmes
• undertaken regularly
• supported and valued by staff
• supported by institutional structures, resources
  and expertise
• owned by the learner
• seen to be valued by society (e.g. employers)

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PDP three Aspects

• Reporting
• on Progress in
• achieving targets
• End products
• Progress reports
• Progress files

Creating an inventory of Targets for the
student Focus - Personal - Career - Academic -
Skills

• Monitoring
• Progress in
• achieving targets
• Activities
• Recording
• Reflecting
• Planning
• Discussing
• Accounting for

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PDPs in Economics

• What are the implications for
• curriculum?
• teaching/assessment methods?
• Philosophy of PDPs
• encouraging reflective learning
• making degrees more vocational?
• subject / module specific PDPs?
• Resistance by students to PDPs?

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Module PDP at UWE
All units are constructed using an Excel
spreadsheet. There are 6 worksheets in each unit.

• Introduction
• This sets the scene and locates the topic in the
  overall syllabus
• Learning objectives (L/obj)
• Up to 12 learning objectives are devised for each
  topic and students are invited to evaluate and
  rate (1 fairly weak to 5 good) their ability
  in each learning objective.

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Module PDP at UWE

• Multiple-choice questions
• There can be up to 60 multiple choice questions.
  All questions are batched according to the
  learning objective being evaluated.
• Data response questions
• There can be up to 15 questions and are based on
  the kind of calculation questions used in an exam
  or a workshop. Where appropriate
  students can manipulate an equation to alter the
  lines and curves found in the questions diagram.

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Module PDP at UWE

• Essay planning task
• Here students are invited to draw up a rough
  answer plan to a typical exam style question and
  compare it to what the tutor thinks would make
  for a good answer
• Summary sheet
• Here the students score in the self-test
  questions are revealed, enabling them to compare
  it to their self-rated score per learning
  objective. They are then encouraged to offer some
  general reflection on their abilities in the
  units topic setting out any strategies for
  improvement if the wish to.

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Making a startTeaching Assessment

• Teaching
• Identify Key Skills and Discipline Skills already
  being developed by students in seminars
• Draw the students attention to these skills
  (e.g. put footnotes in seminar handouts, etc.)
• Assessment
• Again, identify Key Skills and Discipline Skills
  already being evaluated in current coursework.
• Amend feedback forms to highlight the skills
  needed to complete the assignment

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Developing theDepartments PDP

• Incorporate a wider range of relevant skills
  (generic and specific) and improve the students
  awareness of them
• Encourage students to self-evaluate their work
  prior to hand-in
• Start thinking about and developing targets
  that suit you and, your own module (i.e. take
  control!)

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Developing theDepartments PDP

• Devise new assessments that might involve
  behavioural targets
• (e.g. planning and evaluation, group work,
  problem solving)
• Devise new seminar tasks, ones which
• are more closely linked or reliant on key skills
  and discipline skills
• encourage students to review and organise their
  learning (to date)
• encourage greater self-evaluation
• Design a process that is semi-automatic?

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Discussion

• Examine 3 documents
• Section 5 of Bioscience audit
• Skills from Economics benchmarking statement
• Extract from Careers benchmarking statement
• Individually consider ways in which skills can be
  integrated into a particular module or unit
• In small groups consider amendments to one
  particular module chosen by the group
• Plenary