Early Childhood CETL/SWAP/ESCalate event

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Personal Development Profiles/Planning where
we are and where were going

• Janet Strivens
• Senior Associate Director,
• Centre for Recording Achievement

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• The Centre for Recording Achievement
• A cross-sectoral network organisation with
  institutional and individual members.
• Seeks to promote awareness and understanding of
  the processes associated with recording
  achievement (review, reflection, planning) as an
  important element in improving learning and
  progression throughout the world of education,
  training and employment.

The one-stop shop for the HE Progress File
http//www.recordingachievement.org
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CRA and the Higher Education Academy

• a Centre of Professional Expertise in the field
  of representing, recording and communicating
  student learning and achievement maintaining its
  independence but designated an Associate Centre
  of the Higher Education Academy.
• Supporting Academy members by
• Facilitating communication and development work.
• Identifying development needs so as to inform
  planning and work programmes.
• Running a programme of events so that all have
  the opportunity to learn about, and participate
  in, up-to-date development work.
• Providing a consultancy service to address the
  specific development needs and interests of
  individual institutions in the area of PDP and
  related activities.
• Contributing to the development of e-portfolio
  approaches to support the Professional
  Development and Recognition of HE Staff.

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(Just to remind you..)What is Personal
Development Planning?

• Progress Files for Higher Education should
  consist of two elements
• a transcript recording student achievement which
  should follow a common format devised by
  institutions collectively through their
  representative bodies
• a means by which students can monitor, build and
  reflect upon their personal development
• (National Committee of Inquiry in Higher
  Education The Dearing Report 1997)
• a structured and supported process undertaken by
  an individual
• to reflect upon their own learning, performance
  and/or achievement and
• to plan for their personal, educational and
  career development
• (QAA Progress Files for Higher Education 2000)

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Policy Intentions - to help students

• become more effective, independent and confident
  self-directed learners
• understand how they are learning and relate their
  learning to a wider context
• improve their general skills for study and career
  management
• articulate their personal goals and evaluate
  progress towards their achievement
• and encourage a positive attitude to learning
  throughout life.

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Burgess Report Measuring and Recording Student
Achievement Recommendation 6 2004

• Higher education institutions should continue
  to implement Personal Development Planning within
  the guidelines developed by the Progress File
  Implementation Group. There should continue to be
  evaluation of the impact of learning and the
  representation of learning and achievement of
  different forms of Personal Development
  Planning.

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• Some PDP activities
• Reviewing strengths and weaknesses
  (generic/subject specific)
• Stating and reviewing goals (short term/long
  term)
• Making plans to achieve goals/remedy areas of
  weakness
• Recording experiences, reflecting on what has
  been learned
• Recording achievements, reflecting on progress

• and PDP outputs (records)
• Initial statement of motivation for programme
• Review of a period of time - what have I
  achieved?
• Analysis of feedback received what are my
  strengths and areas for development?
• Critical incident analysis
• Reflective learning log
• Action plan

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Approaches to PDP implementation

• Strategies divide into two broad categories
• embedding PDP into the academic curriculum,
  programme by programme, level by level
• offering generic opportunities outside the
  curriculum, most obviously via the personal
  tutor system.
•   These can be supplemented by extracurricular
  opportunities. They can also be combined in a
  mixed economy model.

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Embedded in the curriculum

• Advantages
• Resourcing comes through the academic curriculum
• Student may be more likely to accept PDP as
  relevant to his/her studies
• Makes the improvement of learning central to the
  concept of PDP, therefore may appeal more to
  academics
• PDP required within some disciplines e.g.
  healthcare, therefore easier to implement
• Students motivated by gaining credit and
  assessment requirements.

• Disadvantages
• Danger of neglecting extracurricular development
• Finding the time within the curriculum
• Modular philosophy is anti-integration difficult
  to establish synoptic learning outcomes
• Possibly undermines the whole philosophy of
  partnership in learning and the development of
  student autonomy/responsibility

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Additional to the curriculum eg via personal
tutors

• Advantages
• May be easier to monitor and guarantee a standard
  core
• Extension of a role currently understood (and
  accepted?) by academics
• Common recording systems can be designed
• Allows tutor and student to review learning
  across the whole programme
• Puts the onus more on the student to take
  advantage of the opportunity, thus consonant with
  philosophy

• Disadvantages
• Not all academics have the skills and aptitude
  for this extended tutoring role
• Therefore needs ready access for tutor to good
  quality information, guidance and networks
• Easily sabotaged by one negative experience
• Even the minimum entitlement to time may be
  significantly more than academics are currently
  allocating
• May dependent on other policies e.g. on feedback
  operating well
• Without academic credit, students may be
  difficult to motivate to attend

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Learning/employability

• Not incompatible
• Where you start depends on institutional
  culture/expectations of students (motivations may
  change throughout programme
• Who is leading in your institution?
• Make links to subject benchmarks/graduate
  profiles
• Use employers expectations

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Advantages of e-PDP

• The records cant get left on a bus
• Cuts the administrative burden for staff members
• Allows links to online help and guidance (for
  students and staff)
• Some students find it easier to reveal problems
  and issues in an online environment (other dont)
• The internal structure can support reflection
• Potentially transferable when student leaves

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Do we want an e-portfolio?

• Does having an e-portfolio mean the PDP box can
  be ticked?
• What is it anyway?

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The Future?

• We will encourage every institution to offer a
  personal online learning space to store
  coursework, course resources, results and
  achievements. We will work towards developing a
  personal identifier for each learner, so that
  organizations can support an individuals
  progression more effectively. Together, these
  facilities will become an electronic portfolio,
  making it simpler for learners to build their
  record of achievement throughout their lifelong
  learning.
• (DfES Towards a Unified E-Learning Strategy,
  2005, para10, page 5).

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and

• The Report of the Scoping Group on Measuring and
  Recording Student Achievement in HE (the
  Burgess Report, 2004) emphasised the
  recognition that students themselves are crucial
  translaters and conveyors of information about
  (their) learning and achievement. It envisages
  the possibility of a personal electronic
  portfolio (e-portfolio), by all HE students in
  the medium term. http//bookshop.universitiesuk.ac
  .uk/downloads/measuringachievement.pdf
• The recently published e-learning strategy
  produced by the Higher Education Funding Council
  for England (HEFCE, 2005) emphasises the
  encouragement of e-based systems of describing
  learning achievement and personal development
  planning (PDP) within its Joint Implementation
  Plan. http//www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/
  05_12/05_12.doc

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and

• The Qualifications and Curriculum Authoritys
  Blueprint for e-assessment (QCA 2004) envisages
  that within five years all awarding bodies
  should be set up to accept and assess
  e-portfolios http//www.qca.org.uk/2586_6997.htm
  l
• Beyond the UK, the Europortfolio consortium has
  launched a manifesto committed to e-Portfolio for
  All by 2010. Founding members include the
  European Institute for E-Learning (EifEL), the
  UKs CETIS, and IMS in Europe. In December 2004
  the European Commission announced the launch of a
  EuroPass e-portfolio service, based in Maastricht
• http//www.europortfolio.org

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A portfolio is..

• Most often
• A collection of the owners work
• Evidence to demonstrate that specific learning
  outcomes/criteria have been met
• Could also be
• A repository for thoughts, ideas, questions,
  plans, work in progress

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What functions do we want in an e-portfolio?

• A digital repository
• With the power to select easily different viewing
  permissions
• And to make internal connections/relationships
• Linkages to other electronic sources,
  particularly guidance and qualifications
• Linkages to social/collaboration tools, with the
  power to extract useful bits!

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(Some) considerations

• Ownership/permissions to view records/DP issues
• One system or many? (Do they talk to each other?)
• Commercial/open-source/home-grown?
• What happens when the student leaves (and perhaps
  he/she arrives?)
• Purposes presentation, assessment, support for
  learning, career planning.
• Functions guidance, repository of evidence,
  stimulating reflection, capturing ideas, sharing
  and collaboration.