Incorporating Personal Development Planning and e-portfolio use into curriculum design

1. Incorporating Personal Development Planning and e-portfolio use into curriculum design A workshop programme delivered by the Centre for Recording Achievement with support from the Higher Education Academy Thursday 22nd September 2011 University of Wales Newport 10.30a.m. – 3.30p.m.

2. Our starting points: • PDP connects directly to ‘core institutional business’ – curriculum, assessment and overall student development/ experience, especially in the context of enhanced offers for 2012. • The EPPI Research Synthesis (2003) confirmed that Personal Development Planning did indeed ‘support the improvement of students’ academic learning and achievement.’ • ‘graduate attributes in their fullest sense are much broader than just employability – graduate attributes have relevance to all aspects of the student experience and therefore have a range of linked agendas, e.g. curriculum renewal, HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report), work-related learning, PDP (Personal Development Planning) and ePortfolios’. • Unless graduates are capable of articulating and evidencing the learning and development that they have developed through their undergraduate education they are likely to be at a substantial disadvantage in the graduate labour market.

3. So - why is PDP important ? • It is about students becoming autonomous, independent, thinking for themselves; • the real purpose of HE. • It enables students to articulate what they can do;

4. PDP is therefore: • not a bolt on extra; • an integral part of learning in HE; • best addressed by all academic teaching staff; • However….

5. Academic staff: view PDP in qualitatively different ways and many have difficulty with valuing PDP. (Why?) Perceptions, motivations, values, missions… Students: ‘In feedback obtained from students, it is evident that they initially find consideration of the ideas and themes of PDP and employability irrelevant and are merely eager to get on with `doing ****’. Employability as a driver is unlikely to work for all (for all) of the time… Academic studymay serve to emphasise individual achievement and engender competition, whereas PDP activities often emphasise honesty (as a basis for development) and collaboration…

6. Structures… There are a number of different models of PDP implementation which have been adopted across the sector to support the needs of particular groups of learners: Discrete - where PDP is conceived as additional to, and separate from, the curriculum. Here, learners tend to be encouraged to engage in PDP, with perhaps some support from tutors or others, but whether, when and how they do so is left largely to the learners themselves. Linked - where PDP is viewed as being parallel to, but also having explicit links to, the curriculum. Embedded - where PDP is embedded in specific elements of a programme, which provide the main support for PDP. Integrated - a whole-curriculum approach where all or most parts of a programme involve activities which are aligned with PDP processes, including those in the workplace. Extended - where PDP processes are included in the curriculum but also serve explicitly to integrate learning activities (such as volunteering or peer mentoring) outside the curriculum. • We need to get beyond a structural view…

7. Pedagogies… 1. Programmes are conceived by teachers. 2. Programmes or courses are subdivided into self-contained modules; 3. Each module has its own explicit learning outcomes which the course team has decided that learners should achieve; 4. Assessment is arranged by the course team to validly and reliably determine achievement of the intended learning outcomes; 5. Learning and teaching activities should be purposefully planned to support achievement of the intended learning and development; 6. The desirable integration and compatibility of items 3-5 is described as alignment, and is featured as a desirable goal or ultimate quality of well-designed curricula. • We need to get beyond the ‘pedagogy of the status quo’… (Cowan, 2011)

8. Prezi presentation (with thanks to Janet) Available at: http://prezi.com/oit3briejtov/incorporating-personal-development-planning-and-e-portfolio-use-into-curriculum-design/ > A new ‘first edition’, as revised following earlier workshops!

9. The Patchwork Text Janet Strivens – Educational Development Division, University of Liverpool Anthony Sinclair – Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool

10. Origins of the Idea • A three-year multi-disciplinary research project 2000-2003 • e.g. Greek Tragedy, Social Work, Biology • 3 higher education institutions • Anglia Polytechnic (Anglia Ruskin) – lead, Nottingham Trent, Cambridge • Incorporated: • Reflective learning, self- and peer-assessment, collaborative learning, metacognition • Increased student engagement through weekly, short tasks and immediate feedback

11. How it worked… • Curriculum • Based on collaborative group work • Weekly, short (c. 500 word) writing tasks (the ‘patches’), different genres • Shared with peer group for immediate discussion / feedback • Tutor samples tasks for feedback, assesses final synoptic text • Assessment • A reflective synthesis which uses (a selection of) the weekly writing tasks as evidence of ‘stitching together’ the patches

12. Encourages… • Increased student engagement • Development of writing skills through frequent practice / feedback / authentic audience • Awareness of alternative perspectives / responses to tasks • Ability and willingness to assess own and peer performance

13. The Patchwork Text Today ‘Patchwork media’: beyond writing tasks, patches may be a wide range of digital artefacts Frequently associated with the use of e-portfolio technology (which lends itself to synoptic commentary linked to different artefacts as evidence Many different disciplinary contexts and levels of adaptation of original model to different circumstances, no ‘canonical’ model

14. Example… • “Paleolithic Cave Art in Europe” • Level 3 module • Develops on knowledge gained from level 2 “The Archaeology of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe” • Assessment • Coursework essay – 25% • Presentation – 15% • Exam – 60% (two essays in 2 hours)

15. The ‘Patches’… Concept map – “What is the nature of Paleolithic art?” Timeline – the key ‘events’ in the study of Pal. Art Critical Review of an article – ‘dating’ Critical synopsis of 4 articles – naturalism in art; figurines Concept Map – “The technology of Paleolithic Art” Critical Review of an article – ‘interpretive paper’ A Research proposal Synoptic reflection on learning outcomes of module

16. Concept Map…

17. Why these ‘patches’? • General Learning Skills as well as module learning • Concept Maps – familiarity, encourages broader picture • Critical review of an article – critical reading skills for dissertation • Critical Synopsis – background chapter in dissertation • Timeline – how disciplines develop – ideas & data • Research Proposal – research led teaching

18. Tutors synoptic commentary… • An opportunity to ‘discuss’ not lecture • Facilitated a richer contact time • Encouraged me to think in greater depth about their learning skills • Provided me with better feedback on individual strengths /weaknesses in learning skills • Critical reading, synopsis, understanding causality, research pragmatics • ‘Blackboard’ does not lend itself to a patchwork text

19. Student Comments… “Patchworks are a lot more work than a single assessment, but also force me to study at home regularly. All in all a good thing…” “Ptexts work very well, welcome change to single question essay assessment” “The patchwork texts are very useful and I’ve found that the feedback has been prompt and helped me gain knowledge & understanding on Paleolithic Art” “The patchwork texts enabled me to continue working and re-read each section of work rather than put it to one side until revision time!”

20. Further Information • Original project published in a Special Issue of Innovations in Education and Teaching (SEDA Journal) 2003 Vol. 40. No. 2 • Current Project • Digitally Enhanced Patchwork Text Assessment • Funded as a JISC Innovations project • www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/ltig/depta.aspx • www.wlv.ac.ukdefault.aspx?page=24876

21. Supporting the Undergraduate Research Dissertation… • Level 3 students participate in the Individual Academic Development module, which is framed around the dissertation and supported by the tutorial process. • This is based upon weekly seminar meetings which allow both short formal presentations and discussion on the evolving process of researching and producing the dissertation, specifically enhancing the planning of work to be done and providing the opportunity for feedback on and an evidence-informed self critique of their achievement. • A short (250 word) synopsis of this emerging critique accompanies the final dissertation submission (10% of the final mark).

22. PDP and Employability Activities within the Curriculum • A ‘spine’ of core modules, providing a clear framework for engaging students in PDP and in helping them to think about `graduateness’ and employability. • L1:skills module ‘Practising Geography’; • L2: Residential field course module, application of skills to the investigation of ‘real world problems’ in the field; • L3: ‘capstone’ module ‘Applying Geography’.

23. Reformulating practice;a place to start … the creative application of learning activities and technologies to the promotion and embedding of PDP in the curriculum. Groups of 3-4. (You can be of similar disciplines or a mixed group.) Decide on acontext, ideally based on a real module. (see handout for options) Work with your student constraint and your staff constraint Try to include at least one learning technology tool. You can imagine whatever you like, it can be something you don’t have at your university. If you involve students in the design process, you get extra credit. Articulate the manifesto principles in your design. Make your ‘claim’ on the sheet provided. Remember that: • Points make prizes! • You’ll never have to deliver this!!… but … you may need to justify your claim for points to an adjudication panel later!

24. More reformulating practice… • Identify a curriculum context you have the capacity to influence… traditional semester-long module, long thin module, overall curriculum outcomes. If possible try to draw upon one of the approaches we introduced earlier. • Decide how you might employ this within an appropriate subject context (most probably a module) and what the key aspects of this provision might be. • Make use of relevant tenets of the PDP Manifesto in developing your approach. • Where appropriate and you feel it will enhance, make more efficient or transform some aspects of the module, use appropriate functionalities from within an e-portfolio or related system (e.g. to post work for peer feedback, to develop an online record that can be revisited to enable effective review of distance travelled, to provide a presentational portfolio). You might want to think here less in terms of specific systems and more in terms of functionalty/ies you need from the system to support the teaching, learning and assessment processes.

25. And finally; making it happen!A ‘back on the ranch’ Curriculum Re-design task • Identify a curriculum context you have the capacity to influence… traditional semester-long module, long thin module, overall curriculum outcomes… • Frame your proposed change(s) – whether evolutionary or revolutionary - making use of appropriate tenets of the manifesto… and their implications… • Ensure practice – and outcomes – become explicit to students and can be used by them in relation to further learning and progression. • Send your jottings torob@recordingachievement.orgby 30 October. All jottings need to be understandable by anyone who does not know you – or the circumstances you describe (so, like graduates, please ‘write for audience’)! • All contributions will be circulated to all attendees (no contribution, no circulation!)