Student Personal Development
Planning portfolio (PDP)
2008/2009
www.glos.ac.uk
Dear Student
Welcome to the University of Gloucestershire. We do hope you really enjoy your time here
at Oxstalls and attain your individual goals.
This file has been provided for you to use as a record of your own development. Each
course has identified areas of their teaching, learning and assessments which help you to
develop different areas of your skill base. This is referred to as ‘Personal Development
Planning’ or ‘PDP’.
There are several web pages on the University website which have been developed to
help you – these are detailed within this guide. There are also tools and systems where
you can record your development electronically. These include ‘pebblepad’ and some
very useful guides and templates to help you build your portfolio.
You can choose whichever method you feel more comfortable with or use a mixture. What
you record and keep is up to you! Remember that employers are increasingly asking for
‘evidence’ of your learning. This is an ideal way to illustrate some of your learning when
you go to an interview for your first job. This may seem a long way off at the moment but
will come round sooner than you think!
The information contained in this guide is very general, as each course will have subject
specific materials to help you in your chosen field of study. Your personal tutor /
academic review tutor (ART) is your first point of contact for support as you become
accustomed to life at University.
I wish you ‘Good Luck’ with your studies and hope you have fun whilst you study
Best Wishes
Sara Coleman
Associate Dean – Teaching & Learning
NB. This guide will also be available online in the learning centre pages so that you
can use the interactive links to reach the web based resources as you read this
document.
1
What is it?
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a significant activity for
undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK.
PDP is a process which prompts you to reflect upon your development in a
purposeful way, enabling you to gain maximum benefit from all the
experiences university life offers you. PDP focuses on:
•
The full range of situations in which you learn
•
What you are learning
•
How you are learning
•
How successfully you are learning
•
What skills and qualities you are developing through your
learning
•
Where your learning may take you.
For further information consult the UMS or PMS handbook, Course Guides,
and other sections of the university website
The current website link to some resources is:
http://resources.glos.ac.uk/pdp/pdpstudents/index.cfm
2
Why do it?
If someone said to you, ‘What’s the point of doing a degree?’ Would you say:
•
to get a high-level academic qualification?
•
to find out more about a subject you like?
•
to get a good job afterwards?
•
to qualify yourself to enter a particular career?
•
to have tangible proof of your academic ability?
•
to develop your skills?
•
to challenge yourself intellectually?
•
to enjoy the freedom and excitements of student life?
•
to acquire a well-trained mind?
•
to give yourself time to mature before having to choose a career?
•
to impress people?
•
to……………….?
What all these motivations have in common is a focus upon development. Most
people hope that the experience of degree-level study will offer them
opportunities and challenges which will help them to develop and grow.
Participating in PDP will help you to clarify what you want to
achieve whilst you are at university and to review your progress
towards your goals. Where to go next?
3
Where are you now?
Find this web page and
take the interactive quiz:
http://qmarkweb.glos.ac.uk/q4/perception
Skills Audit
SIX sets of QUIZZES on key skill areas which are appropriate to
undergraduate work as well as to later employment:
•
Communication Skills
•
Group and Interpersonal Skills
•
Organisation and Personal Skills
•
Research and Problem Solving Skills
•
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Skills
•
Numerical Skills
4
How can PDP help me?
Aspect of
development
activity
progression
Meetings with
tutors and
supervisors
(dissertation)
Facilitating
progression
within your
course at the
University
Project /
dissertation
planning and
design
Prioritising time /
work and
preparing for
exams
Applying for
jobs: giving
evidence of your
skills and
development
Helps in
decision making
and thinking
creatively
Obtaining good
references
Writing CVs
Potential
learning
Vacation &
summer travel;
work based
learning
Recording
experiences and
reflecting on
new skills
Volunteering,
Extracurricular
placements and activities (sport,
schools
choir, gym…)
outreach
Personal
support
Meetings with
your Personal
Tutor / module
Tutor
Planning and
goal–setting;
recording
milestones
Time
management
Academic
progress
Careers and
employment
5
Improved skill
Personal
Development
pebble PAD - an e portfolio
All students have access to an online e portfolio Go to :
http://pebblepad.glos.ac.uk
An e portfolio can be defined as :
“a purposeful aggregation of digital items - ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback,
data etc - which ‘present’ a selected audience with information about the subject of that e
portfolio”
.
The information presented in an e portfolio may be for the purposes of:
Assessment
Accreditation;
Application;
Advancement;
Appraisal;
Articulation... and many other purposes
Many students already use social learning web sites, pebblePAD can be viewed as a
bridge between social and academic learning by creating a personal learning space:
Social Learning [?]
7
Institutional Learning [?]
Bridging Learning [?]
Personal Learning [?]
Sutherland, 2007
Comment from a pebblePAD user:
I have also learnt how to use the pebblePAD and webfolio which will be useful for the
future. It is feels more rewarding seeing work set out in order with links and so on, on a
webfolio than just paper. It is also easier for the reader as they can link straight to websites
and jump back and forth from different research if they need to clarify something.
Religious Studies Student (UoW)
6
This and the following pages give you two tools which you
may find helpful in planning your work and development:
SMART & SWOT
SMART Goals
When planning a piece of work or a project, some analysis of what you are planning and
how you are going to go about completing the various stages may help you to be more
successful in achieving your goals. Developing goals that are achievable will help you to
be successful. Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and
time-based.
A goal might be to hold a weekly project meeting with the key members of your team /
group. This tool is often used in a business environment but can equally well be applied to
individual projects and group work.
The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to
provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:
S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
7
When you next planning a project / piece of work take a moment to consider whether your
goals are SMART goals.
SMART Goals
Specific
•
•
Well defined
Clear to anyone that has a basic knowledge of the project
Measurable
•
•
Know if the goal is obtainable and how far away completion is
Know when it has been achieved
Agreed Upon
•
Agreement with all the stakeholders what the goals should be
Realistic
•
Within the availability of resources, knowledge and time
Time Based
•
•
Enough time to achieve the goal
Not too much time, which can affect project performance
(http://resources.glos.ac.uk/currentstudents/postgraduate/pmshand
book.cfm)
8
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
SWOT analysis is widely used today in business and management, but is also useful as a
tool for learning and personal development. It is a personal, subjective assessment of
information organised into a logical order that helps understanding, presentation,
discussion and decision-making. It fosters a clearer, more proactive way of thinking about
a given situation, rather than relying on habitual and automatic responses to make
decisions.
(University of Cambridge 2008)
9
Here is an example relating to an assignment which was
mainly about a literature search:
Strengths
Weaknesses
I thought I knew how to search for
specific items of literature. This
search has really challenged my
abilities to find the appropriate
papers and to be selective in the
process
Ability to work quickly and assimilate
information
Opportunities
Threats
Risk of being drawn into irrelevant
areas of literature searching
Time- yet again, with several time
consuming other assignments, it is
very difficult to devote enough time
to this one
Thinking I will be able to do the work
in the timescale when in reality it took
longer than I planned! (Appelby,
Walshe et al 1995)
Holidays have reduced opportunities
for me to talk things through with
my tutor
Happy Studying!
10