1. Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Assessment
RGU:DELTA
Personal Development Planning (PDP)/ePortfolio: What are we talking about? by
Dr Charles Juwah
Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Assessment

2. Content Personal Development Planning (PDP): What is it? Why PDP?
Providing the framework to ensure effective student engagement in learning and development.

3. Outcomes
Appraise and discuss the importance and process of Personal Development Planning (PDP).
Use PDP and ePortfolio to support the development of relevant knowledge, skills, competencies.
Justify the role of PDP in enhancing employability (or employment skills).
This slide details the intended learning outcomes that you should achieve by effectively engaging with PDP .

4. What is Personal Development Planning (PDP)?
Personal development planning (PDP) is defined
as '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'.
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a ‘structured process undertaken by individuals to reflect on their own learning, performance and/or
achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development’ (QAA 2000).

5. What is Personal Development Planning (PDP)?
PDP embraces a range of approaches to learning
that connect:
planning (an individual's goals and intentions for learning or achievement),
doing (aligning actions to intentions),
recording (thoughts, ideas, experiences, in order to understand and evidence the process and results of learning) and
reflection (reviewing and evaluating experiences and the results of learning) (HEA 2008).
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a ‘structured process undertaken by individuals to reflect on their own learning, performance and/or
achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development’ (QAA 2000).

6. Why PDP? But why do we have to engage with PDP?
Survival in the knowledge economy requires the continual acquisition and updating of knowledge, skills, competencies, etc. Professional knowledge, enquiry (research), analytical, problem solving, team working, communication skills, self awareness, adaptability, etc. are some of the skills and attributes that are important for your academic, employment and future career.
Effective engagement with the PDP process will enable you develop the relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and attributes.

7. What are all these for ? Feedback Awareness raised Lack awareness
Conscious (Un)competence
Awareness raised
Unconscious (Un)competence
Lack awareness
Complacency
Facilitation/ instruction
Beginning from the top left quadrant and moving clock wise, this slides demonstrates how the PDP process enables and individual to progress from: i. Lack of awareness (Unconscious Un-competence) through learning and feedback to being aware (Unconscious Un-competence)
ii. Facilitation and instruction enables the individual to achieve (Conscious competence)
iii. It is known from research and experience that regular practice and constructive feedback from self, peers, tutors, mentors, etc. enables the individual to achieve (Unconscious competence) – that is to say mastery of the knowledge, skill(s) and competence.
iv. If the individual remains complacent due to lack of practice and continuing personal and professional development they revert back to being (Unconscious Un-competence).
Practice
Unconscious Competence
Conscious Competence
Feedback
Source: Universities Scotland Effective Learning Framework

8. PDP Academic: Developing knowledge, skills, abilities and competences
Working Portfolio of Students’ Artefacts
Assessment
Develop reflection
Supporting personal/professional development

9. PDP Repository of artefacts
Evidencing progression of learning and achievement (of the intended, outcomes, competencies, etc.):  a basis for accreditation of prior learning.  it can also serves as a transcript
Resource for planning a CV
Showcasing and presentation of evidence of achievement

10. Benefits of PDP PDP process will enable you to:
become more self aware of their learning needs;
identify opportunities for learning and developing new skills outwith the curriculum;
identify their strengths and weaknesses and to devise ways by which to improve on them;
develop skills and capabilities that are relevant for employment;

11. Benefits of PDP PDP process will enable you to:
make the link between teaching, learning and assessment and to take ownership of your learning;
be more effective in monitoring and reviewing your progress;
record in a more structured way your academic achievement and career-related capabilities;
enhance your continuing professional development
become autonomous lifelong learner.

12. Benefits of PDP
Enables feedback and support to be provided around your learning needs by:  peers  tutors  mentors  supervisors

13. What is involved in PDP?
What is involved in PDP? There are several stages in the PDP process. These include: i. Profiling ii. Setting outcome or learning objectives iii. Planning and Doing (Learning)
iv. Assessment v. Feedback vi. Action planning: Use feedback to plan new learning and to enhance/improve on previous performance vii. Evidencing and recording your achievement

14. Stages of PDP Profiling Setting outcomes and learning objectives
Planning and Doing
Assessment
Profiling: At this stage you are required to be aware of your strengths, areas needing development, etc. You may wish to use different tools – e.g. SWOT analysis, Learning Style Inventory, etc. to audit and profile yourself. Setting outcomes and learning objectives: Based on the information generated from your profiling your knowledge, abilities etc., you can set the objectives to you wish to achieve. This may be done by deciding on what you need to learn; the level to be achieved; the date by which you need to have completed the learning and by identifying a benchmark/a frame of reference to enable you ascertain that you have achieved your objective. Planning and Doing: Based on the outcomes/objectives that you have set, identify how you intend to acquire the learning (formal or informal methods), the duration for the learning; what is involved (resources, costs,) tutor/mentor support, etc. Thereafter, engage with the learning. Assessment: Assessment is one way by which you find out how well you are doing. Assessment may be informal or formal. Formal assessment may involve an assignment, examination and may be credit bearing.

15. Stages of PDP Feedback Action planning
Evidencing and recording achievement
Feedback: Constructive feedback is very important in enabling you to progress your learning. You can gain feedback from yourself, peers, tutors, managers, mentors. It is very important that you pay attention to the feedback you are given and to use the feedback to improve on your previous performance. Action planning: This is the stage at which you use the feedback gained from your learning, practice, etc. to plan new learning to enable you improve your performance. This may be referred to as closing the ‘feedback loop’. This sort of practice will help improve your ability to reflect (to look back and identify how you can do even better).
Evidencing and recording achievement: In the course of your learning you would have generated a variety of evidence items – e.g. a piece of course work, project report, managing an event, a portfolio of evidence, a documentary, grade from an assignment or examination, etc. It is important that you evidence and record your achievement. You may wish to reflect your achievement in your Curriculum Vitae (CV) to help demonstrate to employers or academic institutions your range of abilities, etc.

16. What can I use to support my PDP?
You can use a paper based or ePortfolio tool to support and evidence your PDP. Click on the next slide to gain access to the ePortfolio. The ePortfolio provides a structured format to enable you to develop your knowledge, skills and competencies. Detailed guidelines and instructions have been provided to enable you to use the ePortfolio. You can do this by simply following the instructions and guidelines displayed on the screen. In addition, your tutor will provide you with the necessary guidance and support to enable you to use the PDP to demonstrate achievement of the module and abilities developed through informal learning. Good luck and happy PDP-ing

17. Types of PDP Paper based PDP Electronic PDP (ePDP) -OR
IP Address:

18. ePortfolio Global Profile
Create a global profile: - Name - Password - Status - Location * Complete boxes with asterisk
To gain access to the ePortfolio, you will need to create a global profile. A global profile is simply creating a username, password and entering other personal details. This serves as a unique identifier to enable the system recognise you. Rest assured that all your personal details are confidential and are covered by the Data Protection Act.

19. ePortfolio Tour of the site:
Provides information on the various sections of the ePortfolio
Hovering over each icon provides relevant information on that section of the ePortfolio
To enable you familiarise with the various interfaces and functionalities of the ePortfolio, it is important that you undertake the tour of the ePortfolio.

20. ePortfolio Sections of the Sections of the ePortfolio: ePortfolio:
Learning/Reflective Journal (Review)
Assessment
Feedback
Action Planning
Evidencing learning
Career Dev CV
Sections of the
ePortfolio:
Profile/Skills Audit
Learning Style
Learning Agreement
Outcome (s)/ Objective (s)
Planning and Doing
Learning (Formal, informal, individual or group based)
This slide details the sections or interfaces that are available on the ePortfolio.

21. ePortfolio Uploading Files to the ePortfolio
You can upload a range of files: - Word - Audio - Graphics - Images - Moving images: streamed video - ASCII - Excel or Access
* You are restricted to 20MB
You can upload a range of file to your ePortfolio. Examples of files that you can upload include: audio, image, graphics, video, etc.

22. ePortfolio Private and Public Spaces Your ePortfolio is private
However, you may wish to make any or all sections of your portfolio to specific individuals (e.g. tutor/mentor/coach or
fellow students, etc.) You can grant individuals access to any section of your portfolio by inserting their names in the relevant fields
Your portfolio is entirely private but you may wish to make any pages of the portfolio public. You can grant anyone access to a page, several pages or the entire content of your portfolio as you so wish. Access is granted by simply inserting the of the individual in the relevant field. If access is to be granted to several individual separate each address by a coma.

23. ePortfolio Calendar Management
Manage your activities using the calendar
The calendar provides you with the facility to: announce and schedule events; schedule appointments and provide reminders about scheduled activities, appointments and events.

24. What next? Activity 1 Now that you have familiarised yourself with
the PDP process and the ePortfolio tool, please
complete the following:
Produce a profile of your knowledge, skills and competences pertaining to teaching using the skills audit proforma or the SWOT analysis approach.
Use the Learning Style Questionnaire to produce a profile of your preferred learning style.
Note. Please share your skills profile and output of your learning
style test with your mentor and tutor.

25. Contact Dr Charles Juwah
Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Assessment
St Andrew St Building
Aberdeen
AB25 1HG
Tel
The following are my contact details: Telephone Ext No or address:

26. Further Reading
COTTRELL, S., Chapters 1 and 2, Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
STRIVEN, J., Chapter 1, Report on Personal Development
Planning. Higher Education Academy [online] Available from:
(Accessed 14 December 2008)
CENTRE FOR RECORDING ACHIEVEMENT (CRA)
NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO HIGHER EDUCATION, Higher Education in the Learning Society, Report of the National Committee (The Dearing Report) [online] Available from:
The following chapters: Chapters 1 and 2 by Cottrell and Chapter 1 by Striven, are recommended as further reading to enable you consolidate your knowledge on the principles, theory and practice of PDP, as well as inform how you use PDP to support students’ learning and development.

27. References
   HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY (HEA), PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (PDP) heacademy.ac.uk/PDP-UK-NETWORK.htm
HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY, Student Employability Profiles. The Higher Education Academy © September ISBN
QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY , Guidelines for the progress files [online] Available from: