Personal Development Planning for Lifelong Learning

Lead Contact: Janet Hanson, jhanson@bournemouth.ac.uk

JISC Programme: Distributed e-Learning programme

Lead Institution and Partners: Bournemouth University (L), Arts Institute at Bournemouth, College of St Mark & St John (Marjon), Dartington College of Arts, Open University, University of Bristol, University of Gloucestershire, University of Plymouth, Weymouth College, University College Falmouth, University Centre Yeovil

Project Dates: March 2005 - April 2007

This case study illustrates Application, Application to Employment, Defining Requirements, Learner Perspectives, Tutor Perspectives, Web 2.0, PDP

Background & Context

What is the background to the e-portfolio initiative?

The context for PDP4Life is the requirement for Progress Files and Personal Development Planning (PDP) in higher education and the development of the regional Lifelong Learning Networks (LLN) in support of learner progression between and through learning stages. Many HEIs have developed e-PDP systems that support the student through the processes of personal development planning at their own site. However, little work appeared to have been done on developing frameworks within e-PDP systems to enable learners to merge formal and informal records of learning into a single database, to transfer these records from one institutional learning environment to another, or to access and manipulate their learner records when not registered within a place of study.

The project partners sought to address these issues by building on the outputs of the SHELL project. SHELL had established the specification for formal learner records and data transfer protocols and the transfer of learner records between sites had been achieved through the ioNode technology. A database holding the learner records could be accessed through a generic learner portal. SHELL had also begun to develop the structure and specification for the core elements of the informal learning record in the PDP.

Many of the PDP4Life partners had developed localised frameworks for PDPs and began to realise that interoperability must have a much higher priority if the regional priorities for progression and lifelong learning are to be achieved.

The creative industries (CI) sector is a regional economic priority sector for the South West region, and since several of the PDP4Life partners have high profiles in this area, the project decided to focus on PDP for learners in the creative industries as well as more generically.

What are the aims and objectives of the initiative?

The aims of the project were to:

• Work towards the extension of the existing specification for an Individual Learner Record that currently records formal qualifications, in order for it to accept learner generated records of informal learning from local PDP systems. An extension of this was to further investigate creative industries employers' views about PDP and lifelong learning records
• Compare the nature of the formal learner records of PDP4Life partners with those generated by SHELL and work towards establishing common data export and transfer protocols for a CSV file for import into the ioNode system. This would enable PDP4Life institutions to link into the ioNode/database framework when appropriate hardware and software was available
• Pilot the ioNode technology through the installation of ioNode at Bournemouth to enable comparison of data transfer between sites. This included an evaluation of the revised ioPortal
• Establish the extent of local ePDP systems within the PDP4Life partners and encourage further development and sharing of good practice
• Raise awareness within the PDP4Life partners of the availability of IMS LIP/UK LeaP compatible ePDP/ePortfolio systems that have been or are being developed within the JISC community and pilot appropriate tools if feasible as well as raise awareness of best practice in PDP across the regional HEIs

The overall approach of the project was to encourage networking between the partners in the South West region to share experiences and practice in PDP and to develop an extended specification for a learner record that merged formal and informal records of learning, with a specific focus on the creative industries (CI) sector.

How was the initiative implemented?

As a region-wide project, the overall methodology was designed to engage all the partners as fully as possible and enable them to contribute their own expertise to the development of project outcomes that would be of value to themselves and the region. However, the focus was on learning from partners and providing them with an opportunity to contribute rather than expecting them to implement a standard system within their institutions.

All partners were invited to contribute to the extension of the learner record (LR) specification, to compare their formal learner records with those generated by SHELL and to contribute to the review of existing PDP activity and ePDP/e-portfolio tools. Subject to this review, and depending on their institutional context for PDP, some partners took part in the piloting of the JISC e-portfolio tools.

The implementation of the project involved:

• Setting up the consortium and securing engagement of other regional HEIs at the bidding stage. This involved building on existing collaborative partnerships and networks
• Minimising the risk to project outcomes by writing objectives that could be enacted independently of each other and using dummy student data to test the ioNodes to avoid any legal issues associated with using live data
• The development of the extended learner record specification by identifying the current outputs from partners' local PDP systems with a view to adding fields to the SHELL specification and mapping them to the draft UKLeaP standards
• Testing data transfer through the ioNode and unanticipated developments with the ioPortal
• Bringing people together to engage and maintain enthusiasm and share best practice through a number of regional events
• Identifying the issues relating to the use of PDP and the potential for lifelong learning records in creative industries by working through focus groups with students, staff and employers from various subject areas. 10 focus groups in all were held, involving 56 participants
• Enhancements to the ioPortal prototype for PDP4Life and the evaluation of these with a series of focus groups with a number of partner institutions