Individualised Support for Learning through e-Portfolios
This project examined how a shared model of Personal Development Planning (PDP) supported by e-portfolios can benefit the learning process. This project is one of 6 e-Learning Transformation programme projects funded by the Scottish Funding Council.
Take 10 institutions with diverse missions, student types, staff experience, programmes, curricular structures, strategies, funding models, and a geographical location across the length and breadth of Scotland. Add a common desire to transform the experience of their students through innovative approaches to teaching and learning and you get the Individualised Support for Learning through e-Portfolios (ISLE) Project. The project aimed to examine how a shared model of Personal Development Planning (PDP) supported by e-portfolios can benefit the learning process.
The definition of PDP adopted by the project is that of ‘a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, education and career development’ (Dearing Report, 1997).
The ISLE project
The project was led by Paisley University and the consortium was made up of the following institutions: Abertay University, Adam Smith College, Angus College, Ayr College, Bell College of Technology, Dumfries and Galloway College, James Watt College, Motherwell College and Queen Margaret University. Our programmes ranged from Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Level 1 to 11. We covered many subjects, and engaged staff with a wide range of experience – from no experience of e-portfolios to those with well established pilot projects in the electronic or paper-based PDP area.
The institutional strategies that formed the basis for our initial work were mainly in the learning and teaching and e-learning areas. Additional strategies covered enhancement, wider access, employability, student support that had links to PDP and one partner had a ’Rurality‘ strategy. We believed that there was a close link between ’employability’ skills development and PDP, even going so far as having strategies in place for learning and teaching that included commitment to developing these skills in an embedded PDP process in curricula. This spread of strategic initiatives illustrates that the starting points on our journey were all different, but pointing in the same direction.
Wider access initiatives, learning aptitude, student support and the use of technology to help learning were common issues that brought the ISLE partners together in the first place. Most partners aimed to embed PDP within current provision, based on academic and professional requirements, practice with respect to part-time students in employment and the mode and level of study.
What was the problem we set out to address?
We aimed to build foundations for transforming staff perceptions of PDP and a sustainable future for a culture of ‘strong staff commitment combined with a genuine conviction that PDP is a worthwhile process for students to take part in’. Additionally, we aimed to develop and embed a shared concept of PDP flexibly supported through integrated blended learning strategies and to utilise an e-portfolio model to develop empowered strategies in students for their own self-development in the future.
All roads lead to enhanced learning?
We also had a shared perception that traditional approaches to teaching, assessment and facilitation of learning are labour-intensive, duplicate support and often poorly coordinated, resulting in both reduced effectiveness and increased direct and indirect costs to the sector and the wider economy.
They are also not flexible enough to cope with the changing and diverse needs of students with respect to their learning behaviours.
3 core problems were to be addressed:
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Under-performance of learners (progression, retention, achievement and employability)
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Meeting the diverse needs and expectations of learners within the context of continued pressure to reduce costs
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Realising a seamless transition model that meets stakeholder expectations for efficiency, quality, sustainability and transferability to different institutional contexts
Early discussions revealed doubts about producing large scale transformational change in only 2 years. However, we knew that the key to starting the process would be to get staff and student commitment to the concept of e-portfolios and effective learning.