Abstract
This poster presents on-going research of the challenges, results and evaluation faced during the pilot implementation of an ePDP approach in the School of Arts, Media and Education (SAME), at the University of Bolton (UoB). The inclusion of personal development planning (PDP) is a University requirement for all programmes and was traditionally embedded through a text based/visual journal approach in Art and Design. With the emergence of new technologies that could support PDP the school explored a more flexible approach using an open source VLE (Moodle) to implement the existing PDP framework. The experience provided the school with data to inform full implementation of ePDP and to further explore the optimum process, infrastructure and research that was needed to support future developments across the SAME more effectively.
Students were willing to engage in the new platform and minor adjustments were made based on their recommendations and tutor findings. The (Interactive) Poster will describe the process using Cowans’ (2006) reflective diagram to underpin the action research approach .
While Moodle resulted in a more flexible VLE for ePDP, cross platform and cross browser issues were apparent particularly the compatibility with Apple Mac’s used in Art & Design. In addition it became apparent that students and staff require more holistic support for understanding and applying PDP despite the technology and a more flexible approach to the use of the existing PDP framework to cater for the diverse range of disciplines in the SAME.
The culture of ePDP is slowly changing due to the greater involvement of students and staff with technology and the challenge is to ensure that the PDP concept is fully and holistically understood and embedded within the SAME.
Reference Cowan, J (2006), On Becoming and Innovative University Teacher, OU Press, UK