Use of the PDP Process and an e-portfolio tool to support Professional & Career Development learning activities

Mary Ann Kernan,  Centre for Publishing and Digital Enterprise Department of Journalism City University

Rae Karimjee, PDP Consultant Learning Development Centre City University, London

This paper will describe a model that integrates Professional & Career Development related activities through use of an Eportfolio which can offer a solution for an integrated curriculum that looks at connections between academic, work placement and other real world contexts.

This work will draw on the partnership between the Module Leader of the programme and CityUniversity’s Learning Development Centre (LDC) and Centre for Careers & Skills Development (CCSD). It describes the process through which students can record and reflect on their progress when preparing for placements. This work also aims to demonstrate that the e-portfolio provides a personal learning space where students can:

1.       reflect on their learning processes and outcomes

2.       develop the art of successful presentations

3.       can be supported in preparing for their placement.

Personal Development Planning (PDP) is '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'[1].  PDP is integral to learning in its broadest sense; it involves thinking and planning ahead, acting on plans and reflecting on what has been achieved. CityUniversity sees PDP as the process of identifying a route to the successful achievement of a student’s goals, of developing mechanisms to reach those goals and of reflecting upon and recording progress towards that achievement.

The programme context of this paper is the integration of an Eportfolio in the MA in Publishing Studies at CityUniversity - a vocational MA focused on a commercial sector which presents a considerable competitive hurdle for entry-level recruitment. In addition to knowledge and analytical assessments, this MA has in 2008-9 introduced formal assessment of its Placement Report through for a reflective, progressive Eportfolio, relating to a compulsory five-week industry placement. This element of the MA accounts for 10 of the 180 credits. The associated teaching includes career profiling and an interview workshop with industry visitors; the associated knowledge resources include the publishing industry's competency framework. The assessment criteria for the marked assignment allow credit for evidence of reflective understanding as well as skill and knowledge gains, demonstrated in a formative PebblePad blog as well as a summative report. We will also review the processes in place to evaluate the success of this programme element, and initial student feedback on the MA’s formal and informal emphasis on vocational development.

Presentation