RAPPORT
Volume 3 Issue 1 (2018)
the importance of improving students’
understanding of how they are learning, of
offering students an opportunity to develop
a holistic overview of their course, of
enabling them to reflect critically and
become more independent and
encouraging students to consider actively
their academic, extracurricular activity and
career opportunities (Houghton &
Maddocks, 2005).
The definition this paper will use is that
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” (QAA, 2001, 2009).
The concept of process is central to this
paper, as well as the that fact that it is a
structured process and that learners are
supported through this process. We will
return to these fundamental points later.
A systematic review of the effectiveness of
PDP in improving student learning was
carried out by a team from the Evidence
for Policy and Practice Information (EPPI)
centre in 2003 (Gough et al., 2003). After
reviewing 157 studies the researchers
found that these demonstrated that the
use of PDP had a positive impact on
student learning in terms of outcomes and
student approaches to learning (Gough et
al., 2003).
ePortfolio? Yes, but what sort?
Over the last decade ePortfolios have
become an increasingly common
component of HE programmes, serving as
constructivist learning spaces where
students can reflect on their learning
journeys, where they can be assessed,
collect their work and demonstrate their
achievements to potential employers
(Pengrum & Oakley, 2017). The recent
saliency of ePorfolios has been stressed
(Chaudhuri & Cabau, 2017) as they are
demonstrating in different contexts and
across disciplines how they might fit with
institutional objectives as well as allowing
for a greater personalisation of learning.
As Pengrum and Oakley state:
“It is suggested that ePortfolios may
have a role to play in supporting a
shift away from today’s
administratively oriented,
pedagogically limited learning
management systems (LMSs), and
towards personal learning
environments (PLEs) where students
can engage in more individualised,
autonomous learning practices”
(Pengrum & Oakley, 2017, p.21).
Within this context there has been a good
deal of research carried out over the years
into the use of an ePortfolio to support
PDP (Strivens, 2007). The QAA refers to
the use of ePortfolios to structure and
support learning in its PDP guidelines
(QAA, 2009) and evidence suggests the
suitability of ePortfolios to foster the
process of PDP (Toner & McDowall, 2015;
Marais and Perkins, 2012; Orsini-Jones,
2006; Cotterill et al., 2010). Consequently,
in order to implement PDP in our
languages modules the question was not
‘if’ we wanted an ePortfolio, but ‘what type’
of ePortfolio we were going to use.
In their comprehensive review of PDP and
ePortfolios, Ward and Strivens (2010)
state the strong tendency of UK HE
institutions to use an ePortfolio to support
PDP. Exploring UK university websites
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