learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career
development (QAA 2001, 2009).
Thirdly, the HEFCE’s eLearning Strategy (2005) suggests that all learners in HEIs have available
to them an online space to document the PPDP process of collecting digital artefacts which
articulate experiences, achievements and learning (JISC 2008:6), with reflections on them through
dialogue with peers and teachers and potential employers. It is referred to as an electronic or digital
portfolio (ePortfolio) – the product of a purposeful aggregation of digital items - ideas, evidence,
reflections, feedback etc. which 'presents' a selected audience with evidence of a person's learning
and/or ability' (Sutherland & Powell 2007 cited in JISC (2008:7). Behind any product, or
presentation, we expect, rich and complex processes of planning, synthesising, sharing,
discussing, reflecting, giving, receiving and responding to feedback; therefore the term “ePortfolio”
implies both process and product.
Action taken as a result of these drivers
In order to address these needs, the project team conducted a preliminary online survey in 2011
to audit the course teams’ perception of PPDP based on the QAA’s definition (2009). All the course
teams surveyed agreed with all the elements in the QAA’s definition of PDP and believed that PPDP
would improve their students’ learning and achievement noting the emphasis on a structured and
supported process for reflection, recording and planning PDP. Another finding from the audit was
how the PDP process was documented to demonstrate student learning, development and growth
during their study. In some cases paper-based portfolios were the norm; however, ePortfolios have
been incorporated into the curriculum of some newly developed courses/programmes. According
to the audit, the general description of an ePortfolio equates to the following definition that it is “the
product created by the learner and is a collection of digital artefacts or evidences which articulate
their experiences, achievements and learning demonstrating their growth” (JISC 2008:6). From the
student perspective, PDP can be perceived as an onerous, meaningless, time consuming tick box
exercise in a portfolio submitted to meet professional requirements and discontinued after the
course.
In summary, Bucks New University (Bucks) has adopted the broad definition of PDP and indications
of its purposes, which is located in the Personal Tutor Guidelines for our academics. Along with the
claimed benefits provided in the national policy documentation (QAA2001 & 2009) that relates PDP
to a very broad pedagogic model of personalised but supported experiential learning and explicitly
allows individual course teams to decide upon their own ways of implementing and supporting
student PDP. As a result, PDP practice at Bucks is patchy and inconsistent; evidence suggests that
professional courses such as education, nursing, and allied health adopt a professional model of
PDP practice strongly influenced by the professional and statutory body requirements. Sports
Management & Leisure programmes, on the other hand, adopt the employment model of PDP
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