All students enrolled were engaged in focus group discussions in the first year; in the second year
the cases 1 and 3 were invited to complete the structured questionnaire designed on Survey
Monkey. The focus groups used open questions to allow for individual aspects of the students’
experiences of PDP and using the e-portfolio to be aired. It was felt essential that the students’
perspective on PDP and ePortfolio practice and processes was explored in order for teams to
develop them to be more accessible and engaging rather than focus on the theoretical benefits to
the students.
Table 1: Profile of the participating courses
Case 1 :
Post-graduate
Diploma Pre-qualifying
Nursing Programme
Level 6
Case 2
Foundation Degree in
Sports Management
Level 4
Case 3
Diploma in HE in
Operating Department
Practice Programme
Level 4/5
Case 4
BSc (Hons) Psychology
Curriculum
model
(Barnett 2000,
Moore 2001).
Professional,
academic,
employment
Academic,
employment
Professional,
academic,
employment
academic,
employment
PDP model
(Clegg and
Bradley 2006)
integrated
embedded
integrated
integrated
ePortfolio
system
PROFILE
JobSavvyGrad
Google Sites
Google Sites
assessment
formative
formative
formative
formative
NB:
Integrated: PDP is linked to all the modules in the curriculum
Embedded: a stand-alone module for PDP and employability
Findings
PDP for nursing using PROFILE
This ePortfolio is integrated within the curriculum for the PG Dip Nursing and linked to all the
modules and therefore provides an academic, professional and employment type of PDP practice.
In the focus groups the nursing students said they think they have a general approach to develop
and document their learning through an e-portfolio but were unsure of the purpose. They felt that
there were no explicit deadlines for assessment; and they did not perceive the task as contributing
towards their learning as they were unaware of its relevance to their study. They stated that they
would like timetabled, supervised, hands on sessions to clarify why they needed to develop the
ePortfolio and how to complete it in more detail. They wanted a clearer structure within their
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