At this time I took over the UCLan presence in the NTFS-NARN (National Action Research Network
– Researching and Evaluating PDP and e-Portfolios) programme, and was pleasantly surprised to
realise that the work I was doing fitted well into the ‘students’ grouping of projects (the others being
staff; personal tutors; e-portfolios). As well as bringing me into contact with the ‘PDP community’,
this also gave me the confidence to extend the study, to see whether and how students’ perceptions
evolved over time. I also had in mind to see if these visual images would help in engaging staff in
discussion and thinking about their practice. So, from 2008 – 2010, and using my network of
contacts, I arranged sessions with seven Departments, and in each was able to follow that cohort
over three years, carrying out the poster activity in the first year, repeating the activity in the second
year, and in the third year giving them a questionnaire which asked how they had developed, and
where did they still need to develop.
What we found was that first years’ posters had elements of theoretical frameworks for PDP, with
about half showing an idea of progressive development over time; posters from second years were
less theoretical and instead reflected real-life experiences, with fewer terms but more extensive
wording, and less focus on stages of development and forward planning. Second year students
also showed evidence of engaging in PDP at an individual level with many reporting achievements
in aspects such as time management which they had mentioned in year one. The answers from
the final year students were more specifically about confidence, with about half of the answers to
the first question reporting that ‘I am / feel more confident’. Other responses included improved
writing, and better research skills. Many also reported that they still needed to improve their
confidence; other aspects included the need to research deeper, and to improve time management.
It was interesting to hear many students comment positi ٕ