Summary

Case study Home Page

An overview of use

The implementation journey

 

Brief overview of the organisation and the e-portfolio implementation journey:

In response to the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1997) and the subsequent QAA framework for Progress Files for Higher Education (2000) the University of Bradford’s five-year Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy (2005 to 2009) included a framework for students’ personal development planning as one of its key components. This PDP framework included an underpinning principle that:

“Online support is provided to enable students to maintain appropriate records of their PDP activities”. (University of Bradford, LTA Strategy 2005-09, p6).

 

Significantly at this time the University had committed to a 5-year e-Strategy investment programme (2004-09) to develop “smart systems for learners, teachers, researchers and administrators”. At the same time the University was exploring the benefits, and gaining experience, of e-portfolio systems through a JISC funded project – Enhancing Learner Progression (ELP, www.elp.ac.uk). These national, regional, and institutional strategies, along with institutional investment came together to create a climate supportive of the University committing to an institutional e-Portfolio system.

 

The PDP strategy of the institution was (as commonly found by Centre for Recording Achievement surveys) largely characterised by the legitimisation and development of localised practices – hence the choice offered of three possible options for implementation at course level. In 2007, following an evaluation of various e-portfolio options, funding for a five-year implementation of e-portfolios was approved, to include staff development and support. From 2007, students were ‘encouraged’ to access e-portfolio as part of PDP. A community of practice has slowly evolved with the Centre for Educational Development (CED) at its core and, with the early adopters, have contributed to the emerging and developing practice. CED staff are available to help advise on how to integrate PebblePad into modules and courses and how to use it for further purposes such as student PDP and skills development, performance review, collaborative working, research/dissertation supervision, recording meetings, supervising and assessing placements and work-based learning. A support web-site is also available containing case studies and support materials.

 

The institution is currently undertaking a major review of its Technology Enhanced Learning Provision, including the e-portfolio system.

 

Governance:

 In 2005, the University Senate approved a Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy (2005-09) that comprised 6 key strands, which included a framework for Personal Development Planning (PDP) developed by Peter Hughes and one for e-learning developed by Carol Higgison.

 

The PDP framework was developed in response to the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1997) and the Quality Assurance Agency (2000) framework for progress files. Peter Hughes, in consultation with Schools and students through the Progress Files Working Group (PFWG, chaired by Peter Hartley), led the development of a flexible framework for the University that would meet the requirements of the QAA and accommodate the diverse needs and practices of stakeholder groups. This framework was approved by Senate and subsequently incorporated into the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy (2005-09). This included an entitlement, for every student, to a private online space for personal development, which would need to be provided as part of the e-learning framework.

 

A year earlier, in 2004, the University had approved an £11M investment in a 5-year e-Strategy (2004-09) Programme led by Professor Rae Earnshaw (formerly Dean of the School of Informatics) who was appointed PVC e-Strategy (2005-10). This was the result of an initial idea developed by colleagues in the Learner Support Service, responsible for the IT and e-learning infrastructure, Dr Stan Houghton (then Director, retired) and Mr Graham Hill (Head of IT Services). A project board was established and stakeholders could bid for funds to develop IT/e-learning projects that would progress/implement and support the aims of the Corporate Plan (2004-09) and e-Strategy (2004-09).

 

The University launched a range of new degrees in 2004 to expand its academic footprint, including a Degree in Psychology. The Head of the Centre for Educational Development (CED), Professor Peter Hartley, was involved in delivering a core module that included a portfolio assessment. Various unsatisfactory solutions using the virtual learning environment were trialled but these were resource intensive in terms of staff time (Set up, mark, moderate, feedback) and clumsy to use for staff and students. (Bradford use case 2).

 

Professor Hartley, Carol Higgison and Neil Currant were involved in a JISC funded project (ELP) that developed a new five credit, level zero module 'IT skills and PDP', designed to complement existing Compact Scheme modules, which was adopted by the University and needed an online portfolio to be sustainable.

 

At the same time, the Division of Midwifery and Reproductive Health had also developed a series of Lifelong Learning modules that involved synoptic portfolio assessments. The University was part of a regional CETL using large-scale mobile devices to support Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings (ALPS CETL) across a range of health and social care disciplines and contexts. The Midwifery staff wanted to trial PebblePad because it offered mobile access and would allow students to record their development directly into their portfolio from a mobile device whilst on placement (Bradford use case 1).

 

These developments led to the formal evaluation of two e-portfolio implementations in 2006-07, led by Carol Higgison and Peter Hughes. The University considered 4 options for evaluation including those evaluated as part of the ELP project (University of Newcastle e-Pet portfolio, University of Leeds Boddington VLE e-portfolio), an optional add-on to the SITS student information system and the e-portfolio facility that came ‘free’ as part of a the VLE content management system and PebblePad. We chose to trial two of these during the 2006-07 academic year: the e-portfolio system available as part of the institutional virtual learning environment, and PebblePad, which we had used in the ELP project (see below). This involved an evaluation over as semester using ‘volunteer’ modules, their staff and students trialling one or both of the systems. Draft evaluation plan, student survey, staff qualitative feedback, draft recommendations are attached.

 

As a result of the evaluation Carol Higgison and Peter Hughes recommended that the University implement PebblePad as its Institutional e-Portfolio for a period of 5 years. This recommendation was endorsed by the PFWG and was accepted by the Learning and Teaching Committee (2007). A business case was developed submitted to the e-Strategy Board. The Investment Prioritisation Group meeting document Proposed E-Strategy Investment, 2007-09 outlines the rationale for the decision to choose PebblePad. Requirements for implementation are set out in a strategic project proposal for the University’s E-Strategy Board Project B: Personal Development Planning & E-Portfolio. The project funding was complicated by a tension between the 2 year limit on projects funded by e-strategy and the recommendation that the e-Portfolio be funded for 5 years. This was resolved after negotiations between the supplier, the e-Strategy Board and University Finance, funding was approved and the system was implemented in October 2007. This took six months and the business case was rewritten several times. Neil Currant, the ELP project officer, was appointed as a lecturer in CED for a period of 2 years to support the implementation and embedding of PebblePad across the University. He brought an indepth understanding of PebblePad and its potential for supporting PDP along with a knowledge of the University and its ways of working.

 

Influential projects led by institution staff - how far did they impact? briefly what influence did they have? 

JISC: Enhancing Learner Progression (www.elp.ac.uk; 2005-06)

The University of Bradford led a JISC funded, collaborative project on Enhancing Learner Progression (ELP). This project provided the opportunity to develop and build expertise and capacity in the effective use of e-portfolios to support student learning. It gave us space to examine a range of systems including open source systems (University of Newcastle e-Pet, Boddington VLE), and commercial systems, as well as learn from the experiences of other projects funded by the JISC Distributed e-Learning Programme.

 

After initially choosing a different e-portfolio system ELP changed to PebblePad for one of the project’s three contexts - Context 1: transition from School/FE into HE. This was because the staff involved in the project partner WP initatives thought PebblePad’s interface more engaging and likely to appeal to school pupils (16 to 18 year olds) who were the target audience. An added incentive was that Pebble Learning offered us free use of the tool for the duration of the project as well as allowing project partners to trial the system for their own institutional pilots.

 

The Bradford JISC Distributed e-Learning project ELP (Enhancing Learner Progression) infoNet case study looks at e-portfolio use for transitions: into HE, into workplace settings including progression both to employment and to other institutions. The subject range included: Medicine, Healthcare, Nursing, Life Sciences. The project developed six case studies across three settings (see use case number 3).

 

Although the University of Bradford's Compact Scheme director and participating schools were enthusiastic about this module it did not prove possible to sustain beyond the end of the project it without additional staff in the Compact scheme and funding was not available for this. However the e-portolio continues to be used in the face to face compact summer school (Bradford use case 10).

 

 

SaPRA –Skills and Personal Reflective Activity (http://www.bradford.ac.uk/developme/sapra/index.php)

This is an institution-wide initiative developed by Becka Currant (then Head of the Learner Development Unit and now Dean of Students) in 2005 as part of their DevelopMe! Programme (http://www.bradford.ac.uk/developme/). SaPRA is a self-audit tool available to all 1^st year students to help them make the transition into Higher Education and identify the skills they needed to develop. Initially a paper based tool, Neil Currant transferred it to the e-Portfolio system PebblePad (as a profile) in 2008-09 (see Bradford use case number 4). This provided us with a route to engaging staff and students with the e-Portfolio system. The students get a record they can access anytime, anywhere and that they can update easily; staff get a summary of skills their student group has identified that they need to develop – previously this had been done manually. SaPRA is still currently being used by a number of 1^st Year modules.

 

Cohort IV of the Inter/national Coalition for Research into Electronic Portfolios (INCReP) (http://ncepr.org)

The University of Bradford took part in a three-year research programme from 2007 to 2010 as a member of the Fourth Cohort of the Inter/National Coalition for Research Into Electronic Portfolios. This 3-year project allowed us to research and undertake an in-depth evaluation of the impact and role of an e-portfolio in four subject areas across the University. Our primary research questions was:

“In what contexts and to what effect do tutors deploy eportfolio based learning activities designed to facilitate student’s transition toward learner autonomy?” (Bradford, 2010, p2).

 

Our final report, Designing ePortfolio Based Learning Activities to Promote Learner Autonomy (Bradford, 2010) makes eight recommendations about using e-portfolios effectively for learner development and five specific recommendations for e-portfolio based learning activities to promote learner autonomy. Its overall conclusion is that:

“eportfolios can become spaces within which learners can develop and express personal, rational and relational autonomy. Maximising this opportunity requires a significant degree of tutor design, deployment and feedback on learning activities. It would be a worthwhile goal for all students 12 to be able to make their eportfolio an autonomous learning zone by the end of their honours degree, as to do this they will need to have inculcated the habits of lifelong learning. To reach this goal needs a careful balance of structured learning activities and freedom to discover.” (Bradford, 2010, p11).

 

ALT LERSIG – Association for Learning Technology Learning Environment Review Special Interest Group (http://www.alt.ac.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/lersig)

In 2009-10 Bradford, like many other institutions, reviewed its Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) provision and we became a founding member of the ALT Learning Environment Review SIG (Professor Peter Hartley is Chair). This SIG is active and allows us to exchange experiences and ideas with other institutions facing similar issues and challenges.

 

The Bradford TEL Review (Higgison and Readle, 2010) reported that awareness of PebblePad amongst students is low, even though all students have an entitlement to use it. The students who commented positively on their experiences (mainly from the Schools of Health Studies and Management), liked the institutional e-Portfolio system for storing thoughts, plans, actions; the convenience and speed of access; and the ability to build a profile of strengths, weaknesses, achievements and goals over time to get a sense of self. However they also identified issues and areas for improvement including the perceived complexity of the user interface; and the difficulty in accessing ongoing help and support.

 

References to e-portfolios in institutional strategy docs - ie. evidence of institutional embedding

Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy 2005-09 One whole section out of eight is devoted to PDP. Components of PDP are shown to map to the main learning outcomes of the Strategy. There is reference to ‘online support … provided to enable students to maintain appropriate records’. In the section on eLearning, e-portfolios are mentioned explicitly to illustrate how eLearning will support the core educational aim of ‘Independence and Lifelong Learning’ and also as the key activity under Lifelong Learning, where e-portfolios are glossed as ‘online support for the development and integration of key skills through PDP’.

 

Project proposal b) PDP and E-portfolios, in Appendix 3 of ‘Proposed E-Strategy Investment, 2007-09’, paper for the Investment Prioritisation Group, dated September 2007, presents this project as ‘essential’ and refers to ‘the University’s agreed policy on e-portfolio provision’ and adds, ‘A significant number of courses and modules wish to embed the e-portfolio in 07/08.’ Funding is requested to cover both technical infrastructure and pedagogic support for implementing PDP through e-portfolios – just over £330K over 2 years.

 

Implementation journey milestones

Date	Event	Description - What happened? What decisions were made? What was the rationale/evidence base? Who made the decisions? Include links to documentation
2004	Senate and Council approval for University ‘e-Strategy Investment Plan’.	The initial idea behind the need for an e-Strategy investment was developed by Graham Hill, IT Services Manager, Learner Support Services and supported by the then Director Stan Houghton and Professor Rae Earnshaw, Dean of the then School of Informatics. The investment plan was approved Prof Earnshaw was appointed as PVC e-Strategy to oversee the programme. See Harnessing the Digital Age, Jan 2008 - http://www.bradford.ac.uk/mediacentre/academic-opinion/Title_536_en.php.
2005   2005-09	Senate approval for the University's 'Framework for Students' Personal Development Planning' ,   This PDP framework was included as a core part of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment strategy 2005-09, also approved by Senate.	Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy 2005-09 PDP appears as prominent in meeting the main learning outcomes.   This document sets out three levels of integration in courses - level 1 minimum requirement - Level 3 represents mature practice.
2005	Selecting the Pebblepad e-Portfolio for the ELP project (http://www.elp.ac.uk)   Developing a new five credit, level zero module 'IT skills and PDP' as part of the ELP project (designed to complement existing Compact Scheme modules) which was adopted by the University.	ELP project outcome.. 'and all 3 schools participating in ELP wish to continue.' Case study. The ELP project partners looked at several e-portfolio options and, after initially choosing a different e-portfolio system ELP changed to PebblePad because the staff involved in partner University access initiatives thought its interface more engaging and likely to appeal to school pupils (16 to 18 year olds). Pebble Learning also offered the project free use of the tool for the duration of the project as well as allowing project partners to trial the system in their own institutions.   Although the Compact Scheme director and participating secondary schools were enthusiastic about this module it did not prove possible to sustain it without additional staff in the Compact scheme and funding was not available for this (see Bradford use case 10).
2005-06	Emerging institutional need for e-portfolio system identified – new Psychology Degree and Degree in Midwifery as part of ALPS CETL.	At the same time the University had launched a new degree in Psychology that had a portfolio assessment. Various solutions using the VLE were trialled but were deemed unsatisfactory and the PebblePad trial offered an alternative solution. (Bradford use case 2).   The Division of Midwifery and Reproductive Health wanted to trial PebblePad because this offered mobile access needed for participation in the ALPS CETL (Bradford use case 1).
2007	PebblePad chosen as the institutional e-Portfolio after an evaluation it and one alternative by staff and students during 2006-07 academic year.	The University considered 4 options for evaluation including those considered as part of the ELP project, an optional add-on to the SITS student information system and the e-portfolio facility that came as part of a the VLE content management system. We chose to evaluate 2 of these during the 2006-07 academic year. Draft evaluation plan, student survey, staff qualitative feedback, draft recommendations.
2007-09	Initially, a 2 year implementation plan and funding approval by the Investment Prioritisation Group, after being approved by the University E-Strategy Board. (Funding is from a combination of University, TQEF and JISC).	Investment Prioritisation Group meeting document Proposed E-Strategy Investment, 2007-09 outlines the funding decision. Requirements for implementation are set out in a strategic project proposal for the University’s E-Strategy Board Project B: Personal Development Planning & E-Portfolio.
2007-12	Committed to 5 year implementation of the Pebblepad e-portfolio (www.pebblelearning.co.uk) to provide guaranteed service and stability essential to engaging academic staff.	The e-portfolio evaluation suggested that staff would be more willing to commit to engaging with PDP and the e-portfolio system if it was implemented as a service rather than a pilot. 5 years was agreed as the minimum commitment to cover one full undergraduate degree programme cycle. The e-Strategy Board remit and funding limited investment to 2 years. Negotiations with the e-portfolio provider and the Board allowed us to buy a 5 year licence up front and pay over 2 years to get the investment. Finance then decided to pay over 5 years. This caused a 6 month delay and several rewrites of the business case.
2008-09	SaPRA tool implemented as a PebblePad profile.	Using the e-portfolio to support the delivery of SaPRA from 2008 across the institution was significant in introducing PebblePad to staff and students.
2008 - 2010	Involvement in the Fourth Cohort of the Inter/National Coalition for into Electronic Portfolio Research.	Designing Eportfolio Based Learning Activities to Promote Learner Autonomy Final Report, April, 2010
2010	Technology Enhanced Learning Review (became founding member of the ALT Learning Environment Review SIG) and   School of Health Studies develops 3 ‘core modules’ embed the use of the e-portfolio across the school.	As part of an institution wide review of its technology enhanced learning infrastructure we undertook a surveys of staff and students. The student survey showed that students who used PebblePad valued the system but that there was a low level of awareness and uptake of the system compared to the VLE. Key colleagues as Chair and Secretary for ALT LERSIG - http://lersig.alt.ac.uk/pages/lersig_remit).
Future	Curriculum 2020. (Approved by the Learning, Teaching and Assessment sub-committee of Senate, Nov 2010).	Curriculum 2020 - the University's current £5M investment in developing learning, teaching and assessment at the University of Bradford. Although initiated before Browne Review report was published, C2020 will be influenced by its recommendations and implications. Review and decision about future e-portfolio system.