University of Newcastle http://www.ncl.ac.uk/

What is distinctive about this implementation case study?

• Development began with paper based Personal and Academic Records for use by tutors in 1998
• In-house developed e-portfolio tool ePET for use initially in Medicine in 2004
• Use has been mainly within the Medical Faculty and by postgraduate research students
• A middle-out initiated process which has gradually received senior managment buy in
• Externally funded project involvement has been central to developments
• Postgraduate research training (PGRT) e-portfolio is a requirement from 2006
• Teaching and Learning Committee agreed the use of the PGRT e-portfolio model within undergraduate and postgraduate taught course in 2007 and as a result a working group and internal funding set up to support roll out
• A University 'Student Charter' (2010) sets out the use of the e-portfolio as part of tutorial support. In 2011 the University allocated strategic funding for a 5 year project to enhance and roll-out ePortfolio across the University.

Tool/s used

1 = In-house postgraduate research training portfolio (RTP) e-portfolio, based on the ePET e-portfolio piloted in the Medical Faculty

2 = Undergraduate personal development planner, based on 2000-02 i-PARs development, available within the institutional VLE

3 = 2010-11 Implementation of ePET e-portfolio for undergraduates and masters students

PURPOSES

Personal Development Planning, Continuing Professional Development of Staff, Transition to/from the institution, Work Based Learning, Employability/Graduate attributes, Assessment, Lifelong Learning

Academic and personal development records for research students to:

• improve both research and general (employability) skills, help individuals understand and learn from ‘life’ experiences and contribute to personal growth and career planning
• to introduce practice relevant to CPD, building up a ‘portfolio’ of evidence of skills development
• to provide information about the research programme and PDP
• required to be used by supervisors and students for annual monitoring, reporting and progression processes

PROCESSES:  Information capture, Information retrieval, Planning, Feedback, Reflection, Collaboration, Presentation, Skill Audit

DRIVERS

QAA 2001 requirements in relation to PDP

SET for Success, the final report of the Roberts Review, April 2002 - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/set_for_success.htm

Joint Research Councils and AHRB Joint Skills Statement for postgraduate research students and early career researchers

Graduate Skills and Employability. More recently, a University Graduate Skills Framework is in place.

Key words: postgraduate research students, academic progression, employability, administration, holistic, skills, PDP, CPD, integration with VLE, student lifecycle

Brief overview description of the organisation and its current e-portfolio use:
Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, is a large, research-intensive university with origins in a College of Medicine (1834) and a College of Physical Science (1871), receiving its own University Act in 1963. It is to be 150 years old in 2021 and has developed a corporate plan to be achieved by that date, called Vision 2021. This document describes the University as: ‘a great civic institution, being a major force in the social, cultural and economic landscape of our city, the northern region, and the nation. We play a vital role in the development of the knowledge-based economy and increasingly occupy a position of global prominence.’ The Vision commits to student-centredness and a formative emphasis in learning and teaching, in a University which aspires to develop individuals for roles of active citizenship in society. The University has published a Student Charter and a Graduate Skills Framework (compare the Joint Skills Statement for postgraduate students), while promoting ‘ncl+’ - the University’s student award for lifewide learning. There is a working group on institution-wide roll-out of e-portfolios for taught courses in support of the Graduate Skills Framework (GSF) and on extending use at PGR level, chaired by Bryn Jones. The date by which Schools are to have mapped their curricula to the GSF was brought forward from the end of 2012 to 2010-11. The Student Charter links PDP and e-portfolio with keeping records of tutorial meetings and actions arising, in the section headed 'Tutorial Support'.

The Research Training Portfolio (RTP) e-portfolio is an electronic version of a prior, paper-based research-training portfolio for postgraduate research students. This electronic version, using the ePET e-portfolio framework, was piloted with PGRs in Medicine before being rolled out institution-wide (all three faculties) in 2005-06, although the paper version was still being used in some area(s) in September 2006. Much of the online guidance for the RTPePF is the same as for the paper RTP. By the start of the 2009-10 session, PGRs were being told that completion of the e-portfolio was ‘a University requirement’ and would be ‘considered at annual progression’. The development drew extensively on the work of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Computing / School of Medical Sciences Education Development, with its project experience of 'developing and implementing e-portfolios in a wide range of contexts at undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD levels. This e-portfolio team has worked closely with curriculum leaders (including Medicine, Bioscience, Dentistry, Speech Therapy Education, Combined Studies and Postgraduate Training) at Newcastle and elsewhere to implement portfolios to support curriculum requirements such as PDP, reflection, self-evaluation, assessment, appraisal, and promoting employability (see: http://www.eportfolios.ac.uk/). By September 2008 this team was reporting further developments including the use of social networking and blogs designed to integrate with programme outcomes/transferable skills - such as those defined in the new Graduate Skills Framework. Going back to the beginning, the work at Newcastle started in about 1996 with a student support and tutoring system developed and piloted in the Medical Sciences and centred upon communications.