Exemplar  4

Institution: University of Newcastle upon Tyne

e-Portfolio context:  Postgraduate Training Portfolio e-Portfolio for Postgraduate Research Students

Piloted with PGRs in the Faculty of Medical Sciences before September 2005 and then implemented in all faculties.

Dates of provision: Institutional roll-out started September 2005

Reason for implementation:

Evidencing the Joint Skills Statement, meeting the Roberts recommendations, supporting PDP (satisfying QAA requirements), supporting Annual Progression process

Purpose/s: 

• To provide an ongoing record of personal development that can contribute towards personal growth and career planning
• To help understand how learning can be applied to a wide range of subjects and activities
• To help improve research and generic skills and identify opportunities for personal development

Learning processes involved: 

Planning research; recording meetings with supervisory team; record and reflect on skills mapped against core research skills (Joint Skills Statement); self-assessment/PDP - assessing current skills (project-specific) and planning further skills development (Joint Skills Statement); CV building and recording CPD events; preparing for and managing annual progress review process; sharing content with supervisors and others

Practice: fully developed

The e-portfolio involves students managing, updating and sharing records (of training events, supervisions, presentations, publications and other evidence of achievement), collecting items of evidence of skills development, planning (including planning research, training and career planning), self-evaluation, reflecting, identifying strengths and weaknesses. Specific process (analyse – plan – do – record – review) carried out with supervisor guidance and a review is done at least once a year.

It involves a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) which is a self-assessment of skills against the UK Research Councils Joint Skills Statement for research students to be carried out within the first 3 months and recorded in epf. The requirement is to identify development workshops/other events to address development needs and formulate a programme (PDP).