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Case study Dumfries and Galloway College Home Page

Page history last edited by Jacquie Kelly 12 years ago

 

Dumfries and Galloway College   www.dumgal.ac.uk 

 

Summary  Case study Home Page An overview of use The implementation journey

 

What is distinctive about this implementation study

Dumfries and Galloway College is part of Scotland’s first super-campus consisting of Dumfries and Galloway College, the Universities of Glasgow and University of West of Scotland with a second campus in Stranraer, on the West Coast of Scotland. It delivers a variety of courses from Access to Degree level in partnership with the above institutions. e-Portfolio use began through pilot  implementation of PDP within the externally funded Individualised Support for Learners through ePortfolios (ISLE) project (2005-7) which led to the development of an in-house e-portfolio open source solution using WordPress that is now hosted for three other FE colleges in Scotland.  The in-house tool development was in recognition that an e-portfolio needed to be able to be adapted for different purposes and contexts and that existing tools at the time would not allow for this.  In 2010 there were 1200 active users in the college.  As part of an Individual Learning Plan a student records and reflects on their goals and provides a self assessment four times during the academic year.

 

e-Portfolio tool: In-house development using Wordpress

 

PURPOSESPersonal Development Planning, Transition to/from the institution, Retention, Work based learning, Employability

 

The aims were:

  • To help learners acquire skills which will have a long lasting and positive impact on their learning
  • To improve learner retention, progression and achievement rates
  • To support lifelong learning and wider participation by meeting the diverse and individual needs of learners in an efficient and effective manner

 

At the heart is the belief that the ability to offer individualised support for learning is enhanced through personal development planning using an e-portfolio. 

 

Learner groups were supported in the PDP activities by an academic member of staff. This was achieved by:

  • Incorporating PDP activities into the learner tutorial hour OR
  • Incorporating PDP activities into a suitable unit(s) that is part of their existing programme e.g. employability skills, personal development planning, career planning, freelance working skills, personal awareness and development

 

PROCESSES:  Information capture, Information retrieval, Planning, Feedback, Reflection, Collaboration, Presentation, Work Logs.

 

DRIVERS:   PDP, Employability, Reflective Learning, Individual Learning Planning, Retention and Achievement.

 

Key Words: Dumfries and Galloway, FE, Further Education, UK,  ISLE project, in-house e-portfolio, PDP ,Individual Learning Planning, retention, achievement and employment, learner tutorial

  

Brief overview of the organisation and its current e-portfolio use: The College came into being in the 1960s in George Street, Dumfries moving to Heathhall in the 1970s. It is now part of Scotland’s first super-campus consisting of Dumfries and Galloway College, the Universities of Glasgow and University of West of Scotland. We also have a campus in Stranraer, on the West Coast of Scotland, on the main Euroroute, gateway to Ireland.

 

The College delivers a variety of courses from Access to Degree level (in partnership with the above institutions) to over 4500 students across a wide range of curriculum areas including construction and engineering, catering and hospitality, sport and tourism, creative arts and design, business and management, beauty and hairdressing, care, childcare and continuing education, computing and business information technology. It is the only general purpose FE college in a sparsely populated region covering 2500 sq. miles in which access and sustaining breadth of provision is a very real issue. 

 

The College's e-portfolio journey was initiated when participating in the ISLE project. The college has a commitment to widening participation and FE/HE partnerships, learner progression, retention and achievement and the significant development of eLearning. Alongside these aims the college was keen to implement Personal Development Planning (PDP) for our learners. These aims, although part of the drivers for the college's initial e-portfolio, were further developed to include employability, showcasing themselves and celebrating achievement.

 

A small staff project team was set up initially to include a Senior Manager (ISLE Steering group member), Programme Manager (ISLE Management group member), eLearning Coordinator, MIS manager and MIS programmer.  The college senior management and programme managers were kept informed of the project and college’s involvement in the project. During Phase 1 the involvement of pilot learner groups was limited to two cohorts both at SCQF level 7. At this stage the college did not have access to an e-portfolio product and had no plans to purchase one. To facilitate involvement in phase 1 an HNC Childcare and Education group undertook a bridging module for the University of Paisley, now University of West of Scotland, at the Crichton campus and access to the University’s Blackboard e-portfolio was made available. For the second group of HND Computing learners, Bell College, now part of University of West of Scotland, hosted web access to the OSP e-portfolio they had developed.  The staff supporting the learners throughout phase 1 were supported by an introductory session on the ISLE project and what it was trying to achieve as well as through sessions in using the e-portfolio.  During phase 2 of the project the aim was to pilot the e-portfolio system and PDP in all curriculum areas within the college and Programme Managers were asked to identify a suitable learner group and tutor to participate. After considerable research into available systems the college developed and structured it’s own e-portfolio based on the open source product WordPress.  Staff were provided with briefing documentation, attended a training session provided by the ISLE Project Director and Project Manager on the background to the project and had access to follow up support from the project team.  Learners were introduced to the project by their assigned tutor and received a training session(s) on the use of the e-portfolio system.  Additional user documentation for both learners and tutors was provided as well as sample e-portfolios.

 

Today there are over 1200 active users with all educational levels and in most academic areas of the college plus 3 other colleges in Scotland using the system. As part of a student's Individual Learning Plan a student records and reflects on their goals and provides a self assessment four times during the academic year.

 

In the first two years after introducing e-portfolios into the college's mainstream an evaluation was carried out of retention and achievement as well as a student evaluation video.  This showed improved retention and attainment on the courses that were using the e-portfolio and also student ownership of the process.

 

One of the most important key factors for students re adoption of an e-portfolio is to introduce it early - this emphasises to the student that it is part of their course. It should be adaptable to their needs as different academic levels of student use it in different ways. It allows the student to take ownership of their e-portfolio. It is also beneficial to have enthusiastic staff involved, as with all learning.

 

The College has committed to the use of e-portfolios especially with FE students to record individual learning plans and work diaries. However, HE students often use the e-portfolio to store installation logs and record work. Continued annual development meetings mean that future use changes as new and exciting innovations and developments continue.

 

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