Summary : e-portfolio implementation and use at University of Wolverhampton

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Key words: Wolverhampton, UK, HE, Higher Education, PebblePad. CPD, PDP, reflective practice, staff appraisal, WBL, peer-to-peer

e-portfolios used since 2004.  

What is distinctive about this implementation case study

• The first university in the UK to provide all staff and students access to an e-portfolio - 2005
• The university was involved with the development of PebblePad as an electronic means to support the PDP and Employability agenda
• Extensive use is made at Level 4 for e-PDP to support progression and retention to meet the needs of the widening participation agenda
• e-portfolios are used widely for Learning, Teaching and Assessment, Professional Development for staff and Work Based Learning
• In 2010-11 it reshaped its modular curriculum to a 'Learning Works' structure that includes whole year modules at all levels that run alongside single semester modules - these integrate e-portfolio use and support Personal Development Planning and Graduate Attributes
• Strategic use of externally funded projects
• Development of user's community through Telling Stories conferences - 2006-9

Drivers:

• PDP and Employability - a key focus has been on level 4 and the use of e-PDP to support retention and progression

Tool used

• PebblePad internally hosted

Implementation features for senior managers

• The first university in the UK to provide all staff and students access to an e-portfolio system - 2005
• In 2010-11 the university reshaped its modular curriculum to a 'Learning Works' structure that includes whole year modules at all levels that run alongside single semester modules - these integrate e-portfolio use and Personal Development Planning and Graduate Attributes
• Extensive use is made at Level 4 for e-PDP to support progression and retention to meet the needs of the widening participation agenda

Implementation features for e-portolio managers

• Developments have been top-down initiated with middle-through implementation supported by an expert central team
• The university was involved with the development of PebblePad as an electronic means to support the PDP and Employability agenda
• Both ongoing and formal evaluation has been used to inform practice and institutional decision making
• Strategic use of externally funded projects
• Development of users' community through Telling Stories conferences - 2006-9

 Implementation features for practitioners  

• e-portfolios are used widely for Learning, Teaching and Assessment, Personal Development Planning, Professional Development for staff and Work-Based Learning.

The nature of e-portfolio use
This has developed through pilots within 4 schools in 2005 (Information Technology, Applied Sciences , Education and Health) from the identified need for PDP to support transition to University during the first year curriculum to extensive use in a wide range of contexts within the curriculum and wider. As a design parameter of the 2008/9 Learning Works Project where the university moved from a 15-20 credit framework integrated into its new course design that the University of Wolverhampton 'aims to produce Wolverhampton Graduates who are digitally literate, knowledgeable and enterprising, and are global citiizens'. e-PDP developments are central to this aim and are supporting recent developments in developing and implementing graduate attributes. The following is a snapshot of the extensive and broad use of e-portfolios at the University of Wolverhampton.

The nature of the implementation journey   

Overview

Managing organisational change

Governance , leadership and vision

The Institute for Learning Enhancement (formerly the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning set up in 1999 is the central unit with responsibility for developing and supporting Teaching and Learning strategy. This central unit reports to Executive groups and gathers evidence of practice to support institutional decision making. It also develops bids for external funding that have supported e-portfolio developments. This unit has personnel including an e-portfolio coordinator that have managed the implementation of PDP and then e-PDP. The Blended Leaning Unit was established within the Institute for Learning Enhancement to support the Blended Learning Strategy (2008). Two Blended Learning Advisors posts were established in 2008 and one of their roles is to support and inform e-portfolio developments. By 2010 this had grown to 5 (3 full-time and 2 part time) Blended Learning Advisors.

(GUIDELINES there are clear structures through which practice issues can inform policy and vice-versa and a level of trust in the expertise of those involved in the developments to not only inform policy and strategy but to implement this.)

Alignment with the institutional context

DRIVERS: The widening participation agenda and study skills and Personal Development Planning (PDP) support for level four students and progression has continued to be central to the University of Wolverhampton approach to retention. Employability has also been a key institutional driver. In 2008/9 the Blended Learning Strategy sets out the student entitlement to e-PDP but includes other entitlements that can and are in places suppported with e-portfolios.

TECHNOLOGIES: The VLE was purpose built by the University of Wolverhampton. This did not offer e-portfolio functionality and the e-portfolio templates that were developed initially were viewed as needing to be within a student learning space and separate from the institutional teaching space, the VLE.  

Developing expertise and communicating with stakeholders

An ePIG (e-portfolio Implementation Group) which was made up of the e-portfolio Co-ordinator (Shane Sutherland, now Co-Director of Pebble Learning) and representatives from Academic schools, IT Services, Student Union and Learning Information Services. In addition there was theePug (e-portfolio user group) again run by Shane Sutherland and similarly represented by the groups identified in the ePIG, but the primary focus of this group was to share practice amongst the early adopters who were using PebblePad in a few of the schools. Both of these groups were set up in 2005.  

Professional development for staff

• Through developing an expert central team: e-portfolio co-ordinator and Blended Learning Unit involved in leading and supporting developments internally and externally - involvement in international and national projects that support institutional goals
• Through staff use: The new lecturers course (PGCert) involves the use of an e-portfolio and Learning Technologists have used them as part of their professional accreditation
• Through suppport for developing practice: Use of residential retreats for the early pilot schools and on projects, Staff workshops, Blended Learning Unit staff support e-portfolio use through the design and implementation of learning activities, online examples of use within PebblePad
• Through sharing practice: The Blended Learning Unit have the expertise to support practice from their knowledge of this within and outside the university. The pilot projects produced champions to support further developments within their own schools and wider. The development of e-portfolio communities both internally and externally through the Telling Stories conferences 2006-9 were set up to share practice to a wider community

Student support is provided by the tutors for module or course specific activities. Central technical support is provided through the main IT Services help desk who pass though any student calls about PebblePad to the Blended Learning Unit.