Summary: e-portfolio implementation and use at the University of Bradford
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Key words.
Bradford, UK, HE, Higher Education, PDP, PebblePad, tutor support, evidence, skills, reflection, student diversity, central unit, central strategy, e-portfolio evaluation, five-year funded plan.
e-portfolios used since 2007.
Number of users on the system (2010-11): 13,731.
Active users (2010-11): 4871.
All staff and students at the University are given a user account on PebblePad, of these approximately 1/3 are active users. The system does not provide a breakdown of users into staff/students and a best guess is 5-10% of active users are staff and the remainder are students.
What is distinctive about this implementation case study
- Engaged in a 5 year commitment to provide all staff and students access to an e-portfolio – 2007 to 2012
- Formal and ongoing evaluation and research to inform choices, develop capacity and understanding of the factors that support the effective use of e-portfolios to develop autonomous students; evaluation of staff and student perceptions; and to inform future investment and decision making in TEL systems and infrastructure
- Engaging staff and students through e-portfolio implementation for institutional skills audit tool (SaPRA) for Level 1 students
- e-Portfolios are used widely for supporting students’ professional skills and Work-Based Learning (eg practice placements), particularly in Health and Social Care
- Strategic use of externally funded projects (eg ELP, INCEPR) to inform institutional decision making and develop relevant capacity.
- Development of users community through research and evaluation projects (eg INCEPR Project)
Institutional Driver: To support the cross-university Personal Development Planning (PDP) process
Tool/s used:
PebblePad. Externally hosted. Since 2011, PebblePad has been integrated with the University VLE, Blackboard.
Implementation features for eportfolio managers:
- Formal and onging evaluation and research to inform choices, develop capacity and understanding of the factors that support the effective use of e-portfolios to develop autonomous students; evaluation of staff and student perceptions; and to inform future investment and decision making in TEL systems and infrastructure
- Engaging staff and students through e-Portfolio implementation for institutional skills audit tool (SaPRA) for Level 1 students.
- Strategic use of externally funded projects
- Development of users community through research and evaluation projects
Implementation features for practitioners: e-portfolios are used widely for supporting students’ professional skills and Work-Based Learning (eg practice placements), particularly in Health and Social Care and Pharmacy.
The nature of e-portfolio use
The exemplars selected represent a range of activities up to 2011.
The nature of the implementation journey
The University of Bradford took a strategic, top-down approach towards implementing national policy on Progress Files in response to Dearing (1997) and the QAA framework for PDP (2000), setting up a Progress File Working Group. This produced a framework approved by Senate and incorporated in the institutional Learning and Teaching Strategy (2005-09). This included an entitlement for every student to have access to a private online space for personal development, to be provided as part of the e-learning framework. A small team developed capacity and experience through leading the JISC-funded Enhancing Learner Progression project (ELP, 2005-06) and participating in the community of practice associated with the JISC Distributed e-Learning Programme to which ELP belonged. Trialling of e-portfolio systems, together with research and evaluation work produced recommendations and provided a basis for institutional decision-making, leading to the choice of PebblePad as the institutional e-portfolio in 2007. All students and staff are entitled to a PebblePad account (as part of the University ICT provision, which includes the VLE, email, file space etc.) that is accessed via a single username and password; PebblePad is externally hosted by Pebble Learning and users are authenticated via the University's LDAP system. Staff of the Centre for Educational Development developed the business case and have supported implementation at practitioner level, developed a community of practice and provided a support website. PebblePad has been piloted for staff performance review but the University has implemented a new IT system for its HR functions which offers a similar facility and the University has decided to use the HR system for performance management. This system is seen as independent from those used to support learning, teaching and assessment and CED staff were not part of the decision making process. In the wake of the Browne Review (2009) and in relation to a new institutional initiative, Curriculum 2020, a decision as to the future of the e-portfolio within the University is due in 2012.
Overview
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Stage 0: Prior developments
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Stage 1: Planning
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Stage 2: Early adoption
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Stage 3: Embedding
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Stage 4: Sustaining
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Progress File Working Group in place to implement national policy;
2004 University commitment to 5-year e-Strategy investment programme 2004-09;
2005 University LTA Strategy 2005-09 includes framework for PDP as key component;
2005 SaPRA, skills audit tool for Yr1 students, in place across the whole institution; paper-based, part of the DevelopMe! process.
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2005-06 JISC-funded project ELP (Enhancing Learning Progression) explored e-portfolio systems and collaborated with ALPS CETL on learning in practice settings in health and social care;
2006-07 Evaluation of 4 possible solutions and trialling of 2 led to recommendation of PebblePad;
Development of business case as part of e-Strategy investment 2007-09.
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October 2007 Implementation of PebblePad. 2-yr post created to support implementation and embedding;
2007 5-year implementation of e-portfolios approved, staff development and support (2 years);
2007--
Wide range of implementations supported in different learning contexts – see exemplars.
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2007 –
Centre for Education Development fostered a community of practice, providing support to practitioners and a support website with case studies and support materials;
2008-09 SaPRA tool integrated into PebblePad with substantial impact on take-up of PebblePad. Still being used by several Yr1 modules (2011);
2010-11 support embedded across CED-TEL team;
2010 November: New teaching and learning strategy, Curriculum 2020, approved by Senate. Technology Enhanced Learning review showed patchy student awareness of PebblePad. Start of an institutional review process, including decision on the future of the e-portfolio system. Decision due 2012.
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2011-12 - extended use and uptake of e-portfolio across university, including:
School of Health Studies embedded 3 e-portfolio based core modules in all courses;
used to track project, dissertation, and PhD supervision across 3 academic Schools;
Graduate School using e-portfolio to implement Research Development Framework for PhD students;
Being used to support overseas students and collaborative partners, including students (eg CS2) and staff through the delivery of the PgCHEP (CS15).
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Managing organisational change
Governance, leadership and vision
The Progress Files Working Group (PFWG) supported Peter Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Learning Development, in developing a flexible framework whereby the University could meet QAA requirements and stakeholder needs; and sent it forward to Senate for approval. It became part of the institution's Learning, Teaching and Assessment strategy 2005-09. Earlier, senior colleagues in the Learner Support Service (responsible for the IT and e-Learning infrastructure) had developed the idea of a 5-year e-Strategy programme, led by the incoming PVC for e-Strategy 2005-2010. This established a project board and operated a fund into which stakeholders could bid for projects in line with the Corporate Plan and e-Strategy. The PFWG endorsed the recommendation to adopt PebblePad, made as a result of the 2006-07 evaluation, and it was also accepted by Learning and Teaching Committee. A business case and project proposal were developed by Carol Higgison, Senior Lecturer in e-Learning, for submission to the e-Strategy Board. There was also a period of negotiation between the supplier, the e-Strategy Board and University Finance because the e-Strategy time limit on projects was 2 years, whereas the recommendation was for an e-portfolio implementation funded for 5 years. Initially funding for a 2-year implementation plan came from the Investment Prioritisation Group after approval by the e-Strategy Board, combining funds from the University, TQEF and JISC. When the Finance department was consulted during the ordering process they advised going with a 5-year contract to reduce the University financial and risk exposure, eg of the service provider being unable to continue to provide the service. A new University initiative to invest in developing learning, teaching and assessment - Curriculum 2020 - has led to a review and possibly a new decision about a future e-portfolio system due to report in 2012.
Alignment with the institutional context
The e-portfolio provision to support PDP was an integral part of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy (2004-09). This supported the 2004-09 Corporate Plan which aimed to use technology to support and enable smart working and smart administration through provision of the appropriate and focused deployment of technology via the e-Strategy.
"We want a dynamic e-Strategy that links people, information, and communication, and harnesses the power and potential of digital information." Professor Rae Earnshaw, PVC e-Strategy, (News & Views, Dec 2004, p3).
DRIVERS influencing the start of the initiative
Widening Participation: Context of an existing Compact Scheme, the ELP project developed a level 0 module ‘IT skills and PDP’ which was adopted by the University and needed an online portfolio to be sustainable.
Professional practice learning: University partner in ALPS CETL programme to make large-scale use of mobile devices to support Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings (Health and Social Care). The Division of Midwifery wanted to trial an e-portfolio allowing mobile access so that students could record their development whilst on placement.
PDP: Institutional commitment to support PDP for all students.
TECHNOLOGIES
Following the ELP project, the University evaluated 4 possible e-portfolio solutions and chose 2 to trial: the e-portfolio facility available as part of the institutional VLE content management system; and PebblePad. The decision focused on the extent to which the systems under consideration met the evaluation criteria which considered institutional, student and staff requirements. In addition to meeting the pedagogical needs of staff one of the main criteria that influenced the decision was that PebblePad could offer a completely private, personal space to the students which is not accessible to staff or system administrators. We felt that this privacy was an essential requirement to engage the students in using an e-portfolio system. We chose to go with an externally hosted solution because of the procedural issues and delays in agreeing the funding and the need to set the system up in time for the start of the 2007-08 academic session. The University IT services did not have sufficient time, resources or expertise to set up PebblePad in the time available (normally requires a 12 to 18 month cycle) and PebblePad were already hosting our ELP project installation. Hosting was the quickest, simplest solution that offered the security, reliability and performance we needed. At the time, fitness for purpose was the overriding issue and integration was not a high priority; indeed, in some ways, lack of integration with other systems, eg the VLE, was perceived as an advantage in helping to ensure students' understanding that the e-portfolio system was conceptually, personally and practically different from the existing, institutionally focused systems. However, as use of PebblePad has expanded integration is becoming an issue. We have recently integrated PebblePad with our VLE (2011-12) and are looking at integrating it with our Student Information System.
The following example illustrates the issues around how far and why an institution would - or would not - join up related practice in different parts of its operations and integrate its technologies: Since the running of the PebblePad pilot for staff performance review (2008 onwards), the University has implemented an new IT system for its HR functions, which happens to offer a similar facility. The University has decided to use the HR system for this purpose. The main driver in this instance is administrative convenience and the fact that staff and students systems (ie systems to support learning and teaching rather than the administration of learning and teaching) are seen as largely separate in the decision making processes.
Developing expertise/engaging with stakeholders
Staffing and supporting the implementation
Through the external project ELP, a small team gained experience, developed capacity in the use of e-portfolios to support PDP and student learning, and gained access to a developing community of practice (JISC Regional Distributed e-Learning Programme). The University e-Strategy investment plan created a supportive environment for proposals to implement an institutional e-portfolio system. The same people, located in the Centre for Educational Development, were involved in the external and internal projects and the project officer from the ELP project was appointed as a lecturer in the CED for two years to support the internal implementation and embedding of PebblePad across the University. This harnessing of existing expertise and knowledge of the e-portfolio system, its educational potential, together with his knowledge of the University and key academics interested in trialling the system, was key to the success of the project.
Also the availability of an institution-wide student self-audit tool (SaPRA), that could be easily delivered by the e-portfolio and add functionality, provided a vehicle for introducing the system to academics it would have otherwise been difficult to access. Using the e-portfolio to support the delivery of SaPRA from 2008 across the institution was significant in introducing Pebblepad to staff and students.
Professional development for staff
In 2007, funding approved for a five-year implementation of e-portfolios included staff development and support. A community of practice has slowly evolved with the Centre for Educational Development (CED) at its core and, with the early adopters, has contributed to the emerging and developing practice.
Pilot use of PebblePad for staff performance review was undertaken from 2008
Student engagement
From 2007, students were ‘encouraged’ to access e-portfolio as part of PDP. The Bradford TEL Review (2010) reported that awareness of PebblePad amongst students is low, although 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.
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