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NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Online Support for Personal Development Planning and Work–Related Learning
Damian McGivern Colin Turner
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Some others on the teamPDSystem Mr Damian McGivern
(Project Manager) Dr Gordon Crawford
(Principal Developer) Many students have
contributed to the project.
OPUS Dr Colin Turner
(Principal Developer) Mr Ron Laird
(Initial idea and leading practitioner)
Many students have contributed to the project.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Excellence, Innovation and Regional Engagement
Established by Royal Charter in 1984.
Strong local, national and international partnerships.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Multi-campus, but Unitary Institution
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Over 23,500 students, 1000+ of whom study through distance learning.
International students from more than 80 countries.
127,000 alumni, 1,150 in USA.
3,400 staff, 1,200+ of whom are faculty.
17 Research Institutes.
6 Faculties.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Two Key Agendas Personal Development
Planning (PDP)
Work-Related Learning (WRL)
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
What is Personal Development Planning (PDP)? ‘A structured & supported
process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning and performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development.’ (QAA 2001)
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Policy IntentionsTo help students
Become more effective self-directed learners. Articulate their goals and evaluate progress
towards their achievement. Improve their general skill of study and career
management. Encourage a positive attitude to learning
throughout life.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDP Implementation Strategy Embedding PDP into the curriculum - linked to
the learning outcomes at programme level.
Structured support for individual students to aid reflection.
System to record the outcomes of the PDP process.
1. Quality control processes in place to ensure the effectiveness of PDP.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Work-Related Learning WRL involves students learning about themselves and
the world of work in order to empower them to enter and succeed in the world of work and their wider lives. (Knight and Yorke 2004)
Students involved in 4 interrelated areas of learning:1. Learning about oneself2. Learning and practising skills and personal attributes of value in
the world of work3. Experience of world of work associated with subject of study4. Experiencing and learning how to learn and manage oneself in a
range of situations.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
WRL at Ulster University seeks to offer co-terminous
qualification.
45% of Ulster students enrolled on programmes of study which include a year on placement compared with 8% in the UK as a whole.
Placement tutor appointed for each programme.
Reflection, Recording and Planning key aspects.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Challenges with PDP & WBL Recognition that no one model will fit all
programmes.
Ensure that PDP & WRL processes are coherent & explicit for all students & staff.
Linking PDP & WRL to the learning outcomes of programmes.
Developing an in-house online system to support both processes.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Software Solutions for Learning Good practice is not a fixed target, it varies from
subject area to subject area and from time to time. Therefore software tools should not enforce a
particular process, but should support a variety of existing, and anticipated practice.
Software should aid human interaction, not detract from it.
Software solutions may be like “cruise control”; someone still needs to steer.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
An integrated software solution PDSystem
Provides support for recording the outcomes of PDP, and helping students and staff in providing more effective learning within the curriculum.
OPUSProvides support for the all the processes involved in finding appropriate WRL opportunities, and supporting students engaged in them, and afterwards.
Seen as one system by the students.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
A repository for students to store artefacts (files) and other information related to their learning for the duration of their course (or longer).
A portfolio system that enables a student to generate secure, on-line portfolios, either dynamic or static in nature.
A system that talks to your Student Record System and Course Management System.
CV generation, based on a templating engine, providing a variety of CV structures.
A mechanism for staff and students to share resources, files, events and learning outcomes (skills) on a cohort by cohort basis.
PDSystem main features
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem - myProfile Naturally you can tell the PDSystem all about
yourself. Contact details, Qualifications, Work Experience,
Extra curricular activity, Publications and Conferences.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem - myProgramme View the programme team, obtain resources they
have set up for you, and store meeting records. View your transcript.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem - myDevelopment Assess your skills, and file evidence against them. Set goals, create plans, understand your learning
style. Create Journals.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem - myCareer Build CVs from templates. Store customized
versions. Get advice on applying for jobs, track applications
and cover letters.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem - myPortfolios Create one or more e-Portfolios of any collection
of data within the system for presentation. Useful for on or off campus learners. Share it with other students, staff, prospective
employers etc. as you choose. Get feedback (summative or formative) from staff
on your work.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
PDSystem/OPUS - myPlacement Actually this menu is OPUS for those students
who use it. More about that later. Other students are shown other resources for
finding a placement.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS main features Students can apply for jobs with CVs and cover
letters, download resources, view assessments etc.
Companies and their HR staff can advertise jobs and recruit students.
Workplace supervisors can assess students and get information.
Academic staff get information for visiting and assessing students on placement.
Placement tutors and others can monitor the whole process, get reports, log important events and more.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS - Companies Staff add companies to OPUS after vetting them. Companies can now edit their own information,
upload presentations and present their case directly to the students.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS - Students Students regularly log in to read announcements
and search for vacancies, from anywhere, 24-7, 365 days a year (and they do).
They can get information from both staff and companies on-line.
For non competitive placement they can complete forms to help staff make choices of placements.
For competitive models, and while they are indicated as requiring placement they apply for vacancies, using a CV from the PDSystem and a cover letter.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS - Companies revisited Companies review application list and invite short
listed students to interview. They inform us which students they would like to
accept.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS - Placement Staff We (provided there is no problem) mark the
student as placed with the company. We now have a record of this placement. There can be multiple placements for each student.
We allocate an academic visitor, the company provides a workplace supervisor, the student completes an online health and safety record and the placement begins.
Sometimes a non competitive method is used for determining placements, in this case, all the other functionality from here is still available.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS – when on placement Support continues during placement. More
relevant information is easily available when the student is off site.
All the stakeholders can see who else is involved, workplace supervisors, academic tutors, and students, with contact details and sometimes photos.
Students can see how they will be assessed during the placement, and can view the feedback immediately when it is available.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS – What else does it do? It provides sophisticated tools to allow staff to
monitor the placement process, obtain reports and audit data.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
OPUS – what else does it do? Assessment, and reflection on learning is a vital
part of the process. OPUS supports speedy and transparent feedback, customized for the programme of study.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Evaluation To better serve all stakeholders evaluation is a
vital part of the process. This has ranged from informal channels, through
formal consultation with students and staff. Each year a new major version has been released
that tries to address the feedback from the users. Most feedback is very positive, with all evaluated
features rated as at least moderately useful, and most is very useful.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
This is all Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) “Free” here refers to
freedom not price, but usually this is costless too.
Free software and Open Source software are similar ideas with subtle differences in nuance.
FOSS is less ambiguous.
0.Freedom to run for any purpose;1.Freedom to study and modify the code;2.Freedom to distribute the original version;3.Freedom to distribute the final version.(Paraphrased from Free Software Foundation)
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Open Sourcing, Why? In sharing our practice with others we had many
requests about the software, was it available? Would it be sold?
It is a low risk exploitation method, requiring much less initial resourcing than traditional business models.
Our software has been built upon the open source software of others.
Consultancy can be offered at a volume of our choosing.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Open Sourcing, Why? As academics we share ideas, concepts, practice.
Why should we not share software? This lets our colleagues improve practice, rather
than concentrating on the technology. Use by external practitioners can open us up to
new ideas and possible functionality. We hope to grow a community of interest who can
help with sustainable future development and continuous improvement of the products.
The “gift culture” encourages higher quality in material that can be openly inspected.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Adaptability and Sustainability In preparing our software for easy use by others,
we have had to consider future proofing it from change in our own institution.
In particular, we had to consider flexible ways to allow authentication methods to change with the times, as well as means of accessing other university infrastructure.
This brings huge internal benefits and makes the project sustainable if the original developers become unavailable.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Challenges Cultural & political difficulties, particularly with
PDP No one model will fit all programmes Linking PDP & WRL to the learning outcomes of
programmes Ensuring that PDP & WRL processes are
coherent & explicit for all students & staff Student participation Satisfying diverse stakeholders Providing staff development activities Providing highly scalable solutions
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Meeting the Challenges Buy in from senior management Stakeholder engagement – bottom up approach Rigorous evaluation and responsive to feedback. Aligning developments with the different
pedagogical approaches Building on existing good practice Comprehensive staff development activities at
each stage of the process.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Future Developments We have two mature, acclaimed products, which
are the subject of international interest, and which embody our practice and technical expertise in these areas.
We have rewritten them to use consistent underlying technology.
We have broadened the community to other institutions, and plan to build a network of practitioners, developers and other contributors.
We still listen to our stakeholders for problems, and suggestions of how things can be improved.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Future Developments We are not just using open source, but an open
development approach. All our bug / support / task trackers, and our
mailing lists are completely public, open to both internal and external users.
This allows a consistent, transparent approach to dealing with requests for changes where the stakeholders are always included.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Two Example Areas of Interest The PDSystem has been and continues to be
adapted to allow it to better support trainee teachers in monitoring their development during their studies and in presenting their portfolios. (TePNI)
There is interest in a global OPUS network that allows certain job opportunities to be shared with international partners, helping to support the ease of exchange programmes.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Obtaining OPUS and PDSystemor finding out more Our software can be downloaded from
http://foss.ulster.ac.uk The site provides much more: news, support /
bug / task trackers, mailing lists and information on how to try the systems for yourself.
Subscribe to the “announce” mailing lists for news. Read the FAQs and INSTALL guides for more
information. Contact us if you have queries.
NCCI National Conference, Chicago, July 2008
Questions?
http://foss.ulster.ac.uk
Thanks for your attention.
More information