How Personal & Professional Development Planning PPDP was re-imagined by Sheffield Hallam University during the HEA Strategic Enhancement programme on Embedding Employability
Learning habit: Re-imagining PPDP - a context for conversation, imagination and connection
1. Andrew Middleton
Head of Academic Practice & Learning Innovation
Learning habit
Re-imagining PPDP - A Context for Conversation, Imagination and Connection
Simon and his camera CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
@andrewmid
2. "[The] changing external higher education landscape; the
changing needs of employers and the changing demands and
expectations of our students, necessitate a step change in the
way the University supports the transition of students into and
through its undergraduate and postgraduate provision and
beyond."
Learning and Teaching Strategy 2020
Joshua Tree National Park CC BY-2.0
3. ‘The best thing any education can bequeath is the habit of
reflection and questioning.’
AC Grayling, 2000
So why is it so difficult to engage our students with
reflection and PPDP?
Simon Powell CC BY-2.0
4. Based on: Dacre-Pool, L and Sewell, P, (2010), Moving from conceptual ambiguity to operational clarity: Employability, enterprise and
entrepreneurship in higher education, Education and Training, 52, 1, 89-94. Also online
Employability
Degree
Knowledge,
Understanding
& Skills
Career
Development
Learning
Experience
Work and Life
Generic Skills Emotional
Intelligence
Reflection and Evaluation
e.g. PPDP
Self-efficacy Self-confidence
Self-esteem
Recognise Lifewide & Lifelong Context
5. Learning ecologies
Developing the Habit
Transform the ways in which
students engage with, reflect on,
and record their journeys to
‘becoming professional’.
Change the discourse
Ashley Holmes (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Finding the Habit – look at how
people relate to each other
Develop the idea of course meaning
community and experience
Reassess thinking about engagement
Foster habits that develop belonging,
identity and ‘becoming professional’.
Create the space
6. An integrated and lifewide view
of PPDP and employability
PPDP needs to be habitual and develop thinking approaches
that are fit for life
PPDP needs to be established as relevant and core during
pre-enrolment
Course-long and course-wide engagement with PPDP
means that PPDP becomes a key tool in tutoring
Daniel Go CC BY-NC-2.0
PPDP needs to be concretised - removed from the abstract
and made real
Re-imagining Personal & Professional Development Planning requires
Habitual learner engagement from first contact
reflecting on action in and out of the classroom
7. The SEP enabled us to have an imaginative conversation as a
university
It provided focus through
• Externality and value
• Creativity
• Finding and reaching out to existing special interests
• Developing a resource
• Providing us with a visible reference point for innovation
Aliza Schaffer (CC BY-ND 2.0)
A Context for Conversation, Imagination and Connection
What difference did the SEP make?
8. What have we done since?
• High profile Venture Matrix unit as key interprofessional and
external learning agency now integral
• Develop value around (e.g.):
– Co-curriculum
– ‘Belonging’ and identity
– Peer learning
– Tutoring
– Transition agenda
• The Connected U toolkit – developing and maintaining a
professional profile with social media [presentation layer]
• Social media portfolios and e-portfolio [development layer]
Alyssa L. Miller (CC BY 2.0))
Hinweis der Redaktion
A Context for Conversation, Imagination and Connection
5 minute discussion
In pairs
5 minute report back
- pick answers from 5 tables
Accommodating difference:
Contexts
Perceptions
Experience
Stages
Aspirations
Journeys
Interpretations….
Finding the Habit – look at how people relate to each other
Develop the idea of course meaning community and experience
Reassess thinking about engagement
Foster habits that develop belonging, identity and ‘becoming professional’.
Create the space
An integrated and lifewide view of PPDP (and employability)
It seems clear, in reflecting on the points raised so far, that PPDP, and employability more generally, need to be re-imagined and re-branded. and that:
* PPDP needs to be habitual, consistently part of a student's life at university and beyond. It needs to develop thinking approaches that are fit for life. To do this PPDP and employability, and other metacognitive capabilities, need to be fostered alongside the curriculum, with curriculum activity being triggers for reflection on learning.
* PPDP needs to be established during pre-enrolment so that the rich baseline data of transition into university helps to form the reflective habit.
* PPDP needs to be understood as relevant from Day 1, therefore attention needs to be given to recognising new learner engagement and peer mentoring through social media may provide answers for how this is achieved.
* Course-long and course-wide engagement with PPDP means that PPDP becomes a key tool in tutoring. Students should be expected to recall, reflect in and on their academic and lifewide experiences and apply lessons from them continuously. This should include feedback on assignments, work experiences and placements for example. It also suggests that curriculum design should seek to be accommodate models of authentic learning more consistently.
* PPDP needs to be concretised; that is it needs to be removed from the abstract and made real. The expectation that all professionals in the digital and social age should have a professional profile should be established and the digital capability of students and staff should be developed to support this. The LinkedIn University project has already begun to address this, but more is needed.
Reorganised central provision to incorporate high profile Venture Matrix unit as an inter-professional and external learning agency
Developed clear concept of a valuable co-curriculum (schools, business)
Established strong discourse on ‘belonging’ (now core and specified within L&T Strategy 2020)
The Connected U toolkit – promoting the habit of developing and maintaining a professional profile with social media
Social media portfolios and e-portfolio development