1. ‘PDP: It’s a Journey, not a
Destination’
Dr Victor McNair & Dr Sharon Milner
24th Jan 2013

2. Remember PDS?
 In the good old days...
 PDS /PDP confusion
 “....Another burden ...”
 “...what’s the point...”
 A few visionaries

3.  PDP is....
 Self review
 Skill development
 Transitions

4. Strategy
How does
2013-14 P2+ support
employment?
YEAR 3/Placement
2012-13 How do we support
transition from 2nd year?
YEAR 2
2011-12 How do we support the
transition from 1st to 2nd year?
YEAR 1
2010-11 What Transference issues should we
identify, support and disseminate?

5. K
I
!S
HA
ER
!

6. Student perceptions of their PDP experience
 Cross-faculty PDP survey carried out
with 1st year students in 2011 (587)
 Followed up with 2nd year students
in 2012 (370)
 Student perceptions via Likert scale:
1 = a lot, 2= to some extent,
3= a little 4 = Not at all
 (caveat: not necessarily the same students surveyed in
2nd year)

7. Student perceptions of their PDP experience…
 in helping them to:
• Self Review:
• Evaluate their potential
• Plan and support their personal
development
• Develop Skills
• Successful transition through:
• Reflective practice
• Understanding employability

8. Self Review

9. Self review: Student quotes
 “I felt it was expected of me to know how to do independent
learning from the beginning so I felt a lack of guidance...but it has
allowed me to be a bit creative in my approach to learning. I now
feel stronger as a person” (ADBE)
 “Regular comprehensive feedback has helped me to assess my
strengths and weaknesses and areas for improvements. Study
skills class … were extremely useful as I previously did not
understand referencing and researching” (Life & Health Sciences)
 “My time at university has provided me with experience in
meeting deadlines and the importance of independent learning.
This improved my skills such as organisation, research, team
working and self preservation”. (UBS)

10. Skills Development:

11. Skills Development: Student Quotes
 ‘I want to get a better job when I leave university. I think skills
I am learning on my course will help with that” (UBS)
 “I have received good feedback on opportunities on how to do
better in coursework progress and in presentations. I have
used this feedback to set new targets for myself” (Social
Sciences)
 “I have learnt a lot from my first and second year, with working
in groups I have developed skills like problem solving, being
more confident in my own opinion” (Computing and
Engineering)

12. Successful transitions through:

13. Successful Transition: Student Quotes
“It has made me independent and not afraid to say what I am
good at, before I was a lot quieter” (Arts)
‘I feel that I have gained valuable skills such as being able to
reflect on previous work to help make future work better. I have
found that many of the skills acquired can be taken to the
workplace” (UBS)
“I have been able to use the skills I gained from placement
within my course and these are real skills that will improve my
practice” (Life and Health Sciences)

14. Key Messages from Surveys
Results show that while many students believe that though their
independence in learning is strong, there are opportunities for
developing this aspect of PDP.
The development of higher order thinking skills is a growing
need among employers and these results show how many
students are confident that their courses are providing
opportunities to develop such skills
Life long learning and identifying employability skills has been a
PDP priority for many years. Results show that there is an
emerging pattern of success in this area.

15. Other Ulster events of interest:
HEA Seminar: 13th Feb 2013
“Using PBL to support the development of
employability skills”
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/Semi
nars/Themes/GEN367-Ulster
Employability Conference: “Managing
Employability in a Changing Landscape” 9th
May 2013
http://employability.ulster.ac.uk

16. Further Information visit:
PDP website: http://pdp.ulster.ac.uk
UMAP: http://umap.ulster.ac.uk
PACE: http://pace.ulster.ac.uk
Skills+ website

17. CASE STUDY
 Review the Studies Advice
information provided and undertake
a PDP-led review of the scenario. Be
prepared to report back on the
issues raised and how you may be
prepared to deal with them.