1. Weaving Employability into the
Curriculum: PDP and ePortfolios
Samantha Moss
Learning Technologist

2. About Solent Uni!
• 3 Faculties
FBSE
Sport Science. Health & Fitness Coaching, Business, Marketing, Law,
Management, Travel & Leisure
Martech
Maritime, Yacht Design, Web Design, Construction, Electronic &
Mechanical Engineering, Computer Games Development
FCIS
Music Tech, Film/TV, Fashion, Hair & Make-Up Design, Journalism,
Social Work, Comedy Writing, Media, Criminology & Psychology
• Approx 16,000 learners (FT, PT, BL, DL)
• Changed from Institute (Notts Trent) to University in 2005
• Moodle VLE (2007), Mahara ePortfolio (2009)

3. Why do we have an ePortfolio?
• Fostering Student Personal
Development Planning
- Led by Dr Barbara Lee (2008)
– Do students know what PDP is?
– Do we offer course specific PDP advice?
– Do we offer any generic PDP advice?
• So… if we give our students an online space to plan, collect and
organise their work & career ideas, will they become more aware
of PDP?
• http://youtu.be/g526i0qPzF8
• Mahara chosen and pilot year started in September 2009

4. Integration of people

5. Integration of systems

9. myCourse Tutorials
• Online CVs
Every ‘Fresher’ during
‘Welcome Week’ is
encouraged to undertake
the myPortfolio Induction
Unit
Unit delivered via VLE and is
accessible from all Course
Homepages

12. Freelance Option Unit
• Lecturer: Julia Newman
• One of our original pilot groups
• 60 final year students from
– Journalism
– Magazine & Feature Writing
– Multimedia
– Sport
– Fashion & Culture

13. The brief:
• Students are requested to produce an
industry standard online CV portfolio
using the appropriate software.
• The online CV portfolio is prepared with
the intention that pages can be sent to
prospective employers to obtain freelance work, a period of
attachment, or a temporary or permanent position.
• Video and Radio links can also be embedded in Mahara if the
student would like to demonstrate these skills.
• The task: http://youtu.be/sjhA0XnULy8

14. Feedback: Journalism students 2011
• “I was shocked at how easy it was to use and to navigate (once I
got used to it of course!) and that it was so easy to put together
an online package.”
• “Because myPortfolio can be accessed on any computer with
an internet connection it enabled me to complete my work in the
comfort of my own home, without the added stress of having to
venture into the uni library and attempt to find a computer. ”
• “MyPortfolio is ideal for people completing media based courses
like myself. Its simple layout makes it user friendly and unlike
many computer programs it doesn’t require hours of training in
order to grasp the basics.”

15. Contact Sam:
• samantha.moss@solent.ac.uk
• 02380319290
• @samwisemoss
• http://about.me/samwise