PDP4Life: personal development planning for lifelong learning. Final Report.

Many HEIs have developed electronic Personal Development Planning (e-PDP) systems that support the learner through the processes of personal development planning, however, little attention appeared to have been paid to developing frameworks within these systems to enable learners to merge formal and informal records of learning into a single database, to transfer records from one institutional learning environment to another, and to access and manipulate their learner records when not registered within a place of study. PDP4Life attempted to address these issues. This final project report outlines the outcomes of this JISC project

PDP4XL2: Personal Development Planning for Cross-Institutional Lifelong Learning. Final Report.

This collaborative project PDP4XL2 built on the strengths and successful outcomes of PDP4Life and took as its principal focus the use of personal development planning and e-portfolios to develop and sustain favourable learner attitudes towards lifelong learning and to understand the role that technology plays in supporting that process. Project objectives included identifying student and employer attitudes to and usage of PDP and e-portfolios in the creative industries and health cares. This final report documents the outcomes of the project

How to promote informal learning in the workplace? The need for incremental design methods

Informal Learning in the Workplace (ILW) is ensured by the everyday work activities in which workers are engaged. It accounts for over 75 per cent of learning in the workplace. Enterprise Social Media (ESM) are increasingly used as informal learning environments. According to the results of an implementation we have conducted in real context, we show that ESM are appropriate to promote ILW. Nevertheless, social aspects must be reconsidered to address users' needs regarding content and access, quality information indicators, moderation and control

A framework for the adoption and diffusion of Personal Learning Environments in commercial organisations: an exploratory study in the learning and development sector in the UK

This study presents an exploratory approach to identify the main factors of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) adoption and diffusion within commercial organisations. Utilising an inductive investigative approach via the use of Grounded Theory methodology, relevant adoption factors were identified and their resulting influence during various stages of the innovation diffusion process were proposed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews followed by systematic analysis using a three-staged coding process. The results revealed 10 factors affecting the adoption of PLEs influencing the innovation diffusion process at various stages. Informed by the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory, the proposed model could have important implications for key decision makers within commercial organisations, while adopting, rejecting and assimilating new technological innovations (e.g. PLE) for learning delivery

What Drives Students' Loyalty-Formation in Social Media Learning Within a Personal Learning Environment Approach? The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition

Our study analyzes an educational experience based on the integrated use of social media within a higher education course under a personal learning environment approach and investigates the factors that determine students' loyalty to social media learning. We examined the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in students' formation of attitudes, satisfaction, and loyalty toward this learning experience. The results indicate that NFC has an influence on these variables, significantly moderating how loyalty toward social media learning is formed. For high-NFC students, satisfaction with the learning experience is the most important variable to explain loyalty; whereas for low-NFC students, attitudes have a stronger effect. Different strategies are suggested, according to the learners' NFC levels, for increasing the use of social media in personal learning environments. Practical implications for improving the integration of such informal resources into formal education are discussed.Junta de Andalucía – Programa Andaluz de I + D P12 SEJ 259

An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad

Acknowledging that national borders need not constrain our thinking, we have examined a selection of alternative academic cultures and, in some cases, specific schools, in search of solutions to common challenges we face when we consider reorganizing American schools. A wide range of interviews and e-mail exchanges with international researchers, government officials and school principals has informed this research, which was supplemented with a literature review scanning international reports and journal articles. Providing a comprehensive global inventory of competency-based education is not within the scope of this study, but we are confident that this is a representative sampling. The report that follows first reviews the definition of competency-based learning. A brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education is followed by a review of global trends that complement our own efforts to improve performance and increase equitable outcomes. Next, we share an overview of competency education against a backdrop of global education trends (as seen in the international PISA exams), before embarking on an abbreviated world tour. We pause in Finland, British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand and Scotland, with interludes in Sweden, England, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which have embraced practices that can inform the further development of competency education in the United States

Directing the Teaching and Learning Research Programme: or ‘trying to fly a glider made of jelly’

TLRP’s generic phase (1999-2009) is believed to have been the largest ever UK investment in educational research. This paper describes the critique from which TLRP emerged, its strategic positioning and the roles of successive directors and their teams in its development. The paper offers an early stock take of TLRP’s achievements from the perspective of the last Programme Director. The efficacy of the form of the Programme, once likened to ‘a glider made of jelly’, is discussed

Embedding reflective thinking on approaches to learning - moving from pilot study to developing institutional good practice

Aim Asking undergraduates to reflect on their approaches to learning involves the individuals in effort and activity they may well consider to be an unwanted addition to their normal studies: unless the activity has clear links in their minds with their chosen subject. The same reaction is sometimes found in teaching academics, as supporting a reflective strand requires additional effort which they may be happy to give as long as it relates to their research, or is a one off pilot. There are therefore issues that very quickly arise when attempting, as this study does, to embed metacognitive thinking about approaches to learning and style into the everyday good practice of teaching staff in universities and in the routine thinking of students. Methodology This paper describes the progress of a study facilitating the embedding of one framework for developing an individual's approaches to learning into the everyday good practice of university teaching staff and the everyday learning experience of undergraduates. It is an interim report that sets out the five strands of this activity: introduction to the model for staff; first steps at putting into practice; collection of examples of activity; building a community of practice; assessing the effectives of interventions. It also describes some of the issues and challenges that arise when moving from pilot study to developing good practice within a large organisation. The basis of the initial stages is a consultative and collaborative approach to develop effective materials for informing colleagues and developing their understanding of the model whilst laying the foundations for a community of practice and empowering individuals to develop activities for embedding these ideas into their teaching and to share these along with commentary on the success of these interventions – not just within the group but also for their contemporaries to access. Finding It has previously been demonstrated that the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory, ELLI, can be an effective tool for teachers and learners, providing a framework to think and talk with students about learning and about how to grow as learners within both their formal education and informal learning. However, this is a reasonably complex model with seven dimensions of learning, and it has been developed primarily for the school context. Whilst the model has been shown to be of value within universities, the higher education context offers several challenges to the approach and these are explored. The issues relating to colleagues being persuaded to embed these ideas into their everyday practice will be discussed along with the measures required for institutional support, including the demonstration of positive outcomes to interventions. Relevance This paper is relevant to anyone considering ways in which their understandings and experience of metacognitive thinking about approaches to learning and style may benefit the student body, the teaching of their colleagues and their institutio

FOCUS on technology‐supported learning in further education

This paper introduces FOCUS, a ‘one‐stop shop’ for technology‐supported learning resources designed and developed by a consortium of higher and further education partners. It reports on an investigation of the issues surrounding the adaptation of this HE‐orientated resource to an FE context. This involved piloting FOCUS with FE staff to assess its suitability. The issues raised by this process are discussed and general implications for the adaptation of generic HE resources to the FE sector are identified