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 team PDSystem  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 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, 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 Intentions To 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 oneself 2.Learning and practising skills and personal attributes of value in the world of work 3.Experience of world of work associated with subject of study 4.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.  OPUS Provides 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. 1.Freedom to run for any purpose; 2.Freedom to study and modify the code; 3.Freedom to distribute the original version; 4.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

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 PDSystem or finding out more  Our software can be downloaded from  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? Thanks for your attention. More information