1. (Re)Engaging staff and students with Personal Development Planning (PDP)  
Julian Kendell – Educational Developer (PDP)

2. University of Bristol – Our Vision. Our Strategy.
“Offering an outstanding student experience, supporting student well-being, and enabling students to develop their personal resilience and self-reliance are vital in ensuring that our students get the best from university life and flourish in a changing world.” Judith Squires, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education

3. 3 Themes: Sustainable Futures, Global Citizenship, Enterprise and innovation Informal and formal learning settings MOOCS Community engagement Groups and societies Study Skills

4. What we’ve done

5. Bristol Skills Framework

6. How we’ve evaluated it
Survey sent to senior tutors
Student advisory group
PDP study led by student advocates
Feedback forms from the student workshops
Analysis of Blackboard tracking data.

7. What was said? By senior tutors:
“We are just happy if they turn up with a completed PDP form for the moment!”
“I think they can see the value but it will take a bit of time to embed the culture”
“its difficult to encourage students to use it when they can't see the real benefit of it.”
“Getting there - some [tutors] do, some don't engage.”
“the Bristol Skills framework is very good”
“At the moment they don't see the usefulness despite our best efforts to "sell" it.”

8. What was said? By students: By senior tutors :
“I have begun to reflect on my academic and extra-curricular achievements”
“We are just happy if they turn up with a completed PDP form for the moment!”
“Never heard of PDP before today”
“I think they can see the value but it will take a bit of time to embed the culture”
“I have through the skills framework been better able to articulate my struggles and my strengths”
“What you get out is what you put in”
“its difficult to encourage students to use it when they can't see the real benefit of it.”
“Getting there - some [tutors] do, some don't engage.”
“the Bristol Skills framework is very good”
“Improved my enthusiasm for extracurricular activities”
“At the moment they don't see the usefulness despite our best efforts to "sell" it.”
“It will benefit us”

9. What next?

10. What does successful PDP look like, and how and what do we evaluate?
Next phase…
What does successful PDP look like, and how and what do we evaluate?
ANY SUGGESTIONS?

11. References
Lawton, M (2007) Getting Started with Personal Development Planning: A Personal Perspective University of Wolverhampton, available at:
Miller, K., Weyers, J., Cross, S., Walsh, L., Monaghan, E., Manwaring G., & Ball, I. (2011) A toolkit for enhancing personal development planning strategy, policy and practice in higher education institutions (Second edition) Glasgow: QAA
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2009) Personal development planning: guidelines for institutional policy and practice, Gloucester: QAA, available at:
Strivens, J., Ward, R. (2010) An overview of the development of Personal Development Planning (PDP) and e-Portfolio practice in UK higher education, CRA