ePortfolios in Professional Practice

The use of PebblePad by professional associations

Alison PootShane SutherlandColin DalzielLee Davies

“A growing number of professional associations are utilising the ePortfolio process to provide evidence of the attainment of professional standards ..... or for current members to demonstrate active and ongoing professional development to facilitate their reaccreditation as a professional.”

(AeP, 2009).

PebblePad Personal Learning System

Institute for Learning

Institute of Payroll Professionals

Chartered Society of Physiotherapists

Society of Chirpodists & Podiatrists

Faculty of General Dental Practice

UK Professional Associations

“..... the professional body for teachers, tutors,

trainers and student teachers in the further

education (FE) and skills sector, including adult

and community learning, emergency and public

services, FE colleges, the armed services, sixth-

form colleges, the voluntary and community

sector and work-based learning.” (IfL, 2009)

Institute for Learning

Formed in 2002

Government legislation introduced:

- Teacher Registration = Professional Formation(a) Qualified Teacher Learning & Skills (QTLS)(b) Associate Teacher Learning & Skills (ATLS)

- Membership of IfL required- 30 hours of CPD annually

Now more than 200,000 members across UK

Institute for Learning

Key considerations:

Improving the ICT competence of members

Wanting members to manage their own PD and reflect on their own development

CPD at the IfL

Have you undertaken professional development activities this year?

Have you reflected on the learning you have gained from these activities?

Have the activities and the reflection made a difference to how you teach or train?

Can you show evidence of this difference and the impact it has made to learners, colleagues or the organisation in which you work?

CPD at the IfL

Evidence of qualifications Evidence of L2 literacy and numeracy Narratives (with evidence):

- teaching biography- subject currency- teaching and learning- self evaluation- development planning- reflective practice

....... suited to a Webfolio

Professional Formation

Professional Formation

Recording CPD

Submitting CPD log to IfLREfLECT

[105,000 users]

How does the IfL meet legislative requirements around CPD without compromising the privacy of the user’s personal space?

Amount of PD

Type of PD

Challenge .....

REfLECT remains totally independent & private- user controls what is sent to the IfL

‘Number crunching’ occurs within the IfL membership database and not in REfLECT- relies upon self-report

CPD is defined very broadly- members use professional judgement to determine what is appropriate and significant PD

Key points

2008 – 2009 PD year- 180,311 members at end May 2009- 51% (82,000) used REfLECT to record CPD- 20% declared using REfLECT

72% - fair to excellent tool for doing this

79% - fair to excellent layout and design

76% - fair to excellent accessibility

REfLECT Stats

“On the whole, those members who used

REfLECT had the most substantial evidence

in terms of discussing their reasons for

undertaking an activity, what they had

gained from it and the impact it had on their

practice and their learners.”

Caroline Harvey, IfL reviewer, (IfL, 2009)

“Yes – make as much use of REfLECT as you can. It will help you to formalise the process and therefore make it easy to declare your CPD. More important (for me anyway) it will help you to become critically reflective and rather than a learning circle it is a learning spiral as it is so easy to go back to past reflections and update them as you make more progress and development. It is also so easy to make links with different assets that are particularly related and thus you are not repeating what you have already done.”

Senior Teacher, Private Work-Based Learning Provider,

(IfL,2010)

IfL Website – REfLECT: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/cpd/reflect

IfL Case Studies: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/cpd/case-studies/cpd-case-studies

IfL (2009) Review of CPD 2008-09: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/13970/2008-09IfLReviewofCPD.pdf

IfL (2010) Supporting the Workforce Project final report – 31 March 2010: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/13970/2008-09IfLReviewofCPD.pdf

References & Resources