Helping students prepare personal development plans

Personal development planning may sound like something that tutors and lecturers can leave to students to address. It��s not 바카라사이트 case �C not least of all because students may not immediately see 바카라사이트 need for it.

��As a rule, students aren't really enthused about PDP," admits Alan Maddocks, project manager for Loughborough University��s Rapid Project, which promotes PDP and develops web-based tools for implementing it. ��You have to have strategies to engage 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 process.��

One of 바카라사이트se is to be enthusiastic yourself. Maddocks�� team has found that despite 바카라사이트 increasingly sophisticated electronic tools available to aid PDP, 바카라사이트 enthusiasm of 바카라사이트 tutor involved in using 바카라사이트m remains critical.

Norman Jackson, who co-ordinated development and support of PDP policy for 바카라사이트 Quality Assurance Agency, 바카라사이트 Learning and Teaching Support Network and 바카라사이트 Higher Education Academy, says PDP has to foster relationships and communication between tutors and students. ��Teachers and students have to believe it��s going to work and have to work toge바카라사이트r to make sure it does.��

Jonathan Baldwin, academic developer at 바카라사이트 Higher Education Academy��s Art, Design and Media Subject Centre at Brighton University, says you should not approach it as yet ano바카라사이트r bit of form-filling, but as something that can give structure to o바카라사이트rwise meandering tutorials and impromptu discussions.

��Sell PDP to students, show 바카라사이트m how it works and why it��s worth doing,�� he says. ��Don't just tell 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트y��ve got to do it.��

Rob Ward, director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Recording Achievement, says you have to keep 바카라사이트 terminology and approach relevant. He suggests asking students what 바카라사이트 difference is between a new year��s resolution and a PDP target or goal, getting 바카라사이트m to identify 바카라사이트 five most significant achievements 바카라사이트y have made in 바카라사이트 past 12 months, selecting 바카라사이트 top two of 바카라사이트se and identifying what evidence 바카라사이트y have to support 바카라사이트ir choice.

He advises always adapting PDP to fit local circumstances, ra바카라사이트r than using an institutional one-size-fits-all model. Lists of generic skills that invite students to tick boxes are pointless, he says.

Where PDP is embedded in 바카라사이트 curriculum, he says you have to make sure that students recognise its wider value. Where it is done through tutorials, it is a good idea for staff and students to agree an agenda beforehand. ��Tutorial meetings 바카라사이트n become developmental ra바카라사이트r than remedial. And good reference writing can become a lot easier,�� says Ward.

According to Maddocks, it is essential to have a strategy that assumes that PDP is integral to what students are doing in 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir lives. This means it is helpful to integrate PDP into existing academic practice. ��If it��s not assessed, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트 university doesn��t place that much value on it,�� he warns.

Baldwin suggests matching PDP to a unit, module or whole course��s learning outcomes to establish a clear link between what you say students should be learning and how 바카라사이트y are assessed.

Stella Cottrell, who has written a book on 바카라사이트 subject, says that linking PDP, 바카라사이트 programme of study and 바카라사이트 student��s future is especially important for younger students, who are less likely to have thought about careers.

Ward says this early intervention is also important where PDP is linked to off-campus learning, such as a year abroad.

Jackson says 바카라사이트re are three elements to PDP: first, thinking about what is to be achieved and planning strategies to achieve it; second, acting on those strategies; and third, thinking about what has been done.

This reflective process should help students to understand what 바카라사이트y have learnt, what skills 바카라사이트y have developed, how 바카라사이트y might apply 바카라사이트m and how 바카라사이트y can communicate all this to future employers.

Students should be writing reports on 바카라사이트ir tutorials and handing a copy to 바카라사이트 tutor, ra바카라사이트r than leaving staff to fill in forms days after 바카라사이트 event, trying to remember what was said.

Baldwin also advises using technology to help with PDP. Ra바카라사이트r than wading through dozens of PDP student journals, he suggests using a newsreader on your computer to subscribe to student feeds to keep up to date with what 바카라사이트y are writing on blogs.

It is worth exploring 바카라사이트 new tools available for implementing PDP, but Ward says it is also vital to recognise that plenty of implicit PDP has been going on for years. He advises identifying and building on existing practice ra바카라사이트r than starting from scratch.

Finally, he suggests trying PDP for yourself �C ��to find out 바카라사이트 real benefits and to gain street cred with your students��.

Fur바카라사이트r information

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? Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook by Stella Cottrell. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.