Sections

1 Purposes
2 Information
3 Architectures
4 Mapping
5 Transforming
6 Transferring
7 Feedback
Workshop Presentations

Our links

PDP survey
LIP Baseline Pack
UK Dev LIP

External Links

DPA 1998
IMS LIP

1 The purposes of the designed systems

In the survey of PDP practice and systems, we identified a number of possible overall aims for a PDP programme:

1. Help the learner become more independent and autonomous
2. Raise learner self-esteem
3. Raise learner self-awareness
4. Help the learning process towards learning goals / achievements
5. Develop learner's skills in general, for any purpose
6. Help with career progression, employability or further study
7. Ensure provision of personal tutorial support
8. Help learners to articulate/present their skills and achievements to third parties
9. Instil in learners relevant professional attitudes and responsibilities

These are mostly focused on the learner. We also recognised that it would be quite possible to set up a PDP programme motivated by the aims of the organisation supporting the learner. (We take this to be an educational institution, but it could equally be a professional body, a union, or an employer.) On the same site, we therefore introduced a discussion document exploring these possible aims or purposes. There we list these as possible purposes. The learner-oriented ones begin (similar to those given above), and the institution-oriented ones follow.

1. for helping learners reflect, to develop their self-awareness and autonomy
2. for skills development following learner's motives (extra-curricular)
3. for development of skills (etc.) as required by institution or professional body (i.e. curriculum-based)
4. for achievement of goals independent of skill (etc.)
5. for presentation of achievements and skills to a third party
6. for enhancement of self-confidence, self-esteem and motivation
7. for widening participation ("getting them in")
8. for retention ("keeping them in")
9. for learning and teaching ("helping them complete and pass")
10. for collaboration or transfer ("helping them move about and move on")
11. for employability ("helping them move out successfully")

These purposes, like the earlier ones, are by no means exclusive. Practitioners sometimes tell us that all of these purposes are intended to be served by a programme or system.

Both learner-centred and institution-centred purposes imply requirements for information to be stored. For instance, presentation of skills to third parties requires that those skills are listed and described, and ideally that evidence is stored relating to them. To enable a well-managed programme of support for teaching and learning, the grades or other indicators of achievement need to be kept for learners, along with data about the teaching and learning that has taken place in practice. And so on. At present, there are no exact, well-defined requirements, as these may vary between learners and between institutions, but there would probably be a measure of agreement between people on the kind of information which would serve these purposes.

In practice, therefore, the consideration of aims and purposes is a very valuable start towards the identification of information which may need to be stored in the kind of system under consideration, and may need to be transferred between systems, either if a learner moves on, or if a number of systems are collaborating in learner support.

The CRA has some pages dedicated to support for practice in the area of PDP.

If you are a members of one of the JISC MLEs for Lifelong Learning projects, we are here to support you. For general and non-technical matters, please contact the Centre for Recording Achievement. For technical questions you may contact Simon Grant directly.

Please also send suggestions for additions or improvements to this page or site to Simon Grant.

Revised 2004-01-23 11:56:23