PREPARE FOR YOUR

FUTURE PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING (PDP) &
EPORTFOLIOS -
STUDENT GUIDE

www.uws.ac.uk
University of the West of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity. Charity number SC002520.
Introduction
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a process that enables you to plan for and keep records of your
personal development. It is an integral part of all programmes at UWS.

PDP helps you to develop the skills you need to take responsibility for your learning, development and
career progression. Engaging with PDP helps you to develop the skills you need to manage your learning
and development during your time as a student, and after you leave University.

Engaging in PDP activities will involve thinking about your reasons for deciding to study at University.
You may have come to University with a very clear idea of your reasons for doing so, perhaps with a
specific career in mind. However, once you are here it can be easy to lose sight of those reasons. PDP
helps you to take some ‘time out’ to reflect on your original goals and identify and achieve the smaller
steps required to reach them. It helps you to identify how your current activities fit into your overall plan
for success.

Alternatively, you may have made the decision to come to university with no specific goals in mind.
It may have seemed like the logical next step after school or college. Or you may, as a result of your
studies, re-think your aspirations and goals and decide to pursue a different path. Engaging in the PDP
process will help you to think through your options, to clarify what direction you want to take and decide
what steps you need to take to get there.

Of course, you may be undertaking study purely for reasons of personal interest or simply for the
enjoyment of learning. If that’s the case, engaging in PDP can enhance your ability to get the most out of
your academic study.

Whatever your reason for studying at University and whatever your goals in life, personal development
planning will help you to recognise and develop confidence in your abilities and skills, and enable you to
record your progress towards your personal goals. Your personal development planning will be guided
and supported by your personal tutor. You can also access a wide variety of online resources and contact
an Effective Learning Tutor for guidance and support on any aspect of PDP.


What is PDP?
The basic principle of PDP is simple. It involves identifying your goals, making plans to achieve them, and
recording your progress.
PDP is a structured and supported process of ongoing reflection that you will engage with throughout
your time at University. You will reflect on your learning, performance and achievements in
your personal, academic and work life and make plans for your personal, educational and career
development. PDP will also help you to get the most out of your time at University by enhancing your
knowledge of what you learn and how you learn it.
PDP focuses on 3 broad learning areas – Personal; Academic; and Career and Employability:

Planning

Career &
Personal Employability

You willFigure
review2.your learning
Spheres and development in each area, and reflect on your:
of Learning
4 past experience and achievement
4 current needs, preferences and experiences
4 future aspirations and plans
The overlapping regions of the diagram represent instances where you will identify learning and
development that relates to more than one area. For instance, the ability to work under pressure to
deadlines developed in an employment setting is a skill that is relevant to your ability to independently
manage your workload at university.

Personal
The process of PDP is rooted in your personal experience. Your learning, development and aspirations
are shaped by your personal lifestyle priorities, values and ways of thinking. Your personal life provides
many valuable opportunities for the development of transferable skills. For instance, you may develop
excellent time management and organisational skills if you are juggling education, work and family
commitments. These skills are also relevant to your academic and career development. Your personal
situation will also have an impact on your academic and career choices.


Academic
You may have come to University straight from school or from a previous course of study at college or
university, or you may be returning to study after a long break. Whatever your educational background,
engaging with the process of PDP helps you reflect on the academic skills you already have, identify
what skills you need to develop, and put plans in place to develop them. Through doing this you will
also identify your own preferred learning style. This will help you to get the most out of the teaching and
assessment on your programme.
Learning aims and outcomes are listed in module handbooks, and you will be able to judge your
progression towards them through the feedback and guidance you receive from academic staff. The
skills you develop through academic learning and assessment transfer to other areas. For instance, oral
and written communication skills, the ability to analyse and present information and the ability to think
critically and creatively are all relevant to your career and personal development. Engaging in PDP will
enable you to track, record and understand your academic performance, progression and achievement
and to relate your academic skills to your career and personal areas, providing a clear structure and
purpose for your academic learning.

Career and Employability

Employability is about more than just getting a job. It’s about having, and being aware of, the attributes
and skills that will enable you to pursue your chosen career.
Employers expect you to be able to define and understand the skills and attributes that you have and to
communicate and give evidence of them in job applications and at interviews. Engaging in PDP enables
you to reflect on your skills and attributes, developing your ability to communicate and provide evidence
of them to your current and prospective employers.
You will become aware of the need to develop general or ‘generic’ skills in addition to the subject
specific knowledge and skills associated with your course of study. These skills are developed through
personal, academic and work experience. The generic skills that employers look for include:
4 effective time management
4 planning and organising
4 effective oral and written communication skills
4 the ability to solve problems
4 being able to undertake tasks or make submissions at short notice
4 the ability to work with others and achieve common goals
4 the ability to think critically and creatively
4 the ability to learn and to continue learning
More information on career opportunities is available from the University Employability Link and Careers
Service.

What is reflection?
Reflecting on your experience is central to the process of PDP.
Reflection is a way of thinking that involves taking a ‘step back’ from your experience, and viewing it
from a more neutral and objective viewpoint. Reflective thinking can be applied to a wide variety of
situations in your personal, academic and professional life. You may have already engaged in reflective


thought when thinking through personal decisions, or choices about work and education. It’s a way
of thinking about your past and present experience that involves analysing and making judgements,
identifying what went well and what didn’t, and then identifying what, if anything, you will do differently
next time. You can use question based or open reflection. Question based reflection involves asking
yourself questions about your experience. For example:
4 how did I....?
4 what will I focus on as a result?
4 what will I do differently next time?
4 how will I approach...?
4 what is the best method for this?
4 what does ‘success’ look like?
4 is it possible to visualise the solution before I start?
These questions are designed to help you think in a reflective way and assist you in recording, reviewing,
evaluating and planning your learning and development. You can also use less structured open
reflection approaches such as:
4 brainstorming
4 network diagrams or mind mapping
4 free writing (stream of consciousness approach, as thoughts develop)
4 drawing diagrams or images
You will engage in various academic, personal and work learning experiences during your time at
University. When you engage in structured reflective thinking as part of your PDP activities, you will
record thoughts, ideas and evidence of learning related to these experiences, reviewing what you did in
the past, what you’re doing now and what the outcomes were and are likely to be. You will evaluate and
judge these outcomes, determining how to develop and improve on your performance and then re-set
your objectives and make detailed plans of how to achieve those objectives. Reflective thought is an
integral part of each stage of this process.
This cycle of reflection is represented in the diagram below:

Reflection
PLANNING
how to achieve
EVALUATING objectives
judging self, DOING
determine how to: learning through
develop experience of
improve doing
move on

Reflection PDP Reflection

REVIEWING RECORDING
reflect on what thoughts, ideas,
has happened experience,
evidence of
learning

Reflection

Figure 1. The Cyclical model of PDP


Whatever method of reflection you use, engaging in the process of will enable you to become:
4 more self-aware
4 more honest in your assessment of your abilities and skills
4 more willing to act on constructive feedback
4 more open to and curious about different approaches
4 more motivated to improve
4 more able to be an independent learner
4 more confident about your abilities and skills

PDP at UWS
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is an integral part of all programmes at UWS. Your School will
plan PDP activities and meetings, and will decide exactly how and when these will take place and what
support will be provided.
In addition to these activities, there are a variety of online resources which help you to reflect on, record
and present your achievements. The ‘MyLinC’ area of Blackboard, the University’s Virtual Learning
Environment (VLE), contains a wide variety of resources.
A wide range of resources on PDP, reflection, study skills, employability and ePortfolio can be accessed
on BlackBoard - from the ‘My Modules’ page, select ‘MyLinC to PDP’ (listed under ‘My Organisations’).
This will give you access to a wide range of resources to support PDP and the construction of an
ePortfolio.

What is an ePortfolio?
An ePortfolio is an electronically held collection of evidence which provides information about your
skills and abilities, and your personal, academic and professional development. The structured format
of the ePortfolio at UWS enables you to group and present your work attractively in an organised and
accessible way making it easy to update and refer to. Your ePortfolio is an ideal way to share information
with lecturers, fellow students and potential employers.
Your PDP activities will involve the construction of an e-portfolio which will contain evidence of how
you have developed whilst at University. The process of creating the portfolio is just as important as the
portfolio itself as the process of collecting evidence and preparing it for presentation requires you to:
4 decide what you should include in your portfolio
4 reflect on your personal, academic and professional development
These processes help you to think about your past and current experience and formulate plans for your
future development.
Your ePortfolio will contain evidence from a wide range of situations; coursework assessments, skills
evaluations, personal reflections, work placement experience etc. You can:
4 add content such as text or pictures
4 add content in standard templates designed to record your personal goals and carry out skills
assessments etc
4 link to files and web pages
4 allow people who view your portfolio to add comments
4 share your ePortfolio with academic staff, other students and people external to the University


The benefits of engaging in PDP
Effective engagement with PDP enables you to recognise, evaluate, develop and give evidence of your
skills and abilities. It helps you increase your awareness of teaching and learning strategies and how
these relate to your own personal learning style. It helps you to understand the value added through
learning, and become an independent and autonomous learner with the ability to relate what you learn
to your personal and professional life. Engaging in PDP helps you to plan your personal, academic and
career progression and development.
Producing an ePortfolio provides you with a valuable collection of evidence to use when writing
application letters, CV’s and completing job application forms. The process of collecting this evidence
will also build your confidence for job interviews as you will be more aware of the skills and attributes
you have, and therefore be more able to clearly express them to potential employers.
The ultimate responsibility for deriving benefit from the PDP process rests with you, and regular
engagement in the process is necessary for it to be effective.
The information in this guide provides an introduction to the process of PDP. Your School will have
detailed plans regarding what they want you to do, when and what support will be provided.


PDP – what to expect during your programme
Level 7 (1st year)
Your ePortfolio will meet the expectations of your programme and serve as a personal development
planning aid.
Over the course of Trimester 1, you should expect to have three review meetings with your Module/
Personal Tutor to enable you to evaluate your overall performance; review the skills you have gained so
far; take a holistic overview of all feedback; and revise your action plan in preparation for Trimester 2.
You should also begin thinking about the relationship between skills and employability.
In Trimester 2 - you should expect 2 review sessions with your tutor – one mid-trimester and one at the
end of the trimester.
By the middle of this trimester, you should be more confident in your reflections and be able to make
connections across different modules and between different learning contexts.
The ‘My Skills’ activity may well be used at this point to aid your understanding of the concept of
employability. You should also begin to consider the skills you require to build a profile of yourself
focussed towards a possible career.
By the end of Trimester 2, you should have undertaken an End of Year Review.
The table below lists the templates and activities you are likely to use during Level 7.
You will also collect evidence of your personal, academic and career activities in the ‘My Content’ area
of Blackboard and provide links to this evidence from your ePortfolio. Evidence from work placements or
study abroad should also be included in your ePortfolio.


Level 7 templates
My Profile:
You will use this template to provide basic introductory information such as your name, degree
programme and a mini-biography
Starting at University: This template provides you with the opportunity to ask yourself a series of
questions about:
4 your reasons for choosing to come to UWS
4 your ambitions for your degree programme
4 your academic strengths and weaknesses
Learning to Learn:
This activity will help you to think about the skills you will need to develop to make the most out of your
time at University, for instance taking notes; exam techniques; understanding plagiarism and how to
avoid it; and how to use the library.
PAC SWOT:
This template helps you to make a preliminary assessment of the challenges you will face in your
Personal, Academic and Career areas. It encourages you to look at the Strengths
Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats (SWOT) associated with your Personal, Academic
And Career development (PAC)
Trimester Goals:
Using your SWOT analysis and other templates this template will:
4 give you the opportunity to set goals for your ongoing development
4 identify opportunities to attain your goals
4 Reflect on your achievements
Significant Incidents:
This template allows you to record significant incidents which might fall outside the academic or career
templates, such as difficulties with fitting in work commitments, health issues or financial concerns. It
gives you the opportunity to record these incidents and the associated concerns they may raise, helping
you to see them clearly, reflect on them, clarify your approach and view the incidents in the context of
your overall development and progress


Level 7 templates
Learning Review:
This template provides a structure to help you to review and reflect on your development as an
academic learner in conjunction with other categories of development and achievement
Feedback Review:
This template allows you to collate and review the feedback you have received on assessment and from
personal advisors e.g. lecturers, fellow students, work colleagues, and friends. It helps you to refine your
learning goals based on your reflections
Module Review:
This template provides you with the opportunity to summarise your thoughts about specific modules
and reflect on your achievements and any problems you have experienced in a module
My Skills:
Each level of study has a separate template so, for example, if you are a first year student, you would use
the My Level 7 Skills template.
The templates, organised as a series of self-assessment questions under 6 headings, are intended to
help you to identify the attributes and skills you need and the standards to which these need to be
developed; collect evidence of your attainments to date; and plan your ongoing development
End of Year Review:
This template enables you to summarise your thoughts about your overall progress for the academic
year. Building on this you will start to make plans for the next academic year and think about the goals
you will set. You will carry out a review of your attributes and skills development and begin to compile a
CV using the information contained in the other templates

Level 8 (2nd year)

In Trimester 1, discussion will focus on the academic aspects of your experience and discussions are
likely to include a review of your activity over summer and setting your goals for Trimester 1.
At the end of Trimester 1, you will have undertaken reflection on assessments, reflection on your
progress in all modules, discussed your goals and achievements and confirmed your module choices
for Trimester 2. You will continue to review, reflect on and develop the content of the templates and
activities covered at Level 7.
During Trimester 2, you will continue with the development of your PDP, reflection on assessments,
reflections on progress in all modules, and discussion of goals and achievements.
By the end of Trimester 2, you should evaluate your overall performance and reflect on feedback for the
whole year, revising your PDP activities and preparing for the next stage of your programme. As in your
entry year, you will be given guidance and advice on the templates and content required to achieve this.
The table below lists the templates and activities you are likely to use during Level 8.
In addition you will collect evidence of your personal, academic and career activities in the ‘My Content’
area of Blackboard and provide links to this from your ePortfolio. Evidence from work placements or
study abroad should also be included in your ePortfolio.
NB: If you enter your programme directly at Level 8, you should expect to complete templates and activities
similar to those offered at Level 7.


Level 8 templates
Learning Review:
You should use this template to continue to review and reflect on your development as an academic
learner in conjunction with other categories of development and achievement
Feedback Review:
You should continue to collate and review the feedback you have received on assessment and from
personal advisors e.g. lecturers, fellow students, work colleagues, and friends. It helps you to refine your
learning goals based on your reflections
Module Reviews:
This template provides you with the opportunity to summarise your thoughts about specific modules
and to reflect on your achievements and any problems you have experienced in a module
My Skills:
Each level of study has a separate template so, you would use the ‘My Level 8 Skills’ template.
The templates, organised as a series of self-assessment questions under 6 headings, will help you to
identify the attributes and skills you need and the standards to which these need to be developed
PAC SWOT:
You will continue to assess the challenges you face in your Personal, Academic and Career areas. You
should look at the Strengths
Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats (SWOT) associated with your Personal, Academic
And Career development (PAC)
Trimester Goals:
Using your SWOT analysis and other templates this template will
give you the opportunity to set goals for your ongoing development;
identify opportunities to attain your goals;
and reflect on your achievements
Significant Incidents:
This template allows you to record significant incidents which might fall outside the academic or career
templates, such as difficulties with fitting in work commitments, health issues or financial concerns. It
gives you the opportunity to record these incidents and the associated concerns they may raise, helping
you to see them clearly, reflect on them, clarify your approach and view the incidents in the context of
your overall development and progress
End of Year Review:
This template enables you to summarise your thoughts about your overall progress for this academic
year. Building on this, you will start to make plans for the next academic year and think about the goals
you will set. You will carry out a review of your attributes and skills development and begin to compile a
CV using the information contained in the other templates

10
Level 9 (3rd Year)
As some students decide to graduate at the end of Level 9, it is likely that there will be more focus on
career and employability.
The basic structure will be similar to that of Level 8, with the following provisos:
At the end of Trimester 2, you will analyse and reflect on your third year performance, reflecting on
feedback for the year. You should revise your PDP activities and prepare for the next stage of study, or
for graduation.
As in your entry year and/or Level 8, you will be advised of the templates and content to include.
The table below lists the templates and activities you are likely to use during Level 9. In addition, you will
collect evidence of your personal, academic and career activities in the ‘My Content’ area of Blackboard
and provide links to this from your ePortfolio. Evidence from work placements or study abroad should
also be included in your ePortfolio.
NB: If you enter your programme directly at Level 9, you should expect to complete templates and activities
similar to those offered and Level 7

Level 9 templates
Learning Review:
You will continue to review and reflect on your development as an academic learner in conjunction with
other categories of development and achievement, building on the work you have done at Level 7 and 8
Feedback Review:
You will continue to collate and review the feedback you have received on assessment and from personal
advisors e.g. lecturers, fellow students, work colleagues, and friends. It helps you to refine your learning
goals based on your reflections
Module Reviews:
This template provides you with the opportunity to summarise your thoughts about your Level 9
modules, to reflect on your achievements and any problems you have experienced
My Skills:
Each level of study has a separate template so, you would use the ‘My Level 9 Skills’ template.
The templates, organised as a series of self assessment questions under 6 headings, will help you to
identify the attributes and skills you need and the standards to which these need to be developed
PAC SWOT:
You will continue to assess the challenges you face in your Personal, Academic and Career areas. You
will look at the Strengths Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) associated with your Personal,
Academic and Career development (PAC)
Trimester Goals:
Using your SWOT analysis and other templates this template will give you the opportunity to set
goals for your ongoing development; identify opportunities to attain your goals; and reflect on your
achievements

11
Significant Incidents:
This template allows you to record significant incidents which might fall outside the academic or career
templates, such as difficulties with fitting in work commitments, health issues or financial concerns. It
gives you the opportunity to record these incidents and the associated concerns they may raise, helping
you to see them clearly, reflect on them, clarify your approach and view the incidents in the context of
your overall development and progress
End of Year Review:
This template enables you to summarise your thoughts about your overall progress for the academic
year. Building on this you will start to make plans for the next academic year and think about the goals
you will set. You will carry out a review of your attributes and skills development and begin to compile a
CV using the information contained in the other templates

Level 10 (4th Year)

Opportunities to participate in PDP activities at this level are built into most programmes, with the
Honour’s year dissertation/project being an ideal example.
PDP in Level 10 should involved building on the activities undertaken at previous levels, and you will
receive guidance of the templates and activities to use, and which content to include.
You will collect evidence of your personal, academic and career activities in the ‘My Content’ area of
Blackboard and provide links to this from your ePortfolio. Evidence from work placements or study
abroad should also be included in your ePortfolio.

Find out more

To find out more about PDP in the meantime, visit ‘MyLinC’ in Blackboard to access a wide range of
PDP resources, from self-teach videos on creating an ePortfolio, to activities on vital skills such as time
management, presentations and essay writing - login to Blackboard at http://blackboard.uws.ac.uk

12
13
14