THROUGH AN ONLINE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PDP)

I N D I A N A U N I V E R S I T Y- P U R D U E U N I V E R S I T Y I N D I A N A P O L I SO C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

Generating and Assessing Learning

What is a Personal Development Plan?

Personal development planning is a process which will enable first year students at IUPUI to understand, implement, and mark progress toward a degree and career goal by creating and following a personalized plan that is open to revision and reevaluation every semester in collaboration with an academic advisor or faculty member.

Why are we implementing the PDP?

The personal development plan is designed to foster:

1. Goal commitment (student commitment to earning a degree)

2. Academic achievement (through goal setting and planning)

3. Curricular coherence and meaning in the first-year seminar

4. Each of these goals is a way to foster student development

Five Learning Outcomes for the PDP

1. Self-Assessment: Students identify success-related competencies

2. Exploration: Students research and identify realistic and informed academic and career goals

3. Evaluation: Students analyze their academic progress over the semester in terms of progress toward academic and career goals

4. Goal Setting: Students connect personal values and life purpose to the motivation and inspiration behind their goals

5. Planning: Students locate programs, information, people, and opportunities to support and reality test their goals.

In the Beginning…

Fall 2008 Approximately 1250 students in 52 sections completed

a PDP Assessment process: focus groups, student survey,

content analysis of student productsResults

Faculty and advisors liked the PDP but worried that it would become “busy work” and that the students wouldn’t use it moving into the future

Students liked the academic planner and getting to know themselves

Content was acceptable, but students didn’t present evidence or reflection at the level we had hoped

Survey Results

List three specific things you learned from completing a PDP: What classes I need to take in the future How to set goals for the future How to set goals for my career How to manage my time I have more goals than I thought I need campus experience I need a career goal How long my educational career will last

Moving Forward

Began conceptualizing the PDP as part of an electronic document that students will carry with them and update as they move through their college experience

Focus on using the PDP to help students create coherence and meaning around their college experience and understand how the college experience helps develop their sense of self and shapes their future.

Key Discussion Points

How do we create a presentation format / process that students will find engaging and that they will “own”?

What can we reasonably expect from first-year students? How can we honor student’s personal and cognitive development and build a framework that will be suitable as they learn and mature?

How can we build a framework that may allow other programs to utilize the tool?

Components of “ePDP”

About Me

Educational Goals

Educational Plan

Career Goals

My Academic Showcase

My Co-Curricular Experiences

Resume

Structure of ePDP and FYS Curriculum

The ePDP is a presentation; it is the outcome of a semester’s worth of work

But more importantly . . .

ePDP is facilitated by the development of assignments and templates that support successful completion of each reflective prompt

Why an electronic portfolio?

Easier to manage the portfolio process Access Presentation Duplication Evaluation Storage

Hypertext links allow clear connections between information presented and portfolio artifacts

Motivational for students and addresses ownership issues of student-created work

Creating an electronic portfolio can develop skills in using multimedia technologies

(Barrett, 1997; Rogers & Williams, 2001; Wetzel & Strudler, 2006)

Generating Learning

About Me: Developing IdentityWho am I? What factors contributed to who I am? Who do I want to become?

What evidence might we see from a student who has achieved the

descriptor for the section?

What reflective prompts might generate that evidence?

Assessing Learning: Section Rubrics

Section: ABOUT ME

Beginning Developing Competent Proficient

BackgroundInformation Identifies

elements / aspects of

my personal identity

Explains those elements /

aspects of my identity such that someone who doesn’t know me will

understand my background

Gives examples of how these elements /

aspects of my identity play

out in my life

Relates these elements/aspects of my identity to my success as a

student this semester and

beyond - how do or might they positively and

negatively influence my success as a

student?

Assessing Learning: Section Rubrics

Section: ABOUT ME

Beginning Developing Competent Proficient

Personal Strengths Identifies

my strengths

Explains what each strength means in my

own words such that someone who doesn’t know me will understand

them

Gives examples of

how each strength plays out in my life as a student

Relates these strengths to my success as a student this

semester and beyond - how does or might

they contribute to my success as a

student?

Assessing Learning: Section Rubrics

Section: ABOUT ME

Beginning Developing Competent Proficient

Lifetime Achievement Award

Identifies attributes of who I want to become and the life I want to

have lived

Explains these

attributes so that someone

who hasn’t known me

throughout my life will

understand the life I have

designed

Gives examples of the

potential highlights /

accomplish-ments of my life in which these attributes will

have played out

Relates the attributes of who I am and what I

will have accomplished in my life to my life

priorities and passions.

A Cyclical not Linear Process

Outcomes

Assessment

Pedagogy

Assessment in Practice

Classroom practice

First-Year Seminar and Intro to the Major in Psychology

First-Year Seminar and Introduction to Professional Practice in Nursing

About Me in Psychology Mind and Body TLC

Purpose to integrate three courses: Orientation to the Psychology Major Psychology as a Biological Science Public Speaking

Themed Learning Community for first-year, traditionally aged college students

3 Stages of the Assignment

• Create an “About Me” section utilizing the prompts in the PDP and the added worksheet to create a Mission statement.

• Do exercise in class about culture’s impact on identity and motivation.

• Meet with Cree Elders and hear stories of their understanding of who they are and compare it to the in-class exercise.

• Give feedback of first try at About me using rubric and formative assessment and have them utilize feedback and resubmit “About Me” section.

Lessons Learned

Diversity of faculty perspectives and experience

Teaching and Pedagogy

Is the sum greater than the parts when it comes to assessment? If so, how do we assess so as to document the “greater-ness”?

References

Barrett, H. (1997). Collaborative Planning for Electronic Portfolios: Asking Strategic Questions. Retrieved October 15, 2010 from http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/planning.html .

Rogers, G. & Williams, J. (2001). Promise and Pitfalls of Electronic Portfolios: Lessons Learned from Experience. Retrieved October 15, 2010 from http://www.abet.org/Linked Documents-UPDATE/Assessment/Promise and Pitfalls of Electronic Portfolios_2001.pdf.

Wetzel, K. & Strudler, N. (2006). Costs and Benefits of Electronic Portfolios in Teacher Education: Student Voices. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education. 22(3): 69-78.