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Friday 21st November 2025

PebblePad: Powering Reflective Practice & High-Impact Learning in Canada

Category: Customers
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by: PebblePad

Discover why, as higher education continues to evolve, one institution is increasingly turning to digital tools that support authentic, reflective, and student-centered learning.

At Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), ePortfolios play a significant role in supporting reflective and experiential learning as well as professional learning. In Fall 2020, KPU added the option of the PebblePad platform to support ePortfolio pedagogy or folio thinking.

KPU’s 2024 Teaching & Learning Commons Annual Report highlights PebblePad as a key tool supporting reflective and experiential learning in specific courses and programs and supporting specific strategic priorities such as that guide SoTL efforts, undergraduate research skills, and faculty professional learning.

Capturing learning

As part of the university’s ePortfolio Advancement Plan, a new BSN workbook has been developed for each semester of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. These workbooks are designed to capture learning across the entire program, providing a structured yet flexible space for students to reflect and demonstrate growth.

PebblePad is also being integrated into faculty professional development. Some Teaching & Learning workshops now include PebblePad workbooks, helping faculty explore the platform’s potential for teaching, learning, and assessment.

 

Growing resources

Currently, 3,575 students and 334 faculty are actively engaging in ePortfolio creation through PebblePad—clear evidence of its growing role in KPU’s learning ecosystem.

The platform is also being used to create a wide range of resources that support both students and faculty. These include:

 

Increased integration

PebblePad is also featured in broader institutional initiatives. For instance, the Teaching through Undergraduate Research site offers guidance on integrating research into teaching with the Undergraduate Research PebblePad Workbook, designed to help student researchers systematically develop their project designs.

Additionally, the Sustainability in Action: Faculty Champions Advancing the UNSDGs at KPU showcases six rapid-fire presentations on embedding sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into teaching practices—all captured and shared through a PebblePad ePortfolio.

Finally, in March 2024, KPU also hosted its third annual ePortfolio Matters @KPU Day, which welcomed 35 attendees to explore and share practices around PebblePad ePortfolio use.

"This [ePortfolio] project was successful beyond my wildest dreams. My fears were that the students would be afraid of the technology but they were not. They created beautiful pages that included things they were interested in and artifacts from their lives. Moreover, they were excited as they were able to connect the material to themselves in a new way." Dr. Sarah Hickinbottom, faculty, Educational Studies at KPU

 

Making it easy

KPU continues to support PebblePad through workshops and a growing library of shared resources with ready-made and/or adaptable templates (such as SoTL, COIL, OER and Land Acknowledgement). As the platform evolves, it remains an important part of KPU’s ecosystem—supporting faculty to design integrative learning and authentic assessments and students in documenting and reflecting on their learning journeys.

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