June 30, 2025 — Telford, UK — PebblePad, the award-winning ePortfolio platform, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Athabasca University (AU), Canada’s Open University. AU’s partnership with PebblePad is an important building block to further enhance its seamless, modern learning environment and support innovation in teaching that delivers a world-class experience for all the university’s learners.
Unlocking New Possibilities for Learners
PebblePad’s ePortfolio platform will support a wide range of learning and development goals at AU, including:
- Academic showcases: Students can compile essays, research, and projects to demonstrate academic excellence.
- Skills development: Track growth in communication, technical, and subject-specific competencies.
- Career readiness: Build professional ePortfolios that integrate resumes and work samples for job applications.
- Reflective practice: Use journals and feedback tools to deepen learning and self-awareness.
- Program-level assessment: Support faculty in evaluating learning outcomes and accreditation readiness.
- Graduate applications: Present research and achievements in a polished, accessible format.
Athabasca University Perspectives
AU is already embracing PebblePad’s potential to enhance learning and support student success across disciplines.
Dr. Connie Blomgren, Program Director for the Master of Education — Open, Digital and Distance Education, said:
“PebblePad will be a cornerstone tool for the Master of Education — Open, Digital and Distance Education where students will use the platform to curate and create their summative ePortfolio. The ease of use enables graduate students to design and assemble various learning artifacts into a clean looking and aesthetically pleasing eportfolio that they can share within their professional circles and employers.”
Margot Young, Portfolio Mentorship Coordinator, and Serita Smith, Director of Learner Support Services, emphasized the platform’s accessibility and value for Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR):
“For AU’s PLAR process, our ePortfolio assessment practice has been fostered through an online environment for several years. We see PebblePad as an accessible, user-friendly opportunity for students to create and organize their ePortfolios … There is a time investment for our students to learn new technologies, and we expect that PebblePad will require less time for students to become familiar and comfortable with using the product, enabling them to concentrate on ePortfolio development components.”
Gerry Annand, AU’s User Experience Specialist, highlighted the seamless integration with existing systems:
“PebblePad is a major addition to AU’s suite of pedagogical tools. Its seamless integration with Brightspace means learners and instructors are just one click away from accessing all the amazing features and resources PebblePad has to offer. No additional accounts or login credentials required. And once in PebblePad, users can easily access and display content from an incredible list of other services such as YouTube, Google Drive, and Credly.”
Strategic Alignment with AU’s Strategic Plan
Importantly, PebblePad supports AU’s core priorities by improving access to learning through purposefully designed, pedagogy-rich technology; creating new opportunities for students to reflect on and showcase their academic, personal, and professional growth; and enhancing the learning community through alumni accounts and communities of practice that extend engagement well beyond graduation.
About Athabasca University
Athabasca University (AU) is like no other—an innovator and disruptor among universities with a focus on access, opportunity, and community. AU enables students, communities, and alumni to reach their highest contributions, making the world better and more equitable. AU is one of the world’s leading open, online universities dedicated to improving the lives of learners and communities through teaching, research, and impact, in place and in digital space. From its home in Athabasca, Alberta, AU reaches from local to global, educating more than 35,000 students across Canada and in 81 countries worldwide with online undergraduate and graduate programs and on-demand courses and credentials for professional development and personal learning.
• For more information, visit www.athabascau.ca
About PebblePad
PebblePad is the ePortfolio platform for higher education trusted by leading universities and colleges worldwide to support learning, teaching, and assessment. Designed to help learners plan, record, reflect on, and showcase their learning, PebblePad empowers institutions to deliver personalized and lifelong learning experiences.
• For more information, visit www.pebblepad.com
