Search
Login
Login
Contact

One ePortfolio tool, multiple institutional uses

Richard Dudley and Norhan Sheta, University College Birmingham

Richard Dudley, Head of eLearning and Norhan Sheta, Senior eLearning Developer from University College Birmingham on ‘One tool to unite them all! A myriad of uses across the institution.’ This recording is from our 2023 MiniBash community event which was hosted in Birmingham, England. Videos are for educational personnel only and require a live educational email to watch. You can read a small snippet of the video transcript below.

–START TRANSCRIPT–

Thank you all very much. Before we begin, I just want to say thank you not only to PebblePad, but also to everybody in the room for offering up such an inspiring, wonderful discussion. We really like these events, and we aim to get the most out of them. We’ve literally got no excuse because we are only 9 a minute walk from this very venue, so we’ve got no excuse not to be here.

So we’re based at University College Birmingham. We’ve actually used PebblePad since 2018/19. We’d shortly migrated from one VLE to another and then we were looking around for portfolio provision and were very impressed by what PebblePad had to offer. So we’re making use of the Canvas integration, so if any of you are using that integration, it’d be good to touch base with you to see what you think about that.

Since 2018/19, we’ve noticed considerable growth across the entire university with PebblePad usage. That’s going from FE college courses, all the way through to HE undergraduate courses, and even apprenticeships and also postgraduate as well. And the way that it works is our eLearning department or dice, digital innovation for creativity and education, we work very closely with course leaders and with module leaders to make sure that any portfolio that is designed fulfills the course objectives that they’re trying to deliver and achieve across the years of the course.

So we’re hoping that the examples that we are going to provide for you today showcase a lot of what we do within PebblePad, and if any of you want to know more about the examples, then please get in touch with us later.

So the first example is level three professional cook tray, and they’ve been using PebblePad for over three years.

Just this academic year, they have changed the collocation body. So that equals to some changes to the portfolio, which I love to do.

They have over fourteen units across their portfolio. Each unit has a section where students upload their evidence. They have their own checked reflection boxes they can meet, so they know each criteria. If they’ve met them, they’ve got their comments section. In all the comments they can add for themselves or for their lecturer as well.

Students who mainly work within the kitchen, they’re working the college of food so they’re always handy with the PebblePocket App that will take pictures of their dishes, their process and everything, and then later on, they just upload it to the specific unit they need to and just add the comment to their lecture to view later on. So they make really good use of it to track their progress and everything.

I’m going into more of a staff view, lecturers and module leaders use it very well and they have a section where they create all the sets. So in Canvas, all students are grouped. They are a big cohort so they do take advantage of these sets within ATLAS.

–END TRANSCRIPT– 

share

Mission Possible: The DNA of a bespoke professional development program

Talk description: The diversity of students in higher education dictates that there cannot (and should not) be a single ‘silver bullet’ approach to address the complex challenge of career readiness learning. However, the reality of modern university structures is that delivering bespoke experiences for each student is a challenge in and of itself.  And yet, all things are possible with creative use of PebblePad to streamline delivery (for the university) and make it highly personalised (for the student). 

Bio: Gayle Brent is a Learning and Teaching Consultant (Employability) at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Gaye’s specialist area of interest is developing and implementing strategies to enhance staff and student understanding of employability in both curricular and extra-curricular contexts. She completed a Master of Education and Professional Studies Research to explore the potential barriers and challenges to embedding employability-based learning in higher education curriculum and is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy exploring the impact of an extra-curricular employability program on the individual student experience.

STAY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THINGS PEBBLEPAD

Receive the Newsletter

Gaining CPD with PebblePad

PebbleBash 2024, a biennial international PebblePad conference, to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 2024.  PebbleBash brings together PebblePad practitioners from around the globe to share practice and discuss the opportunities and challenges that the use of a learning and teaching platform like PebblePad presents.

As many of PebblePad’s customers are undertaking initiatives to reshape the curriculum, PebbleBash provides an opportunity to exchange insights, best practice and renew ideas for creating exceptional learning experiences, aligned with evolving student needs.

Attendees will benefit from the opportunity to:

  • Learn about methods from expert practitioners who have overcome similar challenges
  • Learn how PebblePad is being used to help education institutions tackle some of the key themes in the HE sector: Authentic assessment and feedback, Flexible learning design, Belonging, wellbeing and success, Employable and future-ready and Professional identity and capability
  • Learn about strategies for implementing PebblePad at scale, resources and processes for training and support, reporting and learning analytics, integrations and administration.
  • Network within the community and meet and speak with the PebblePad leadership, implementation and development teams.

Education is an Experience That Should Be Designed

Talk description: We have any number of problems and opportunities as universities, and universities must adapt to help students from diverse backgrounds develop the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and make a positive impact in the world. Key to those adaptations is understanding that we provide students with an experience. We ought to design them with intention and purpose. This talk with take up this argument and ground it within a large educational transformation project at the University of Leeds.

Bio: Jeff Grabill is Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Education at the University of Leeds. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Grabill was at Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States for nearly 20 years. He served Michigan State University as the Associate Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. In that role, he was responsible for facilitating innovation in learning and educator professional development via his role as Director of the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology. Grabill’s research focuses on how digital writing is associated with citizenship and learning. That work has been located in community contexts, in museums, and in classrooms at both the K-12 and university levels. Grabill is also a co-founder of Drawbridge, an educational technology company.

Curriculum Transformation at the University of Edinburgh: co-creation and the relationship between local innovation and institutional change

Talk description: I will use the themes of reflection and experiential learning, skills development and assessment (including programme level assessment and changes in assessment practice) to explore this process in more detail. This includes the link between disciplinary and institutional curriculum reform, learning from local innovations and changes, and using this to inform University level changes and support.

Bio: My current position is leading the University wide Curriculum Transformation Project. This is a major and long term initiative for the University considering all areas of the University’s undergraduate and taught postgraduate curriculum. Prior to this Jon set up and led the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) at the University of Edinburgh. The IAD provides University level support for teaching, learning and researcher development, including direct support for students and staff, and support for enhancement and innovation in curriculum development, the student and researcher experience. Jon has a PhD in petroleum geology.

Dr Melissa Highton. Assistant Principal, University of Edinburgh

Talk description: A journey through the stories told by wicca data. How a neglected research data set was used by students to overturn historic injustice and shed new light on the lives of women in Scotland.

Bio: Melissa has worked for many years in higher education at some of the UK’s finest and most ancient institutions. In each place she enjoys discovering the hidden histories and less heard voices which can be surfaced in new ways using the most up to date and open technologies. She is a champion of playful and curious approaches to engagement with audiences on campus and online, and is an invited speaker at events about dangerous women.

Disclaimers

The event agenda is correct at the time of publishing. As with all events, we may need to alter or modify aspects of the agenda.

While we take every precaution to ensure the safety and security of our events, Pebble Learning Ltd recommends you review insurance policies to ensure adequate coverage, especially in the realm of business travel.

We will be recording (audio/video) the presentations during the event. A conference photographer will also be capturing moments for our highlights reel. The video and photography will be used to share insights and market PebbleBash to the wider HE community. We do not give automatic refunds, please see the cancellation policy in the FAQs.

Sign Up to the Customer Newsletter