Outcome 1 Create and maintain a personal development portfolio

What you will learn

Personal development planning

Approaches to PDP and your broad objectives

Steps to planning

Becoming a self-directed and independent learner

What is a personal portfolio

Personal Development Portfolio and action planning

Confidence quiz

Personal development planning

It is all too easy to have good intentions, but

we often find it is more difficult to put our ideas

and plans into action and make real progress.

Action planning is a way of making objectives

clear and identifying steps we need to take in

order to reach our goals.

Personal development planning (PDP) is a process that will allow you to

identify, manage and develop your skills, experience and learning. It is a

recurring process that will help you clarify and achieve your personal,

educational and career aims. In simple terms it involves a cycle of activities:

• reviewing where you are

• planning where you want to get to

• carrying out your plan

• reviewing again, where you have got to.

review → plan → do → review

The review at the end of one planning cycle marks the beginning of the next.

You will be able to use this planning cycle many times in your life whether you are

planning for a career or planning to achieve your personal goals. You can use it to

help you get the most out of your HN studies; if you go on to degree level study you

will find the college/university you attend will require you to keep up the process,

and, increasingly, employers require evidence that you can manage your own

development, through PDP.

Examples of ways in which you might use PDP include:

planning at school for subject choices and applying to a college

setting objectives for degree level study

setting objectives for employment

gap year or voluntary service

pre exit planning session with supervisor

annual requirement for continuous professional development (CPD)

report in employment

joining professional body/annual requirement for CPD update for

membership

requirement for postgraduate qualification at university

career move: new CPD phase.

There will be other examples of the uses for personal development planning.

Every individual will find the best way to tailor it to their own, personal needs.

The process is very good for thinking about both short-term and long-term

aims.

By completing this process (at this point) you will demonstrate to yourself and

to others such as employers, academic selectors or admissions tutors that you

are able to think critically about your own development and take

appropriate action to achieve goals.

They will also be aware that you have the ability to repeat the process time

and time again to take account of changes in circumstances such as new

opportunities or unforeseen threats.

In particular, your work on PDP in this unit will:

help you make the most of the opportunities offered at HN and post-

HN

develop your skills as an independent learner

ensure lessons learned during your HN course are carried through to

post-HN study and employment.

Approaches to PDP and your broad objectives

Through the PDP process, this unit will help

you to focus on immediate goals as well as

long-term objectives. For the purposes of the

unit you will be looking at your intended

direction over the next 18 months.

The routes applicable to this stage of planning are:

• progression to degree study

• progression to employment.

It may seem to be too soon to start thinking about a future career, but

understanding what is involved in making career decisions, and how long this

can take, is essential if you are to achieve future employment or further study

goals.

Some thought and action planning now will really improve your chances eg

arranging relevant work experience, developing work-related skills to

enhance your CV, or choosing suitable study units.

Making career decisions is not a game of guesswork, nor is it based on the

hope that your ideal job will one day jump out of the newspaper in the form

of an advert. It is a process based on careful evaluation of yourself, followed

by thorough exploration of the options available. The linked activities and

questions in this guide are designed to help you begin this process and carry

it out, in a systematic way, so that you can make decisions which you are

able to justify, and act upon, with real energy and enthusiasm.

You must think about what you really want to do by exploring your own

preferences and priorities. You may decide that you want to:

• use subject specific knowledge

• use particular skills

• satisfy particular interests

• achieve a goal

• feel a sense of purpose or value.

Once you have decided which of these is important you can explore and

broaden ideas about options.

Steps to planning

Irrespective of which route you choose as the area of

focus for planning, there is a step-by-step approach

and framework for analysing, planning, implementing

and evaluating.

The 7 step plan forms the framework for the sequence of activities throughout

this unit.

The personal development planning process is defined by the seven steps to

planning.

This process will be repeated and modified throughout the years as an aid to

decision making.

Becoming a self-directed and independent learner

As a learner whose aspiration is to build on

your HNC/HND by progressing to degree

study, you will need to develop the ability to

plan and direct your own work and to work

independently. There is no mystery to

acquiring this ability.

It is gained through a mixture of self knowledge, making the most of your

strengths, tackling areas that might let you down, being able to plan and

evaluate what you do and taking the appropriate action, where necessary.

Undertaking HN study provides the perfect opportunity to work on these

aspects of your development and this will stand you in good stead in the

university environment, ensuring you are prepared for the opportunities and

challenges that degree study will bring.

Please click on the image below to watch a short YouTube clip, which

introduces the purpose and benefits of personal development planning.

Guidance on assessment process

Guidance on creating, maintaining and presenting the portfolio and action

plan will be addresses within the supporting lesson notes and the classroom.

Your tutor will give you support and advice on assessment throughout the

completion of this unit.

In putting together a portfolio and devising an action plan you will need to

engage in several processes. These include:

gathering evidence of skills and achievements

analysing current work and personal qualities and skills

giving explanation and receiving feedback on self appraisal and plans

investigating options post HN

communicating with key people in relation to present course and

future plans

locating resources to help with planning and achieving goals

The personal portfolio

What do we mean by a personal portfolio and why

should you develop it?

A personal portfolio is a collection of documents that details your

achievements through particular stages of your educational path or career

route. If you develop this portfolio of evidence over a considerable period of

time it will be of real value to you in assessing the skills you have already,

recording new achievements and planning future goals and objectives.

Although, in this instance, your portfolio will assist you in gaining the Personal

Development Planning unit, it has a wider significant use. For example, it has

the potential to provide evidence for potential employers or other places of

study that you are able to plan and evaluate your own objectives and goals.

The portfolio can also be a basis for future planning in whatever context you

find yourself, once your HN course is finished. Increasingly, employers are

encouraging continuous professional development (CPD), universities are

required to ensure learners undertake PDP and many professional bodies use

a portfolio approach to generate evidence of competence in a specific

vocational and/or professional field. The process of planning, portfolio

building and evaluation is therefore an important building block at this stage

of your academic and vocational journey.

Your portfolio and action plan will show:

your ability to reflect on your personal qualities and skills

evidence of your achievements

your ability to weigh up your options for post HN study

how you monitor and amend activities planned to achieve current

and future aims and goals

how you take responsibility for achieving aims and goals

how you manage the opportunities offered to you during your course

your ability to set SMART objectives

lessons learned.

Your personal development portfolio and action plan

The following gives advice and guidance on

completing a portfolio including a personal

action plan.

Each step has:

guidance and advice, eg what questions you should ask

advice on when you should review each part of the portfolio/action

plan

advice on how to gather evidence

pro-formas that can be used to record activities and which can be

used as the basis of your portfolio and action plan (given in the

portfolio shell). These are designed for written submissions but you can

use other forms of evidence such as video or sound recordings as long

as they cover the assessment requirements.

Although the development of a portfolio is a continuous process, you should

set key dates for completing tasks and for meeting your tutor to review steps.

You will be able to complete some things immediately, such as basic details

and objectives, but you will only be able to complete other aspects after

finding out relevant information.

Please click here to access a copy of the portfolio shell. Alternatively you can

locate a copy of the shell in session 1 leaning section.

You should record all activities undertaken in compilation of your portfolio

and retain a copy in word as well as those uploaded on to Mahara.

Before you start work on your portfolio, consider for a moment how you tend

to approach a new learning situation. Most people repeat the same cycles

over and over again. For example, think of your personal experience when

learning to drive or learning a foreign language.

Activity 1.1

Please review the following statement and begin to identify how you are as a

new learner embarking on your studies.

Growth in confidence

1. When approaching a new topic or skill:

a) I feel confident

b) I believe that I will make good progress

c) I don’t realise how little I know

d) I am looking forward to using the new skill

2. As I start to explore the subject:

a) I feel strange/awkward

b) I am horrified at how much there is to learn

c) I feel that I’ll never manage to grasp these new ideas or sections

d) My confidence lessens

3. When I continue to try:

a) I make steady progress

b) I start to enjoy it

c) I feel that I am going in the right direction

d) Fear of failure lessens and confidence grows

4. If I continue:

a) I get confident

b) I get good at it

c) I feel proud of my achievements

d) Friends/colleagues recognise my achievements

You can find a copy of the above questionnaire in word format, located on

Moodle, Session 1. Please complete this questionnaire and retain a copy on a

USB stick to bring to the next class.

What next

In your next class you will be introduced to Mahara and have the opportunity

to begin building your Portfolio with support and guidance from the lecturer.