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Personal Development Planning (PDP)

 PDP is defined as a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development. It embraces a range of approaches to learning that connect planning, doing, and recording, in order to understand and evidence the process and results of learning and reflection. It is relevant to all aspects of university study, not just those aspects associated with employability, but it is often associated with career planning and recording achievements for CV preparation. The HEA site holds a wide range of resources and examples of embedding PDP in the curriculum.

PDP is often linked with e-portfolios, as these can include electronic resources to prompt reflection, and provide a vehicle for collecting together evidence of achievements.

BU led two projects funded by JISC that reviewed a range of different technologies for e-portfolios and how PDP records can be transported from one system to another.

PDP4Life

PDP4XL2

BU is a member of the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA), a national network organisation for PDP and recording achievement. It has researched widely on the effectiveness of different systems of PDP and methods of embedding PDP within the curriculum.

BU has been a partner in the CETL LearnHigher, which has produced resources explaining why PDP is important and how to introduce it to students.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) has produced guidance for institutional policy and practice for PDP, as a reference point for higher education providers.

QAA Scotland has developed the PDP Toolkit designed to help all staff develop their strategies and policies for the implementation and enhancement of PDP.

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