3.1 PDP Profile (reflection)

As someone with a creative background I think one of my strengths is my ability to think in a creative way – to be innovative and approach things with an open mind. However I realise that my current role is, in effect, an e-learning support position, and calls for an approach that acknowledges structure and logic too.

Having roughly dissected the skills that I require to successfully implement my role (3.1 PDP profile grid), and then having ‘marked’ myself on my current ability, there are few indicators that suggest areas of strength and weakness around this cognitive approach.

I see myself as being competent in the use of technology, not only that, but in the innovative but appropriate use of technology. However, reading through my notes, there is a clear and consistent message emerging – I need more experience of teaching and learning practice in order to effectively contextualize other professional activities.

Where this is most evident is where my job requires me to do the kinds of things one would associate with the roles of a lecturer: selecting appropriate content for learning; structuring and sequencing content. A better understanding of the approaches that lecturers develop through practice would also help me to ‘translate’ the pedagogical support aspects of my job into concepts that they will understand and be able to adapt. For example, I work with situated learning theory and communities of practice and these things feed into much of my work. But articulating this in a meaningful way to lecturers can be challenging.

That many of the features in my PDP profile sit in the middle I read as a strength. The dissection made me conscious that I am some way from reaching the professional competencies of other e-learning practitioners. (I had several people in my mind that I was comparing myself with). However, I would like to think that a 5 is always just out of reach. (Or maybe, in true Spinal Tap fashion, there is a 6).

Doing this activity actually reminded me of a process we (the team I work with at University of Cumbria) went through a couple of years ago when we benchmarked e-learning across the institution. This process also called for the analysis of criteria, but also the production of an evidence base on which to base the scoring. I can see a link with that and an evidence-based PDP process for myself – maybe including the appraisal process along the way.

The results of the benchmarking activity were enlightening, so I guess the most significant thing I realised whilst doing this activity was that I had not done it before.

Scalable, personalized benchmarking.