PPDP is personal and professional development planning

Providing students opportunities to develop professional digital and social media skills can support meaningful engagement with personal and professional development (PPDP). This can be scaffolded by introducing activities that allow students to:

• explore and experiment with multimedia to personalise their own reflective blog and professional portfolio
• use inquiry to observe, listen, interact and learn within professional social media spaces
• capture feedback from tutors, peers, employers and the wider public using innovative ways chosen by themselves

Capture
Introducing different approaches to students to capture what they are learning and the skills they are developing, can help them to see how digital and social media can be used in a professional context. The examples I have given include audio, video, images, screen capture and curation.

Inquiry
Students need to be guided to look at how social media spaces are being used by professionals within the students own discipline or subject areas. For example LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs.

Feedback
Students can make good use of personal feedback given by tutors and peers within their learning experiences. They may also draw upon feedback from employers and the public, for example poster presentations, exhibitions, conference presentations and open blogs.

Reflect
Having a personalised space to record these experiences is important. This space may be private and shared only with tutor or peers within the course/module they are taking.

Scaffolded Support
Providing opportunities for the students to explore and experiment with different multimedia, gives them the ‘permission’ to be more creative and to personalise their portfolios in a way that is relevant to their discipline. Starting in a ‘safe’ space allows the individual to capture a variety of information they can then draw upon for their professional portfolio. This can be adapted to suit the professional public space(s) chosen.